No great library is complete without a few maps and atlases, and almost all of the major National Trust collections contain some.

They range from the large set of the original Irish Ordnance Survey at Castle Ward, through to Dutch atlases from the Golden Ages of the 17th century (Blickling in Norfolk has an outstanding collection, but there are others elsewhere, including a particularly magnificent Blaeu atlas at Dunham Massey, and more at Tatton Park, both in Cheshire).

Almost every house has a little 18th-century itinerary book – John Ogilby was a favourite – while others have fine selections of travel books, often from the Regency period.

A few have more surprising holdings: Kingston Lacy in Dorset, for example, has a box of unbound maps, including early town plans, and an early 19th-century map of the Ottoman Empire, in Greek.