I HAVE lost count of the number of country houses I have visited, most of them using my membership of the National Trust.

And I can honestly say that I have enjoyed my time in them, but now realise that I haven't seen them at all; not the real them.

A wealth of pictures on the walls, grand furnishings and loads of exquisite jewellery and ceramics, yes. But I have never really noticed the architecture guarding such wonderful collections.

That has all changed. Not actually through visiting a country house, but by suddenly discovering cathedral architecture.

Just like the country houses I visited, cathedrals show off wonderful artefacts, and it was while visiting a cathedral in the south that I realised what I had been missing... the buildings' amazing architecture.

Consequently, country houses have also taken on a new look, and it has been much helped by The Country House Explained, a book which guides novices such as me through a time chart of country house development.

Country houses of England were built as an expression of power and wealth by previous generations, and many still welcome visitors (in fact most rely on public support to survive, but how many of us appreciate the finer points of their design?

This book by Trevor Yorke, a full-time artist and designer, is magnificently illustrated with photographs and line drawings. Its most helpful features include drawings with easy references to the architecture plus a comprehensive explanation of the terminology which so many house guide books use to describe architectural styles but which, at the same time, leave visitors wondering what they are actually writing about.

There are chapters which guide you through house styles from the later medieval of the 1300s to the Edwardian houses of the early 20th century, continuing the journey to the rooms inside, and finally outside to the design of estate lands and gardens.

It is a great book and means visits to such Yorkshire homes as Castle Howard (Baroque), Nostell Priory (Palladian) and Constable Burton (Neo-Classic) will be even more interesting now I understand more.

Updated: 10:04 Wednesday, December 17, 2003