Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire

 

   One of the grandest buildings in Cheshire, Lyme was originally a Tudor house and transformed into an Italianate palace by the Venetian architect Leoni. Parts of the Elizabethan interior still survive, and can be seen in contrast with later rooms displaying Mortlake tapestries and Grinling Gibbon wood - carving.

The house is set in several hundred acres of peakland and woodland where deer abound. It is bordered by a sunkenDutch garden, rose gardens and a great conservatory set above an attractive lake.

The hunting tower or " Cage " standing on a low ridge overlooking the hall, offers the visitor the splendid view of the Cheshire Plain, the whole of Greater Manchester and the foothills of Snowdonia.