Country House
A country house is the name given to a large residential structure that is typically built on the grounds of a country estate. They were most often built from what were originally castles or from mansions that have been fortified considerably. Some country house designs have even been known to draw influence from Mediterranean villas.
The earliest country houses were historically the centre point of a sprawling agricultural estate and served as the residence of the landowner and his family. Although agricultural estates have been in existence for many centuries, only the estates that were profitable enough to grant the landowner inclusion into the ranks of the aristocracy or gentry featured country houses.
A thousand acres or more of real estate was the minimum ownership requirement in order for a landlord to qualify for this select group of nobility. Some landowners of course owned far more than this amount of land and the financial status of the particular landowner can often be gleaned from the magnificence of the country home built on the estate.
While the earliest country houses were built by landowners who relied on agriculture for much of their income, the massive boom of commerce in the 19th and 20th centuries, helped along by the industrial revolution, enabled many people to amass fortunes by means other than agriculture.
This resulted in a considerable increase in the number of country estates that had little if any to do with agriculture at all. Of course many of these new country house owners simply purchased older country homes and merely repaired or had expansion work done on them.
Because these newer estates were not reliant on agriculture, many did not even feature farms or the relevant structures needed for farming. Some homeowners however chose to retain some semblance of farm life and even went so far as to build token farms around their homes for recreational purposes.
Country homes come in a wide variety of architectural styles and can be as grandiose or modest as the homeowner wishes. There really is no one architectural style that country houses follow and therefore they may range from to imposing modified castles or quaint and rustic wooden structures. They will often have a garden surrounding the house and perhaps a larger park or recreational area set some distance off the main residence.
The more impressive estates that feature lavish gardens and well manicured parks are often considered country house gardens in their entirety, with no distinction between the house and the surrounding gardens.
While country houses are as the name implies, typically located some distance away from the nearest neighbours, there have been some houses that are located within the village itself or even form the centre of a small town.
The status of a particular town will usually have a direct bearing in the size and majesty of the country houses that they contain. Of course the larger the town is, the more impressive a country house will have to be in order to retain its right to be called a country house.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 21/07/2008
