Rothbury Northumberland.
Built on a bare and rugged hillside above Rothbury by the 1st Lord Armstrong, Cragside was one of the most modern and surprising houses for its time in the country. In the 1880s the house had hot and cold running water, central heating, fire alarms, telephones, a Turkish bath suite and a passenger lift, but most remarkable of all it was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. No wonder it was described as ‘the Palace of a Modern Magician’. Around and below the house is one of Europe’s largest rock gardens; across the valley lies the terraced garden. Here exotic fruits were nurtured throughout the year in glasshouses, and still are today in the Orchard House. Seven million trees and bushes were planted to cover the bare hillside and create the 1000-acre forest garden you can explore today.