BURNISHED GOLD

When it comes to interior design, not many people would choose to have scenes from Hades – complete with the Grim Reaper and plenty of unfortunates thrashing about in eternal torment – painted in their homes.

However, this is exactly the scene you will find in Lincolnshire’s Burghley House. The so-called Hell Staircase by Italian decorative artist Antonio Verrio manages to be beautiful, skilful and completely unsettling, not least because the staircase leads to Verrio’s masterpiece, The Heaven Room – a contrasting light and airy space which is full of mythological scenes in pinks and blues.

This sort of surprising quirk is typical of Burghley, an Elizabethan beauty veneered with windows and crowned by turrets that make it impressive when approached from any given angle. In fact, it is so grand and imposing