Estates of the nation

Though we were sad not to have Mary Berry on Bake Off this year, she’s lined up perhaps one of the greatest jobs on TV instead.

In this new four-part series, she visits some of the nation’s best stately homes to explore their history in food – and each week she’ll be rustling up some modern recipes inspired by the great dishes these great houses have served over the years.

Mary’s first destination is bound to look familiar to anyone who’s been near a TV in the past seven years, as she’s visiting Highclere Castle – the real-life Downton Abbey. Highclere was renowned in the Victorian era for its extravagant weekend house parties – though Mary discovers that the current Countess of Carnarvon prefers not to host more than 20 guests at a time…