St Giles House is a Grade I listed 17th‑century country house at Wimborne St Giles, just south of Cranborne Chase in Dorset, and the ancestral seat of the Ashley‑Cooper Earls of Shaftesbury. Built around 1651 in a low, quadrangular plan with strongly Renaissance north and east fronts, it shows clear Inigo Jones influence in its classical façades, although the architect is unknown. The estate today extends over roughly 5,500 acres of parkland through which the River Allen runs, feeding a seven‑acre lake and framing the house in designed landscape now listed for its historic importance
 
Historically, St Giles was a major intellectual and political hub: the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, a key founder of the Whig party, lived here, and his close friend and secretary John Locke spent extended periods at the house. The interiors once included a notable shell grotto with walls lined in shells, fossils, coral, and stone, conceived to evoke an underwater chamber and now seen as an early example of “antique surrealism”.
 
Derelict for 50 years and falling apart before a major restoration. One of the most inspiring country‑house restorations of the 21st century and forms the centre of the Shaftesbury Estate.
 
Interesting facts...
It has a full nightclub with a Function-One sound system in the basement! not something you would expect.