Your Places or Mine
Episodes
Chim-Chiminee: The History of the Chimney
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis is the time of year when thoughts turn to mince pies, Christmas shopping, mulled wine – and chimneys, whether it is to settle aro...
Vanbrugh at 300: Celebrating The Life and Times of Sir John Vanbrugh (With Charles Saumarez Smith)
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn today's episode of Your Places or Mine, John is joined by the inimitable Charles Saumarez Smith who divulges all he knows about ...
Journalists and Gentlemen: How the Georgian Group Saved London
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe founding of the Georgian Group in 1937 was a milestone in the movement to save beautiful architecture. With an anniversary around ...
The Tale of Parliament Part 2 - The House of Lords
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLast week’s Your Places of Mine celebrated the rebuilding of the House of Commons after the original interior was bombed during one of...
The Tale of Parliament Part 1 - The House of Commons
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOn May 10, 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the seat of British democracy, the chamber of the House of Commons. This was not the fir...
Albi Cathedral: The Greatest Brick Building in the World
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week John and Clive are bowled over by Albi Cathedral, a towering, outwardly austere edifice of rosy brick which is ‘quite unlike...
Magnates and Mansions: Who Were The American Millionaires That Loved the British Country House?
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPhipps, Carnegie and Old Westbury GardensIn its turn of the 20th-century heyday, Long Island could boast no fewer than 900 country house...
A Spymaster's Lair: The Unmissable Splendour of Hatfield House
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textClive has just been to an event at Hatfield House, the palace to the North of London which stands as a monument to the political gene o...
Cathedral on Fire: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Notre-Dame
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn 2019 a devastating fire consumed the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of the towering symbols of French identity, and it seemed ...
The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: A Threaded Tale of Heroes and Conquerors
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAn extraordinary cultural loan is about to take place: soon, while its home in France is being improved, the Bayeux Tapestry will be dis...
War Memorials Of WW1: The Secret Meaning of The Stone
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn advance of Remembrance Sunday on November 11, Clive has been visiting the Commonwealth War Graves in France. The Imperial War Grave...
The History of Salisbury Cathedral: How Did They Move a Medieval Marvel?
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhich cathedral is closest to the English heart? Impossible to say but it may be Salisbury, the subject of this week’s Your Places o...
Stucco and Style: John Nash’s Regent Street
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe creation of Regent Street under the Prince Regent is a rare instance of a master plan that reshaped London. It linked North and Sout...
Golden Hills, Golden Stone: The Story of The Cotswolds
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday, the Cotswolds are famous around the world, as can be seen from the number of celebrities making their homes here. They are a br...
Sennowe Park: A Gilded Age Mansion
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSennowe Park in North Norfolk is one of the most ebullient country houses built during the swaggering Edwardian decade at the beginning ...
The History of Bath, From Roman to Regency
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Romans arrived at Bath in AD43, calling it Sulis Minerva – a combination of the goddess Minerva with the local deity of Sulis. T...
Privacy and Power in The Country House
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThese days, privacy is high on the agenda. There are huge concerns over data, images, digital identity and personal space, all of whic...
Hot History: The Great Fire of Northampton 1675
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEveryone has heard about the Great Fire of London – but what about the Great Fire of Northampton…or Marlborough…or Blandford Forum...
Charles III's Love Affair With Romania
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe then Prince of Wales first came to Transylvania in the late 1990s on an official visit. It’s the only time he’s come on busine...
Great British Builders: Lutyens, Wren and The City of London (LIVE at The Ned's Club)
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFor the first time in the history of this podcast, Your Places or Mine has gone on location. John and Clive have been invited to The N...
Sovereignty in Stone: The Kings of Windsor Castle
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text Windsor Castle has been imbued with symbolism since William the Conqueror founded it after the invasion of 1066. He took the name of W...
12 Crosses That Remember a Queen (with History Alice)
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week YPOMPOD is joined by Alice Loxton — History Alice to her many followers — to discuss the extraordinary series of crosses t...
The Dollar Princesses Who Revolutionised The British Country House
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe American girl was a phenomenon, charming, sporty, better educated than her European counterpart. talk on a wide range of subjects. ...
Ramsgate: The Marseille Of The South East
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this summer episode of ypompod, we got to the seaside – to Ramsgate, beloved of Queen Victoria and now home to the biggest Wethersp...
Ewelme: A Village And Its Vanished Medieval Palace
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhere is Ewelme Palace? It was one of the most splendid houses in the country when it was built in the 15th century but nothing of it ...
National Gallery: The Sainsbury Wing And A New Chapter
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe National Gallery, now 200 years old, occupies one of the most famous buildings in London, on the north side of Trafalgar Square. T...
Mediterranean Caprice In Snowdonia: The Story of Portmeirion
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, Clive and John discuss the holiday village of Portmeirion, an improbable, festive vision of the Mediterranean built on ...
Castle Howard: Vanbrugh's Palace Redisplayed
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCastle Howard in Yorkshire is one of a select group of country houses which must be seen as complete works of art. Visitors to the gre...
Glyndebourne: The House That Gave Birth To The Opera Festival
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPicnic hampers, black tie, world-class opera — it’s the season for Glyndebourne, the festival that sired the happy, uniquely British...
The Tower of London: The Most Notorious Castle In England
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Tower of London is one of the great sights of the capital, a place that is as steeped in history as it has sometimes been, through t...
Lutyens And Lady Emily: A Marriage Of Opposites
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn his mid 20s, Lutyens fell passionately in love with Lady Emily Lytton, daughter of the Earl Lytton, a diplomat and Viceroy of India w...
Lutyens And Hudson: Huddy And Ned
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSir Edwin (Ned) Lutyens’s old friend Edward Hudson founded Country Life in 1897. A London printer, he was not a countryman, but comm...
Lutyens And Gertrude Jekyll: Home and Garden
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe first of a series on the early-20th-century architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, this episode examines the relationship between the young Ne...
The Majesty and Splendour Of Westminster Hall
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textClive and John discuss one of the most spectacular medieval buildings in Britain, Westminster Hall. Originally built by William the Conq...
King Charles III's Royal Passion For Architecture
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOne of the greatest of HM the King’s many enthusiasms is architecture. He made his first pronouncements on the subject in 1984 with ...
Pimlico: Mr Cubitt's District
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this first episode of Your Places or Mine, Clive and John are in London’s Pimlico, exploring the dynamic personality of the great V...