The Duke is located in a small hamlet called Henley, just outside Fernhurst and very near to Midhurst, which has some of this country’s first class polo grounds at Cowdray. With a long and illustrious history, Cowdray Park is recognised worldwide as the Home of British Polo. Set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, within Viscount Cowdray’s 16,500 acre estate in West Sussex, the game of polo has been played at Cowdray for close on a century. The Gold Cup continues to be the highlight of the annual polo season. For more details please go to the Cowdray website at www.cowdray.co.uk

Also just a stone’s throw away is the famous Goodwood Estate incorporating both the worlds of horse and motor racing. Set on top of the Sussex Downs, Goodwood is not only a breathtaking backdrop for some of the very finest flat racing, but is also one of the world’s greatest venues for entertaining in this international sport. There are few moments in racing to equal the thrill of a top class field making that final sprint to the winning post. Goodwood is now also home to the famous annual Festival of Speed and Revival events. For more details please go to the Goodwood website at www.goodwood.co.uk

Petworth house, a vast late 17th-century mansion, is set in a beautiful 700-acre deer park, landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown and immortalised in Turner’s paintings. The house contains the National Trust’s finest collection of pictures, with numerous works by Turner, Van Dyck, Reynolds and Blake, as well as ancient and neo-classical sculpture, fine furniture and carvings by Grinling Gibbons. The servants’ quarters contain fascinating kitchens (including a splendid copper batterie de cuisine of more than 1,000 pieces) and other service rooms. On weekdays additional rooms in the house are open to visitors by kind permission of Lord and Lady Egremont. For more details visit National Trust site www.nationaltrust.org.uk