A superbly researched and illustrated account of country houses in eastern Dorset. It contains numerous plans, architectural drawings, information on owners' architects and craftsmen, and covers the whole social and historical background which lead to their creation.

Ranging from the medieval palace buildings at Corfe Castle, erected for King John, to minor masterpieces of the Modern Movement, such as Landfall, Poole by Oliver Hill, over 30 major buildings are described in detail. 80 others find a place in an illustrated gazetteer. The account includes important work by William Arnold, a major architect of the Jacobean period, and the 18th-century houses produced by the so-called`Blandford Sschool'. Large late Victorian mansions are represented too, especially the palatial Bryanston House, designed by the great Norman Shaw. This book is for anyone who loves country houses or the astonishingly beautiful county of Dorset.

Michael Hill is a widely-recognised expert on country-house architecture and is the reviser of the Buildings of England volume for Dorset.