The National Trust is probably best known for its country houses or stately homes: we care for over 100 great houses.

The National Trust was first able to accept house contents as well as the houses themselves in 1937, under the Country Houses Scheme.

The great treasure houses rescued by the Trust retain their fascination today, increasingly for their social as well as their artistic history – particularly the 'below stairs' parts of houses. Good examples can be seen at Erddig, nr Wrexham.

Great houses

Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire, dates from the later 15th century. The timber-framed building has a hall boasting massive decorated hammerbeam trusses, unrivalled elsewhere in England.

A century later the aristocratic 'new' Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, was built by Bess of Hardwick. It was built from stone quarried on the estate, just next to, but separate from, the old hall on the same site, deliberately abandoning older traditions in a striking new style 'more glass than wall'.

From the end of the 17th century, Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire, is a country house in the classical English style, while from the 18th century there is the Baroque Beningborough Hall, North Yorkshire.

Neo-classical style in the European tradition can be seen at Castle Coole, Co Fermanagh, designed by James Wyatt, and at Osterley Park, London, built in the 1760s to designs by Robert Adam.

At Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, there survives the most complete and unaltered suite of Adam interiors. The state rooms contain original collections of paintings and furniture.

Smaller homes

The National Trust has also acquired interesting examples of domestic architecture on a smaller scale. The first building ever acquired by the Trust, the 14th-century Alfriston Clergy House, Sussex, acquired in 1896, is a thatched Wealdon 'hall house'.

The Tudor Merchant's House, Tenby, complete with a small herb garden, is furnished to suit a 15th-century family.

The Edwardian Mr Straw’s House, Nottinghamshire, is a modest semi-detached suburban house with its contents unchanged since the 1930s.

The former home of the architect Ernö Goldfinger, at 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, London, built by Goldfinger in 1939, is an important example of Modernist architecture.

Other recent acquisitions reflect the historical importance of types of domestic architecture, which were once common but are now becoming rare. These include the Homewood, another Modernist house, and a group of Birmingham back-to-backs. In the countryside the National Trust also owns more than 50 villages.

Houses which we protect because of their associations with famous people extend the architectural range to modern times and council houses. Recent additions include the family homes of former Beatles, Paul McCartney, at 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, and John Lennon, at Mendips, Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, given by Yoko Ono in March 2002.

• To find domestic buildings which the Trust cares for, select 'historic house' under type of place', along with any other criteria you require, on our 'find a place' page.