County guide · The Stately Homes
Best stately homes in Dorset
Dorset pairs the Bankes family's grand Kingston Lacy with the two Thomas Hardy houses - his birthplace cottage and Max Gate, the home he designed himself - and the monastic Forde Abbey. At Mapperton, the Jacobean home of the Earls of Sandwich, reviewers single out the guided house tour, and advise booking it online because tours fill up.
There are 9 stately homes in Dorset on this list. Forde Abbey is the best-rated, at 4.7 from 1,614 Google reviews. Kingston Lacy draws the most reviews of any house here, 7,101 of them.
Map
Every stately home on this list - 9 in total, 6 you can stay overnight in
Kingston Lacy
Dorset
17th-century mansion built for the Bankes family, housing an important art collection
Forde Abbey
Dorset
Former Cistercian monastery converted into a country house, privately owned since the 17th century.
Athelhampton House
Dorset
One of England's finest surviving 15th-century manor houses.
Hardy's Cottage
Dorset
Small thatched cob cottage where novelist Thomas Hardy was born
Max Gate
Dorset
House designed and lived in by Thomas Hardy, where he wrote Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Mapperton House
Dorset
Jacobean manor house and gardens, home of the Earls of Sandwich.
Deans Court
Dorset
House and gardens held by the Hanham family since 1548.
Stock Gaylard House
Dorset
Georgian house set within a deer park, privately owned by the Langmead family.
Wolfeton House
Dorset
Medieval and Tudor manor house, home of descendants of the Trenchard family.
Common questions
How many stately homes can you visit in Dorset?
9 stately homes in Dorset are on this list. Every one of them opens to visitors in some form, whether that is a ticketed house, a regular tour or a hotel occupying the building itself.
Which is the best-rated stately home in Dorset?
Forde Abbey, rated 4.7 from 1,614 Google reviews. Only houses with at least 100 reviews are considered, so a high score from a handful of visitors does not top the list.
Which stately home in Dorset is the most reviewed?
Kingston Lacy, with 7,101 Google reviews at 4.6. That is a rough proxy for how well known and how busy a house is, not a visitor figure, which no house here publishes.
Are any stately homes in Dorset free to enter?
None of the 9 on this list is recorded as free entry. Entry prices are set by each house rather than held here, and several are covered by a membership scheme, so check the operator's own site before you travel.
Who runs the stately homes in Dorset?
Of the 9 on this list, 3 are run by the National Trust and the remaining 6 by private estates, independent trusts or local councils. Who owns a house decides whether a membership card gets you in, so each entry names its operator and links to the official site.