Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith

Penelope Keith meets the owners of Britain's country houses trying to keep their historic homes intact. A look at the house where the gunpowder plot was hatched, a castle in County Durham needs new windows, and there's glamping in the Cotswolds.

After 25 years of neglect, Pitchford Hall has returned to its original family, who now face a huge restoration task. Meanwhile, plans progress at Ashby Manor to revive the Gunpowder Plot Room, and work begins on the sauna at Chavenage.

The owners of Elizabethan Pitchford Hall are puzzled by the appearance of dangerous sinkholes. In Dorset, American countess Julie Mapperton is hard at work restoring Mapperton House. And Brancepeth Castle opens its doors for the annual Dragon Quest.

During a glorious Cotswolds summer at Chavenage House, James Lowsley-Williams starts to rescue a derelict and overgrown pond. And the restoration of Ashby Manor's Gunpowder Plot room becomes increasingly complex.

At Treberfydd House in Wales, the biggest wedding of the year is underway - rain permitting. At Pitchford Hall, the world's oldest treehouse urgently needs some TLC. And the American Countess of Sandwich dons some very bold gardening gear.

Wiltshire's Iford Manor Gardens are in full bloom and a greenhouse refurbishment is underway. In Gloucestershire, an exceptional attic model railway is revealed at Chavenage. And the historic treehouse restoration project begins at Pitchford Hall.