The Palladio-style Florentine villa and French-inspired gardens at Bramham Park were created in 1703 - 10 for Robert Benson, MP for York.
As a young man Benson travelled in Italy and later became Chancellor of the Exchequer before being raised to the peerage as Lord Bingley.
The house was probably designed by Lord Bingley after he rejected plans drawn up by Thomas Archer.
On Lord Bingley's death in 1731 the estate passed to his daughter.
Her husband George Fox, who was later Lord Bingley, inherited an Irish fortune from the Lane family and used this money to embellish the garden with several temples.
One of these buildings was designed by James Paine, who may have built the magnificent stable block to the left of the entrance courtyard.
Later owners were responsible for a decline of Bramham Park.
The house was stripped of its furniture and fittings and in 1828, when the house was owned by George Lane Fox, a member of the Prince Regent's set, a fire caused serious damage to the house.
It was not until 1906, when Bramham Park was the principal residence of another George Lane Fox (also Lord Bingley), that the fire damage was repaired and the interiors remodelled by the architect Detmar Blow.
Today Bramham Park is owned by Lord Bingley's grandson, another George Lane Fox.
The long, low house stands at the end of a long avenue leading west from the Great North Road.
The dramatically austere building has a two-storey main block over a basement with a balustrade concealing the roof. A sloping coach way leads up to the entrance and wings project from the ends of the facade. On either side of the wings Doric colonnades provide glimpses of the gardens.
Iron gates flanked by sphinxes on pedestals and piers with rusticated Doric columns close off the entrance courtyard.
The interiors, neglected in the 18th and 19th centuries, are not so impressive as the exterior but the family has furnished the house with a fine collection of furniture, paintings and porcelain.
The least altered room in the house is the cube-shaped Entrance Hall.
Here the walls are embellished with Corinthian pilasters under an ornately carved modillion cornice.
The main reception rooms to the north and west were remodelled in neo-Georgian style by Detmar Blow at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Library contains a collection of paintings reflecting the family's enthusiasm for field sports.
The Dining Room and Drawing Room, created from the original state bedroom, and the Gallery, occupying the site of three smaller rooms on the garden front, now house the collection of family portraits and some good 18th century French furniture.
Some of the rooms to the south of the Hall still retain the intricate early-18th century wood carving.
The staircase decorated with sporting pictures and the two upstairs bedrooms shown to the public date from the early 19th century.
Bramham Park is surrounded by 66 acres of French palace garden.
This is considered to be the best example in England of a French-inspired garden of the early 18th century.
There are clipped hedges, ponds and unexpected vistas punctuated by garden buildings and statuary.
The layout of the water gardens, cascades, follies and monuments is uniquely unaltered. From here clipped beech avenues lead to grand vistas. These stretch out to the 100 acres of geometrically designed woodland pleasure grounds.
Bramham Park Opening Times2008: House: Only open for groups of 10 or more by prior arrangement. Grounds: daily 11:30-16:30 21st Mar-30 Sept. Bramham Horse Trials: 5-8 Jun 2008.
Tel: 01937 846000 Bramham Park Website
