Several stately homes are reinstating their walled gardens, used for years as car parks for visitors.

ECONOMIST: The curious history of herbaceous borders

Most courses also offer excursions to stately homes, cathedrals, museums, tours of Christ Church and the city of Oxford.

FORBES: Take Summer Classes At Oxford, No Exams Required

Situated on 13, 000 acres of one of Ireland's finest stately homes by the River Rye, it holds the event for the first time.

BBC: THE LOWDOWN

From it's tree-lined squares to it's stately homes, Georgia's oldest city has a lot to be proud of when it comes to beauty -- and when it comes to cuisine.

CNN: A taste of Savannah

These days the simple life is perhaps priciest in Great Britain, where, unlike the sage actor, most owners of stately homes made their money the old-fashioned way: They inherited it.

WSJ: Upstairs, Downstairs and In Between

From their stately homes atop thrones, adorned with crowns and jewels, royal family members have for centuries been not only the pride of a nation, but also the very symbol of its heritage.

CNN: A right royal showdown

For those who like their historic buildings to come in the shape of stately homes, ancient monuments and places of worship, it's probably no compensation to hear the awesome propeller is housed in a cathedral-like chamber.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Magazine | Concrete steeped in history

Having spent too much time camped outside various stately homes waiting to find out whether the quarrelsome Northern Ireland parties had been able to resolve their latest argument, there was a certain novelty in being able to stroll freely into the majestic Royal Kilmainham Hospital in Dublin to listen to our local luminaries tell others just how it was done.

BBC: NI peacemakers show the world how it is done