Not all homes are simply bricks and mortar. Some are marble and gold, grand columns and ornate mosaics, and sweeping dining rooms filled with antique furniture. From sprawling estates with vineyards to elaborate palaces and UK properties that put Downton Abbey to shame (plus Highclere Castle, where the series was filmed), we peek inside the world’s most incredible stately homes.

This California landmark, perched above the state's ruggedly beautiful Central Coast, is the impeccably realised manifestation of one man’s ultimate dream. That man was publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who was inspired by the ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe he took with his mother as a boy.

The interior is filled with evidence of the owners’ luxurious lifestyle, from rare antique furniture to family heirlooms, with areas from chintzy floral lounge rooms to servants’ quarters all impeccably preserved. Discover more incredible places you won't believe are in Australia.

The estate itself is more like a village, albeit the village of dreams with a winery, manicured gardens bursting with bright blooms, and even an indoor bowling alley. Inside the main château-style house, the 250-odd rooms range from opulent bedrooms and a medieval-style banqueting hall (pictured) to the servants’ quarters and kitchens. Check out the spectacular American castles you never knew existed.

The estate was added to by various monarchs over the years, most notably King Louis XIV, who constructed extra wings, grottos and neat-as-a-pin gardens. Other highlights include Marie Antoinette’s rooms, which are models of opulent Rococo-style decor with soft florals, green velvet and an eye-popping amount of gold. These are the world's most beautiful gardens.

Downton Abbey is set in a fictional Yorkshire country estate of the same name, but of course the Jacobean Revival-style building does exist in real life. Highclere Castle, used for the exterior shots in the TV series and film, is actually close to the town of Newbury, Berkshire.

This whimsical castle in Sozopol is the stuff of dreams and fairy tales, and its alternative name – ‘In Love with the Wind’ – only adds to its charms. It was designed by champion wrestler Georgi Kostadinov Tumpalov, who worked with a team of builders to craft the medieval-style structure from 20,000 tonnes of stone.

Perched on a hilltop in midtown Toronto, Casa Loma looks lovely from any angle and in any light. Built between 1911 and 1914, the gothic revival–style mansion is also a Hollywood star. Scenes from the movie Chicago were shot here and it was used as the location of Xavier’s school in the X-Men series.

Blenheim Palace is the only non-royal home in the UK to hold such a regal title, though the Oxfordshire estate has some pretty stellar connections. Sir Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace – his parents’ second home – in 1874. The English Baroque–style mansion was built between 1705 and 1722, and is surrounded by impeccably manicured gardens designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, one of the UK’s most renowned landscape architects.

Each of the 187 rooms – plus a series of previously hidden rooms discovered under its iconic Grand Bridge in 2018 – is gorgeously opulent. But arguably the most awe-inspiring is the Great Hall, whose marble pillars soar upwards, past niches with statues, to the ceiling, painted by Sir James Thornhill around 1716.

Oheka Castle, in Long Island, is certainly a handsome mansion. But it’s the stories surrounding the mansion, built between 1914 and 1919, that really enchant. The second-largest private residence in the US (after the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina), it’s said to be the inspiration behind the glitzy manor in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. It’s also featured in diverse productions from Citizen Kane to a Taylor Swift music video.

Even the name is fascinating – it’s an acronym of Otto Hermann Kahn, the financier who built the French-style chateau. He used the estate as a summer home, hosting lavish parties worthy of Jay Gatsby himself in rooms such as the library, in richly decorated jewel shades.

Palaces, as a rule, don’t tend to be hard on the eye. But few are so heart-flutteringly pretty as Pena Palace, whose butter-yellow turrets and brick-red towers rise above the treetops in hilly Sintra, just outside Lisbon. The multi-coloured beauty, an example of 19th-century Romanticism, was commissioned by King Ferdinand II and completed in 1854, and has been home to Portuguese royals through the years.

The exterior and grounds are filled with storybook details, from tiny gargoyles to hidden pathways weaving through forest. And the interior is equally striking and worthy of a fairy tale. The dining room and adjoining pantry, for example, have vaulted ceilings and walls covered with intricate tiles.

Built by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1555 and 1587, you might recognise the grand country home from several films, including Pride and Prejudice and The Da Vinci Code. Located near the historic and pretty town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, its exquisite exterior is one of the leading examples of Elizabethan stately homes.

But the castle was also a dream world for its designer, Ludwig. Neuschwanstein’s interiors display Ludwig’s desire to escape into the medieval world that inspired the operas of German composer Richard Wagner. The castle is dedicated to Wagner and much of the art inside depicts the kings, poets and knights that appear in the composer’s work. Discover Germany's small towns and cities here too. 

The Alhambra served as a royal palace and its exquisite gardens are home to many beautiful walkways and fountains. A palace and fortress complex rather than an individual stately home, Alhambra consists of a royal complex, several courts and halls and a collection of outlying buildings. Discover more secrets of the world's incredible castles

The Alhambra’s structures are elaborately decorated from floor-to-ceiling and it’s easy to imagine royalty walking through the fragrant gardens. Its beauty has inspired many works of literature and film including Washington Irving’s book Tales of the Alhambra. 

The interior of the castle is particularly interesting as it's so richly ornamented with woodwork, it resembles an interior of a Roman Catholic church. The grand home's collection includes beautiful porcelains from Japan and China, several old Flemish tapestries and paintings and its most prized possession – a carrier coach of a woman of a shōgun (Japanese military dictator). It's one of the two last such coaches in the world with the other displayed in a museum in Tokyo. READ MORE: Beautiful images of the world's abandoned castles