A view of Singapore skyline from Marina Bay Sands.
Real houses with stories of gentry and their servants
Visit one of these houses to discover what life was like above and below the stairs.
If you can't wait until Downton Abbey starts again, these National Trust houses will give you an impression of what it was like for people in real-life 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' situations.
Not only can visitors look around glamorous 'upstairs' rooms of these historic houses, but they can also go beneath the surface and take in sculleries, dairies and servants' bedrooms.
Cultural historian and author, Siân Evans, has also dug deep into the archives of historic properties to find untold stories of the servants for a new Trust book, Life below Stairs in the Victorian and Edwardian Country House. The book is published on 15 September 2011, priced £20. Copies at the special price of £15 are available from National Trust shops and online.
Here is a selection of some of the most interesting houses you can visit...
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