We're all familiar with the grand mansions that dot the British Isles. At their height, they hosted hundreds of staff serving their aristocratic, industrialist (and slave-owning) inhabitants. Today, these buildings are more likely to host film and tv crews or tour groups. This is a marked contrast to their teetering fate by the end of the Second World War, with many left in ruins, sold off, or simply demolished as aristocratic families fought over the scraps of empire. But many others did survive and bounced back with gusto. Adrian Tinniswood joins Blueprint to tell this tale. He's the convenor of Buckingham University's Country House Studies program, and is author of Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the Post-War Country House.