Blickling Estate takes centre stage in a new book titled 60 Remarkable Buildings of the National Trust. 

The red-brick, stucco and stone mansion near Aylsham is hailed for its “classic Jacobean style”, and for being home to the largest book collection cared for by the National Trust, in the building’s Long Gallery.

Eastern Daily Press: The front cover of 60 Remarkable Buildings of the National TrustThe front cover of 60 Remarkable Buildings of the National Trust (Image: National Trust)The new book was written by Dr Elizabeth Green, a senior national curator at the trust. 

Dr Green said: “The National Trust was established in 1895, with the principal purpose to protect outdoor spaces at a time when city air was thick with pollution and access to green space was limited. 

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“However, by the mid-20th century owners of ancestral houses and estates experienced soaring death duties and following two world wars the huge loss of workforce saw large numbers of country houses falling into disrepair. As a result, families were forced to sell their art, heirlooms and land.

Eastern Daily Press: Oxburgh Hall is also featured in the new book. Oxburgh Hall is also featured in the new book. (Image: National Trust/Justin Minns)“The National Trust Acts of 1937 and 1939 enabled the charity to take on estates and open them to the public, thereby returning the benefit to the nation and bringing a halt to the disintegration of this important part of our heritage.” 

The book also features Oxburgh Hall in west Norfolk, which is praised for its “spectacular gatehouse, handsome brick-built exterior and surrounding moat”. 

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The book says: “The bold choice of brick as the principal material at Oxburgh is a grand architectural statement, demonstrating the status and self-confidence on the part of the Bedingfield family, who built the hall in 1482. 

Eastern Daily Press: Horsey Windpump. Horsey Windpump. (Image: National Trust/Justin Minns)“Followers of Catholicism faced a very precarious time during the English Reformation and had to go to great, and potentially claustrophobic lengths, to hide their faith.

"The priest’s hole at Oxburgh is a rare surviving example of one of these places of sanctuary.”

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Horsey Windpump - the youngest of the drainage mills that have helped maintain the Norfolk Broads since the 18th century - is also featured.