Ferdinand de Rothschild spared no expense on his French Renaissance-style chateau in the Buckinghamshire countryside in the 1870s and 1880s. The house and its contents are breathtaking in their opulence. The treasures include clock, Sèvres porcelain, lace, and paintings by Gainsboroguh, Rubens and others. Within the grounds are two fountains and an aviary. Waddesdon, in the care of the National Trust, is the grandest of a trio of local Rothschild mansions. The others are Mentmore Towers and Ascot.

Exploring Britain, Fodor's Travel Publications

More than sixty years have passed since the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson escaped the attention of the world and fled to this Art Deco retreat on its own 26-acre private island off the southern coast of Devon. Renovated with panache by new owners who mercifully left a whiff of its Deco decadence intact, Burgh Island is still the place to renounce life's pressing matters and revel in the island aura that inspired Agatha Christie (who was born in Devon) to pen And Then there Were None and Evil Under the Sun during a visit in the early 1930s. It is not hard to conjure up the moment when Jazz Age Brits flocked here and Noel Coward sipped gin cocktails at this then-exclusive retreat built in 1929 by millionaire Archibald Nettlefold to host his world-weary friends. Reached by a kind of giant sea tractor during high tide, or by foot across the sands at low tide, it is an easy return to terra firma to visit some of the highlights of Devon's beautiful coastline (such as Dartmouth or Plymouth, both within forty minutes). But the whole idea is to enjoy the life of a privileged castaway; afternoon cream tea (this is after all Devon, where the tradition is sacrosanct) is served in the hotel's Palm Court

1,000 Places To See Before You Die | By Patricia Schultz