Our five minute guide to world treasures and the National Trust:

Basildon Park, Berkshire

Walk into the Garden Room at Basildon Park, and it’s as if an invisible hand just turned the heating up. Colourfully clad elephants lumber by; a boat punts lazily over the water; towers, temples and palm trees are all blanketed in a palpable, drowsy warmth.

© NTPL / John Hammond

The panoramic wallpaper is a reminder of the early history of Basildon and its builder, Sir Francis Sykes, a contemporary of Clive of India. His adventures included imprisonment in what became known as the ‘Black Hole’ of Calcutta. Returning in 1768, Sykes settled in Berkshire, an area soon dubbed ‘the English Hindoostan’ after the number of British ‘nabobs’ that spent their fortunes on new houses there.

Bateman's, East Sussex

‘Empire’, said Rudyard Kipling, was ‘the fabric of my mental and physical existence’. Bateman’s is shot through with rich glimpses into the writer’s life and travels.

© NTPL / John Hammond

This Indian red lacquer bridal chest in Kipling’s study is hard to miss, but search out the terracotta statue of Ganesha, the elephant god, and the wonderful fire-screen made from a ‘rumal’ – an embroidered cloth used during marriage celebrations. This is an interesting place for children: young fans of 'The Jungle Book' will love the dramatic images Kipling’s father produced to illustrate the book’s first run.

Clandon Park, Surrey

We all like the occasional souvenir. This Maori meeting house was the only building left standing when a terrible volcano swept away the village of Te Wairoa in 1886. In 1892, the 4th Lord Onslow, Governor of New Zealand, bought the wooden structure for £50 to be his summer house back in England at Clandon.

© NTPL / Nick Meers

The meeting house is called ‘Hinemihi’, in honour of a 16th-century female chief, and is nicknamed ‘House with the golden eyes’, after the gold coins that once filled the eye sockets of the carved ancestor figures. To those of Maori descent, it’s a place of pilgrimage; the only Maori building in Britain. The intricate door and window carvings were re-carved by Maori craftsmen for our centenary in 1995.

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire

As Viceroy of India at the turn of the last century, George Nathaniel Curzon was a champion of Indian heritage, staging an exhibition of the very best arts and crafts as part of the glittering Delhi Durbar of 1902–3. He also protected many of India’s historic monuments through legal reform.

© NTPL / Nadia Mackenzie

The carved wood and ivory sofa pictured above is part of a suite acquired from Maharaja Prabhu Narain Singh. Government policy prevented the Viceroy accepting it as a gift, so he presented the Maharaja with a .303 rifle in return. Kedleston’s opulent Eastern Museum is a riotous complement to the elegant Robert Adam interiors for which the place is better known.

Powis Castle, Powys

Tipu, Sultan of Mysore, adopted the tiger as a symbol of his power and kingship: ‘Better to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep.’ This tiny gold tiger’s head, in the Clive collection at Powis Castle is encrusted with rubies, diamonds and emeralds. Eighteenth-century India was bloody and turbulent as the British and French fought for control of their respective trade interests.

© NTPL

The treasures of the deposed rulers, like Tipu, were remorselessly plundered by troops; his exotic chintz state tent was later used for garden parties at Powis. Many pieces in the Clive collection were collected or given to the family, though, and they are of exquisite workmanship and quality. They include magnificent arms and armour, and Clive of India’s bejewelled ‘huqqa’ pipes.