POLLOK HOUSE

Mackintosh would almost make us forget the other great Scottish architects, such as William Adam, to whom we owe this charming 1752 villa. In addition to its lush green gardens with 1,000 rhododendrons, it contains a good number of master paintings. The Italians are well represented, with Francisco Goya, El Greco and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, but there is also the British William Blake, whose work is so inspired. This was the home of the Maxwell family, whose Edwardian lifestyle still lives on in every room.