I stepped in with really high expectations but it ...

I stepped in with really high expectations but it totally surpassed them. Even if reformed in Victorian times the first room is spectacular. Queen Elizabeth I rainbow portrait is the highlight of a really good art collection. One of the guides told me the nearly untouched Jacobean interiors survived due to the lack of funds to revamp the place in the XVIII by the likes of Robert Adam or William Kent (although there's a chair by the latter). I absolutely loved the visit and the park and gardens are very beautiful.