British photographer Cecil Beaton spent the better part of his career utterly enamored with the Wilton House, a historic English country home owned by the Earls of Pembroke. Now, a new exhibition of Beaton's photographs shot between the 1920s and the 1970s showcase not only the stately mansion and massive, manicured lawn at the Wilton House—which Beaton once called "unfailing in its beauty"—but also the decadent parties and costume balls at some of the other stately summer homes in the area. Take a look at just a few of the photos, below, and enjoy a glamorous trip through the English summers of yesteryear:
(↑) The Countess of Pembroke at the Wilton House in October 1971.
(↑) A group of young people, including British aristocrat Stephen Tennant, at a party at the Wilsford Manor in 1927.
· Cecil Beaton: costume balls and country house decadence from the 1920s to the 1970s [Telegraph]