Marble Hall and Saloon
Twenty alabaster columns under a top-lit ceiling, then a 19-metre dome: Robert Adam's finest interior.
Before you think about a single room, stop in the Marble Hall: twenty columns of local alabaster rising to a ceiling lit from above, and behind it a domed Saloon nineteen metres high. This was Robert Adam's first great commission, built between 1759 and 1765 for Nathaniel Curzon, and from day one it was meant to impress rather than to be lived in. The main floor stayed a suite of formal state rooms opened only for occasions, while the family lived in the side wings, and still lives in one of them today. The thread that makes the place unexpectedly relevant to a visitor from the Gulf or the Levant is India: Lord Curzon, Viceroy from 1899 to 1905, came home with the weapons, textiles, silver and ivory that now fill the Eastern Museum on the ground floor, and the British Government House in Calcutta was modelled on this very hall. The 107-metre north front with its six-column Corinthian portico justifies the drive on its own, and the landscaped park around the lake and Adam's stone bridge is ideal for a long walk with children on a summer afternoon. Practically, Kedleston is a day trip by car from Nottingham: about 30 km west on the A52 and then the A38, roughly 45 minutes, with a gravel car park by visitor reception (use postcode DE22 5JD for satnav, not the postal address). Without a car, the half-hour train to Derby and a fifteen-minute taxi beats the 114 bus, which only stops at the hall itself on summer Saturdays and otherwise drops you at the estate entrance a mile from the house. No advance booking is needed for individuals, and National Trust membership makes it free, so if three or more stately homes are on your summer list the membership pays for itself quickly. Do not plan a whole day around it: the house opens only from 11:00 to 16:00 with last entry at 15:15, so start there and finish in the park, which stays open until 17:15. The state rooms on the first floor are reached by stairs only, but the ground floor is level, the Trust lends manual wheelchairs inside the hall and at visitor reception, and an accessible shuttle bus runs from the car park to the house, so ask on arrival if you have elderly relatives or a pushchair. In winter the house shortens its hours or opens on limited days while the park stays open, so check the official calendar before you set off.
Twenty alabaster columns under a top-lit ceiling, then a 19-metre dome: Robert Adam's finest interior.
Lord Curzon's Indian and Asian collection, from weapons and silks to silverware, on the ground floor.
Paths around the lake that suit pushchairs in dry weather, open well after the house closes.
Kedleston Road, Quarndon, Derby DE22 5JH
If the children want a farmyard, a playground and huge gardens, Chatsworth suits better, but it is further (about an hour and a quarter), clearly pricier and busier in summer. Kedleston is closer, calmer and cheaper, and its Marble Hall and Saloon outclass most of Chatsworth architecturally; if the building itself is your interest or you want an early return to Nottingham, pick Kedleston.
The park yes, weather permitting, but the house runs shorter hours and may open on limited days only between November and February, and daylight is gone before four. Check the National Trust calendar before driving, and if the house is shut on your day, the park-only ticket does not justify a trip from Nottingham.