Britain’s most haunted country houses

For centuries, the English country house has provided the setting for some of the most terrifying fiction in our history. These isolated buildings, with their many empty corridors, secret backstairs, shut-up attic rooms and dark corners, their inherent eeriness has made them iconic settings for chilling encounters. But which real country houses inspired their fictional counterparts?

Menabilly House, Cornwall

Daphne Du Maurier’s mysterious Manderley was inspired by two country houses. The exterior was based on Menabilly House in Cornwall, an estate which Du Maurier would eventually rent from the Rashleigh family five years after Rebecca’s release, while the interior was inspired by Milton Hall in Cambridgeshire. Du Maurier’s haunting description of Manderley’s wild and overgrown drive reflects the delapidated state that Menabilly had fallen into when she first came across it in 1926. The public can’t visit the house, which is privately owned, but you can explore Menabilly beach and the surrounds including the popular Rashleigh Bath.