Stately home discomforts...

There's something spooky going on at many of the UK's country retreats. We take a closer look at some of them

- DAISY FOX

HIDDEN doors, secret passages, paintings with eyes that seem to follow you around the room... all is not as it seems in Britain's stately homes.

Secret doors are often painted or wallpapered to look like the walls that surround them. Where better to hide a secret door than behind a bookcase?

The library at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk gives visitors a clue on how to find it. One of the fake books is entitled La Porte, which is French for “the door”.

Painters used a technique called Trompe l'oeil, “deceive the eye” in French. Items in paintings and murals are so well executed that they appear to be three-dimensional.