Stokin'

It is perhaps slightly premature to be splurging on a Palladian mansion, but if you had a cool GBP2.75m to spare, you could pick up this glorious house in Derbyshire, not far away from the seat of the dukes of Devonshire.

It does need a lot of work, but significantly the roof has been releaded by the former comptroller at Chatsworth, so you could take your time about getting on with other essentials.

There are splendid wall carvings by the master woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, and the land is a perfectly manageable 22 1/2 acres. Further details of the property offered through Knight Frank are here.

But in these times of uncertainty I suspect most of us would rather be cool, and pass up on this opportunity to acquire Stoke Hall. Marcus Binney of The Times writes about the house here.