It might look like a fine setting for a grand dinner, but this is actually for playing a game. The aim is to slide large brass discs along the narrow bench – the winner is the one to get closest to the end without falling off. Like shuffleboard …

Although the house is named after its rare Jacobean cage-newel staircase (there are only three surviving in the country), there is so much more to a visit here than just some stairs. In fact, there’s almost everything you’d want from a historic house visit …