Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith (2026)
Synopsis
From cafes to craft fairs, glamping to ghosts, join Dame Penelope Keith as she meets the owners of Britain’s historic country houses struggling to keep their homes intact. Featured properties include Ashby Manor in Northamptonshire, Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, and Mapperton House in Dorset. As these estates turn to innovative ventures to stay afloat, Keith offers insight into the challenges of maintaining these grand homes in 2025. Will their creative solutions be enough to save their history?
Creator
Richard Farmbrough, Owen Rodd
Network
More4
Episodes
Episode 1
Insight into the work that goes into maintaining stately homes and gardens. In the Cotswolds, young couple James and Emma recently inherited Chavenage House and have bold plans to turn the estate into a glamping and sauna destination. At Brancepeth Castle in County Durham, the extended Dobson family take on their ancient and decaying windows of this 14th-century fortress-turned-country house.
Episode 2
After 25 years neglect, Pitchford Hall returns to its original family, who face a huge restoration task. In the Cotswolds, young couple James and Emma recently inherited Chavenage House and have bold plans to turn the estate into a glamping and sauna destination. At Brancepeth Castle in County Durham, the extended Dobson family take on their ancient and decaying windows of this 14th-century fortress-turned-country house.
Episode 3
The owners of Elizabethan Pitchford Hall in Shropshire are puzzled by dangerous sinkholes on the estate, possibly caused by an extraordinary subterranean Georgian bathhouse. In Dorset, American countess Julie Mapperton is hard at work restoring Mapperton House, and Brancepeth Castle opens its doors for the annual Dragon Quest, celebrating the legend of the infamous Lambton Worm.
Episode 4
At Chavenage House in the Cotswolds, James Lowsley-Williams starts to rescue a derelict and overgrown pond with chainsaws, diggers and tractors. Meanwhile, in Northamptonshire, there's a dusty restoration going on at Ashby Manor House's historic gatehouse as well the restoration of the Gunpowder Plot room becomes complex, and in Wales, Sally and Hugh Martineau are preparing to host their first wedding of the season amid Treberfydd House's Victorian splendour.
Episode 5
At Treberfydd House in Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), the biggest wedding of the year is underway, at least if the weather holds. In Shropshire, the owners of the Elizabethan Pitchford Hall are proud custodians of what is believed to be the world's oldest treehouse, supported by Britain's oldest broadleaf lime tree, which urgently needs some restoration work.
Episode 6
Wiltshire's stunning Iford Manor Gardens are in full bloom and a greenhouse refurbishment is underway. In Gloucestershire, an exceptional attic model railway is revealed at Chavenage, and the historic treehouse restoration project begins at Pitchford Hall in Shropshire.
Episode 7
Hidden secrets are unearthed at Staffordshire's Whitmore Hall. Ashby Manor's historic connections to the architect Edwin Lutyens are revealed, in both the house and in its gardens. Plus, the Chavenage mobile sauna project is hotting up.
Episode 8
No description available.
Episode 9
No description available.
Episode 10
No description available.
Cast
Details
Original Title
Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith
Status
Returning Series
Seasons
1
Episodes
10
Production
Somersault Studios
