John Martin Robinson's Felling the Ancient Oaks: How England Lost its Great Country Estates has been published in a sumptuous new edition by Aurum Press, as part of its successful "Lost" series.

Here, eminent architectural historian John Robinson takes twenty of England’s most egregious losses, from Biddlestone in Northumberland to Costessey in Norfolk, and tells the story of the estates, from their heyday to the many reasons for their decline. Whether sold off and divided, lost by feckless gambling of the family’s black sheep, or simply defeated by the post-war cost of maintaining a giant mansion, these once grand estates live on in this beautiful book - illustrated throughout with photographs of what once was, but has now gone for ever.

Buy it now at Amazon.