The Palladian mansion was built between 1734 and 1762 by William Kent for Thomas Coke, Ist Earl of Leicester.
The Coke family, however, had lived at Holkham long before the 18th century house was constructed.
An Elizabeth manor house was built by Sir Edward Cote, who was Attorney General to Elizabeth I and Chief Justice to James I.
When Thomas Coke returned home from a six-year Grand Tour he brought with him a huge collection of works of art. He realised that the manor house was not large enough to accommodate this vast accumulation.
As a result he decided to demolish the manor and build a fine new classical-style house that would display his acquisitions to best advantage.
The house was constructed mainly of local yellow brick with a splendid Entrance Hall of English Alabaster. The State Rooms occupy the first floor and contain the original furniture, a fine collection of Greek and Roman statuary and paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Poussin and Claude.
Adjoining the Hall is Holkham Pottery.
This is supervised by the Countess of Leicester and the shop has examples of local craftmanship and the famous Holkham Florist Ware.
The 19th century stables house the Holkham Bygones Collection and the former Porter's Lodge has a History of Farming exhibition.
The house is surrounded by 3,000 acres of parkland with 600 fallow deer.
The lake is a mile long and has many species of wildfowl. One of most famous members of the Coke family, Thomas William Coke, was responsible for planting a million trees at Holkham.
The 18th century walled Kitchen Garden is now occupied by Holkham Nursery Gardens and there is a wide variety of plants for sale.
2008: Holkham Hall & Bygones Museum: 12:00-17:00 (last entry 16:00) Mar:22-24th;May: 3-5th,;24-26th; Jun-30 Sept: Sun-Thur Open Aug Bank Hol. Thur 28 Aug Holkham Hall will be closed. Park: Easter-Oct: Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00; Sun 09:00-19:00
Tel: Info line: 01328 710227 Holkham Hall Website
