One of the finest manor houses of the Elizabethan period, built by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, "the greatest, gravest and most esteemed Councillor that ever your Majesty had", as Essex confided to Elizabeth I. The extensive 17C redecoration includes the painted ceilings by Laguerre and Verrio, at their most exuberant and baroque in the Heaven Room and Hell Staircase. Admire also the very fine collection of paintings.