历史学家丹·克鲁克山克被邀请造访英国最大的六大私家住宅。这些迷人的建筑仍然是私家住宅，平时一般不对公众开放，但他们的主人允许丹·克鲁克山克漫游走廊，弄清每个家庭的故事。这些私家住宅的揭秘不仅让我们体验到建筑的美感，也反映了英国历史和经济的故事。
Historian Dan Cruickshank is invited through the closed doors of six of
Britain’s greatest private houses in an illuminating and surprising journey
through our architectural history. These fascinating buildings remain private
homes and closed to the public, but their owners have allowed Dan Cruickshank
to roam the corridors, tease out each home’s story – who built them, lived in
them and lost them – and uncover tales of excess and profligacy, power and
ambition. From the disarming Elizabethan charm of South Wraxall Manor, the
classical rigour of Kinross House in Scotland and the majesty and ingenuity of
Hawksmoor’s Easton Neston, to the Palladian sweep of Wentworth Woodhouse with
its 600-foot frontage, the Victorian exuberance of Clandeboye and the
Edwardian ingenuity of Lutyens’ Marshcourt, the secrets of these houses reveal
not only the story of our architecture, but also reflect the fortunes of the
nation itself. Dan shows how the story of each house tells the social and
economic history of Britain, each built on an economic crest or crash and
uniquely expressive of its creator’s aims, strengths and frailties; the
crystallisation of a ruling class at a moment in time. 【名 称】：The Country House
Revealed 【译 名】：私家庄园揭秘 【类 型】：纪录片 【版 本】：HDTV 【制 作】：BBC 【语 言】：英语 【地 区】：英国 【集
数】：全6集 【时 长】：平均58分钟 【字 幕】：内嵌英语（封装） Part 1:
South Wraxall Dan Cruickshank takes an exclusive tour around one of Britain’s
oldest country homes - an immaculately preserved relic of the Mediaeval and
Tudor ages. Hidden in the depths of the Wiltshire countryside, South Wraxall
Manor was built by a family with a fascinating but dramatic and chequered
history - the Longs. From lowly origins as descendants of a livestock rustler
they rose through the Tudor period to become knights of the realm, friends of
Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and one of the most powerful dynasties in England.
Along the way Cruickshank discovers how a brutal family murder inspired one of
Shakespeare’s greatest plays, examines how the Longs’ skulduggery and
connivance brought them unprecedented wealth, and meets both the last member
of the Long family to live there and the house’s current owner - Gela Nash-
Taylor, founder of the American fashion house Juicy Couture.
Part 2: Kinross Dan Cruickshank explores the
stunning late 17th century property, Kinross House. Dan is granted privileged
access into the world of architect Sir William Bruce, who changed the Scottish
landscape by building the first fully classical house in the country. Kinross
House tells a unique story about a man imperative to the restoration of King
Charles II - Sir William Bruce. A one time merchant who became one of the
richest men in Scotland. With insight from Sir William’s descendants,
journalists and Scottish aristocracy, secrets long since forgotten are
revealed, and offer an explanation into his ultimate downfall. The programme
follows the story of Kinross house from its early beginnings through to its
current owners and poignant sale in 2010.
Part 3: Easton Neston Easton Neston, Northamptonshire, was completed in 1702
and is an architectural gem, one of the most beautiful examples of a short-
lived but glorious style known as the English Baroque. Work on the house was
begun by Sir Christopher Wren and finished by his mysterious protege, Nicholas
Hawksmoor. Who designed what, and precisely when, has become a long-running
debate. But it’s one that, in this programme, is finally put to bed. Easton
Neston’s ingenious construction is just one of the secrets hidden behind its
elegant facade - the building has had a colourful history. In modern times, it
has hosted a Formula One racing team and it is now the headquarters of a
global fashion brand. Part 4: Wentworth
Woodhouse Wentworth Woodhouse was once one of the most powerful places on
earth. Built in the 18th century, it is still one of the largest privately
owned homes in Europe. It was commissioned by one of the wealthiest families
in the country whose power and riches put them on a par with royalty. And much
of the family’s vast fortune was spent on this impressive building and its
surrounding estate. But today Wentworth Woodhouse is something of a mystery.
Few people know the house, and fewer still have witnessed its palatial
grandeur at first hand. By unravelling its hidden history, this film reveals a
story of intrigue, family feuding and political wrangling dating back over two
hundred years. Part 5: Clandeboye There are
few other houses in Britain like Clandeboye - a monument to a man whose life
was like a Victorian fairy tale of adventure, and a monument to the golden age
of the largest and most far flung empire the world has ever seen. Clandeboye
House and estate was, like the empire itself, an epic creation - but unlike
the empire, it still endures, a vignette of a now almost forgotten age and
surprisingly little altered since Lord Dufferin died in 1902. The house is
overflowing with relics from the empire and Dufferin’s aristocratic adventures
stuffed baby bears, Egyptian monuments, tiger skins and weaponry from India,
Canada and Burma to mention just a few, with extraordinary photographic albums
that document the collecting of these unique ‘souvenirs’. Clandeboye is a
genuine treasure trove. Part 6: Marshcourt
第六集 玛休科特 Marshcourt is one of the most extraordinary buildings in Britain
a white chalk Lutyens masterpiece, possibly his greatest, perched above the
flowing waters of Britain’s best and most exclusive fishing river - the Test.
Built as an Edwardian pleasure palace, with its interior still miraculously
intact, it evokes the decadence and frivolity of that vanished age, as no
other. However, Marshcourt stands for something more: a Britain dominated by
finance. It was Herbert Johnson, a broker, that paid for this opulence. The
first great houses were built by robber barons, and 500 years later it was the
bankers’ turn. Marshcourt’s narrow escape from the wrecking ball, as Johnson
repeatedly teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, is testament to what that
transformation has meant for this country.
玛休科特是英国最独特的建筑－卢廷斯用白垩构建而成，可能是他最伟大的作品，座落在英国最优美、盛产鳟鱼的特思特河之上。
这个爱德华七世时期享乐主义的经典之作，它的内部构造保存着完整无缺，在过去的日子里，它是颓废和纵欲的地方，旷古绝今。
然而，玛休科特的经历还体现这个道理：经济决定命运。它的主人赫伯特.约翰逊，一个股票交易商，对庄园一掷千金。这个最奇丽的房子是投机者建造的，它改变了500年以来的庄园经济体制。当约翰逊两次濒临破产的时候，玛休科特也跟着深受影响，九死一生，可谓是饱经沧桑。
