St Giles House in Dorset, the family seat of the Earls of Shaftesbury since the 17th century, is the winner of the 2015 Historic Houses Association (HHA) & Sotheby’s Restoration Award. The house was begun under the first Earl of Shaftesbury—a founding member of the Whig party—in 1651, built with elements from a 14th-century manor house that already existed on the site

The prize-winning restoration project was led by the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, who was only 25 years old when he inherited the 5,000-acre estate in 2005, and the Countess of Shaftesbury.