Living it up with a crowd of friends in a large, borrowed country house is a luxury usually associated with the rich and famous (think Robbie Williams's shindig at Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire, or Paul McCartney's extravagant wedding celebration at Castle Leslie in Ireland).
But the popularity of the weekend house party has inspired dozens of big-house owners to offer up their rambling country piles, mansions or castles to provide self-catering accommodation on a grand scale. And many of these properties are surprisingly affordable. A couple of thousand quid may sound expensive but split it between, say, 20 adults, or five families and it not only works out cheaper than a hotel but the accommodation is more intimate and more interesting.
For many of the owners, house-party rentals are a way of making a living out of the old family home without making drastic changes, so the emphasis is usually on home comforts rather than unbridled luxury. Your hired house may not, for example, offer en-suite bathrooms, but it may give the chance to whoop it up in a ballroom-sized drawing room, hold a dinner party in a Georgian dining room, or wander around in a few hundred acres of estate parkland. And nobody has to get home after the party.
The only downside is that these houses are so popular (for weddings, corporate events, family reunions, birthday parties) that they are often booked up months, even years, in advance. New Year's Eve? You may just get something for 2004.
Belle Isle Castle Lisbellaw, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Set in the wildly beautiful Fermanagh lake district, this impressive Irish manor house sits on its own 250-acre island in Upper Lough Erne and is linked to the mainland by a bridge.
The house, which dates from the late 18th century, was in poor condition when the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn bought Belle Isle in 1991, but the renovated estate now offers a string of smart holiday lets - including a wing of the castle which has striking modern-antique interiors designed by the late David Hicks.
House-party guests get to dine in the spectacular Great Hall (with barrelled ceiling and minstrels' gallery), or loaf around in the vast drawing room, both of which are decorated with traditional Anglo-Celtic decor, some fine furniture and paintings (including a bit of Russian art and several Landseers), and a bold Hicks colour scheme that extends to the themed bedrooms (choose from the Green Room, Red Room, Russian or Chanel - the latter being furnished with Coco's bateau lit bed).
Price: from £1,620 per week, or from £1,134 for a three-night weekend.
Sleeps: up to 14 people in four doubles, two twins and two singles, plus seven bathrooms.
Added value: Tennis courts, fishing and boating on the lake (borrow the duke's motor cruiser); plus further accommodation in estate cottages.
Contact: 028-6638 7231, belleislecastle.com.
Colehayes Manor Bovey Tracey, Devon
With 20 acres of parkland and its own boating lake, this solid Haytor-granite mansion on the eastern edge of Dartmoor claims to be the largest self-catering property in the UK. Indeed, there's room for at least 10 families, and the place is such a warren of staircases and corridors that it's easy to get lost. But Colehayes is by no means grand, and although there is loads of space (including an original 1820s oak-panelled reception hall), its occasional use as a field-study centre gives it a confused identity. The shower block, five-bed dorms and the robustly industrial kitchen are okay for blokey outward bound courses, but not ideal for grown-up house parties.
Still, it's a great place for families with run-around kids or large groups of young singles (recent guests Prince Harry and friends had a whale of a time, apparently). And the "modest" furnishings and shabby (but not chic) decor means no worries about precious antiques and no formalities.
Price: from £1,874 for a three-night break for 30 people (extra guests are charged extra pro rata).
Sleeps: up to 70 in 21 bedrooms (of which only two are doubles) plus eight showers, two baths, and 14 loos.
Added value: Time-warped bar furnished with Formica and leatherette overlooking early 19th-century formal gardens. Optional use of barman on request.
Contact: 01647 433593, helpfulholidays.co.uk.
Park House Kirkcudbright, Dumfries
A 19th-century Scottish dower house in grey stone, Park House was once part of the Earl of Selkirk's estate. Although now divided into two - the main house on the lower two floors, and a self-contained apartment in the attic - it can be booked as a whole to provide an over-sized holiday let in two acres of gardens.
Accommodation includes a huge games room, two large lounges (with open fires), a dining room with 16-seater table, a utilitarian but well-equipped modern kitchen, and views of garden greenery from its many tall sash windows. The decor is unfussy, traditional and furnished with sombre French-polished Victoriana (and the odd sludge-green Dralon sofa) but it's spacious, comfortable and one of the best-value party houses available.
Price: £300 per night for the whole house (or £200 for the lower two floors) for a minimum of two-nights.
Sleeps: Up to 24 combining the main house (which sleeps 16 in two family bedrooms, three doubles and one single, plus three bathrooms) and the attic floor apartment (which sleeps eight).
Added value: The shops, pubs and restaurants of Kirkcudbright harbour are only a quarter of a mile away.
Contact: 01557 330308, parkhouse-scotland.co.uk.
Plas Dinas, Caernarfon, North Wales
An elegant Grade II-listed country house, with views of Snowdonia and the Irish sea, Plas Dinas is the former home of the Armstrong-Jones family (and was once a favourite haunt of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon).
