This is the second largest inhabited castle in England, after Windsor, and has been home to the Percy family since 1309. The Abbot’s Tower, the Middle Gateway and the Constable’s Tower all date back to this period. Also of interest is the pietra-dura cabinets in the magnificent Drawing Room which feature the cipher of Louis XIV and were originally made in the 17th Century for his palace at Versailles, and the state coach which was used to transport the Third Duke of Northumberland to the coronation of France’s Charles X.