The grand old Duke of York may have had 10,000 men but the grand old Duke of Portland went one better: he had 15,000 acres of England’s finest countryside to his name. Welbeck, in the heart of Sherwood Forest – the supposed home of Robin Hood – straddles the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and was originally home to a monastery, founded in 1153 by Thomas de Cuckney. It was dissolved by King Henry VIII, as part of the Reformation, and passed through several owners before becoming the seat to a succession of Dukes of Portland, one of which — William Henry Cavendish Bentinck — served twice as Prime Minister.
A truly magnificent estate, containing ancient woodlands,
