'A haunt of ancient peace' With these famous words, the poet Tennyson sums up the qualities of stability and gentle age that make Gunby special. This out-of-the-way place is the quintessential small English country house, garden and estate. For six centuries, it has been the much-loved home of the Massingberds, who have fostered fascinating friends - from Dr Johnson in the 18th century to Rudyard Kipling in the 20th, from Charles Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, William Holman Hunt to Virginia Woolf, Edward Lear to Ralph Vaughan Williams. The series of ancient brick-walled enclosures, planted with intimate care and infinite knowledge, have an aged and settled look. The estate is a green oasis in an area of intensive arable cultivation and increasing commercial development.

Andrew Barber is the National Trust's curator responsible for Gunby and also the author of the recent Packwood guidebook