The Massive Estate That Inspired Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice Is for Sale

The super-sized British estate known as Wentworth Woodhouse is reportedly what inspired Jane Austen to create the Pemberley Estate in her classic novel Pride and Prejudice, and the man who once inhabited it, the Fourth Earl Fitzwilliam, inspired the creation of the timeless (and um, perfect) Mr. Darcy. And now, the largest private residence in Europe is for sale for 7 million euros (approximately $11 million), according to The Daily Mail (opens in new tab). And while £7 million may seem reasonable when you consider the home spans five miles of corridors, and has a room for every day of the year, the lucky new owner also stands to inherit a repair bill as large as £42 million.

Wentworth Woodhouse was built by the First Marquess of Rockingham in 1725, according to Curbed (opens in new tab), and was later occupied by the First Earl of Stafford and the Second Marquess of Rockingham, who later served as Prime Minister. In its prime there were rooms specified for anything you could imagine—the family, barber, candles, lightbulbs—and guests were given baskets of confetti to create a trail from the dining room back to their quarters, according to The Telegraph (opens in new tab).

The estate has been featured in numerous period pieces on TV and in film, and was utilized by the military during WWI, but began to decline in the 1950s. Now the Newbold family, who purchased the estate in 1999, is looking to pass it on to someone who can take on the daunting project of restoring the grand manner and returning it to its former glory. Check out the photos below to get a peek at just a few of the estate's numerous rooms and the gorgeous grounds.