Just outside Peterborough, but across the border in Northamptonshire, is Elton Hall, the home of the Proby family for some 350 years. There was a house here since the Norman Conquest, but the present building is largely a product of the late Jacobean period. An earlier Tudor manor survives in the undercroft and and the gatehouse tower.
Elton shows evidence of several architectural styles, from mock Gothic to classical, and from a distance resembles a medieval fantasy castle. From the south the effect is fanciful, a mix of turrets, pinnacles, and French towers.
Inside is a wonderful collection of period rooms and fine art dating back to the 15th century. The drawing room is gilded in an ornate French style, and packed with exquisite 18th and 19th century art and furniture. Among the foriegn art are a series by Reynolds, including a self-portrait. In the tower library is Henry VIII's prayer book.
