You have joined us before on Tea Time Talks with the charming informative Nicholas Merchant. Whether we were jaunting through royal residences or trying tiaras, he has been our guide. Now he is going to delve into the histories of three great English architects who, over the Georgian and Victorian periods, were the Go-To Men if you wanted a Stately Home.

First we will meet Jeffry Wyatt (1766 – 1840). Nephew of the classical architect James Wyatt buried at Westminster Abbey alongside luminaries Adam and Chambers, Jeffry would earn the honour of burial at St. Georges’ Chapel, Windsor for his own architectural prowess. Indeed Wyatt was allowed in 1828 by his patron King George IV to change his surname to Wyatville on his elevation to Sir in gratitude for the alterations and extensions he made to the Castle.

The awarding of that prestigious commission came after a competition among several architects including John Nash and John Soane who later withdrew his own designs. Wyatt lived at Windsor at the start of the works and remained there until his death. The great names of country houses appear throughout his long career – Belton, Bretton, Cassiobury, Chatsworth – an alphabet soup of properties. But he will forever be associated with the taste he created at Windsor.

Grab a cuppa and dream about what your own stately home might resemble. The varying styles of the architects revealed through January will give you much on which to muse.