The history of England is inseparable from the history of its elite - kings and dukes, barons and counts. The glorious families that once controlled the fate of the state are now in decline. English castles and estates also experienced prosperity and desolation, and many of them parted with their owners forever. But listen - music in stone still sounds within their walls, and ghosts of the past roam! In a light ironic manner, the author talks about knights and politicians, architects and gardeners, writers and ghosts - all those whose destinies are in one way or another connected with the noble nests of the good old England.