The accommodation is beautifully furnished with antiques and family heirlooms, and has all the trappings of a luxury hotel but without the formalities. There are four-posters in some of the bedrooms, log fires, comfy sofas, a piano in the drawing room, space for 36 in the dining room, hunting memorabilia in the gun room, and tasteful colours schemes and low lighting throughout.
Though best-suited to groups of well-behaved grown-ups, the owners welcome children and pets. And when the house is not booked for self-catering house parties, it's run as a small hotel.
Price: from £1,200 a week (weekends on application).
Sleeps: Up to 24, in nine bedrooms (seven double, one twin, one family with room for extra beds).
Added value: Lots of electronic luxuries such as kitchen gadgets, a PlayStation for the children and televisions in all bedrooms.
Contact: 01286 830214, largecountryhouses.co.uk.
The Old Rectory, Symondsbury, Dorset
Dating from 1720, this Grade II-listed Georgian house was one of the largest village rectories in England, before it was sold to the present owners in the 1950s. They still live there, in what was the old servant's wing, but the main house is offered as three floors of splendid but modestly furnished self-catering accommodation overlooking the thatched roof tops of a quaintly rustic Dorset village.
Stuffed with original features (flagstones, delicate plaster mouldings, oak floors), the rectory's accommodation includes a tiny Georgian kitchen overlooking a beautifully crumbling courtyard, a billiard room-cum-library, a dining room with seating for 20, and drawing room with an open marble fireplace, and a wooden veranda leading on to a lawned garden. The furnishings are eclectic and occasionally eccentric (various unmatching sofas, stuffed owls, grand piano, French boat beds), and the decor is relaxed and understated, verging on shabby-chic with an authentic time-warped atmosphere.
Price: £80pp (for a minimum of 12), for a two-night weekend, plus £50 for winter fuel.
Sleeps: Up to 22 people in eight double and three twin bedrooms; two bathrooms, two shower rooms.
Added value: A nine-bedroom wing of the neighbouring Jacobean manor house is also available for weekend rents (symondsbury.com). Contact: 01308 422575, symondsbury.biz.
Pekes, Chiddingly, East Sussex
A tile-hung Tudor manor house built in 1550 on the site of a Norman longhouse (founded by a Monsieur de Peke), Pekes is a rambling old property overlooking private lawns and its own 26 acres of Sussex countryside. All dark oak panelling, creaky floors, and genuine Tudor beams, it has three reception rooms, a games room and a huge period kitchen (complete with Aga, original brick floor and, oddly, a working harmonium). Furnishings err on the side of sombre Victorian (old-fashioned but not chintzy; antique but not too precious). And it's a great place for a wedding or a family reunion (and perfect for a murder-mystery weekend). But the owners discourage all-male groups, dogs and 21st birthdayparties.
Price: from £1,500 for three nights. Linen provided at an extra £10-15 per bed (or bring your own).
Sleeps: Up to 18 in eight bedrooms (four double, three twin and one triple, plus extra single beds in double rooms) and four bathrooms.
Added value: Further 12 beds available in an oast-house in the grounds (from £750), use of indoor swimming pool, sauna and spa.
Contact: 020-7352 8088, pekesmanor.com.
If you like those...
The Big Domain
A one-stop website introducing dozens of party-sized venues in the UK and beyond. They include Bruisyard Hall in Suffolk, Eilean Shona, a house and 2,000-acre Scottish island owned by Richard Branson's sister, and Clipper House in Looe, Cornwall - a sea-view property with contemporary interiors and nine en-suite bedrooms (weekly lets only).
· 0117 9043286, thebigdomain.co.uk.
The Big House Company
A consortium of four large self-catering properties in Somerset. Sleeping 10-20 people, they include Tone Dale House (Palladian villa in Wellington), nearby Gerbestone Manor, and Mill Barton (a converted barn near Taunton).
· 01823 662673, thebighouseco.com.
Helpful Holidays
West Country self-catering holiday specialist that offers 25 large properties with room for 14-70 people.
· 01647 433593, helpfulholidays.com.
Blandings
Posh agency specialising in 'exclusive' country houses, many of which offer fully-serviced ancestral homes stuffed with family heirlooms. Properties include Lartington Hall, a17th-century, Grade II-listed mansion in County Durham, which sleeps up to 30 in 12 bedrooms (from £3,000 per weekend).
· 020-7947 3290, blandings.co.uk.
Scotts Castle Holidays
Self-catering castles include Glen House (the Peebleshire seat of the Tennant family), an over-dressed Victorian baronial mansion with room for up to 40 guests (from £3,640 a day) and Boturich Castle on Loch Lomond with room for 15 (at £2,250 for three nights).
· 01339 880011, scottscastles.com.
House in the Clouds
Situated at Thorpeness in Suffolk, this is a converted water tower. It sleeps up to 12 people and costs from £306 per night (or £1,230 per week).
· 020-7224 3615.
The Samling
This chic boutique hotel on Windermere in Cumbria, is not only popular with celebs (Nicole Kidman and the Beckhams, for example), it can also be hired as a whole for a house party. For seven couples (or 10 singles), it costs £3,000 per night including meals and unlimited wine.
· 015394 31922, thesamling.com.