Stately home? No, just a two-bedroom terrace that could be yours for £375,000

An Englishman’s home is his castle, they say. But in one unassuming Northamptonshire village, it is a woman who has taken that expression to heart — and the results are truly jaw-dropping.

Step through the front door of this two-bedroom terrace cottage in the parish of Cranford, and you are transported back hundreds of years into a world of manorial magnificence.

Ceilings are painted with lavishly ornate designs, the bedroom walls are covered in heavy luxuriant fabric and there are stuffed animals at every turn.

Elaborate artworks include a giant peacock in the dining area and a portrait of Elizabeth I behind the fireplace

Golden slumbers: Bedroom One, the Balmoral Suite, has a £3,500 four-poster bed.The flamboyant artwork took a year to finish, with the ceiling painting in her daughter’s room taking four months alone. It is a homage to a Renaissance scene which Ms Mancini saw in a chapel in Italy 

Mariana transformed her daughter’s bedroom by creating an elaborate ceiling painting and decorating the rest of the bedroom in a stunning white and gold design. The ceiling painting shows Icarus falling to earth and took four months to complete

Marianna Mancini, 50, transformed her home after visiting Belvoir Castle. She fell in love with its romantic splendour and spent tens of thousands of pounds on remodelling her home on the same lines.

Ms Mancini even hired a local artist to paint walls and ceilings — just like Belvoir’s famous drawing room. Elaborate artworks include a giant peacock in the dining area and a portrait of Elizabeth I behind the fireplace.

Some of the taxidermy includes a fox in the process of ‘catching’ a pheasant on the staircase, the head of a majestic stag mounted on a wall in the living room and a peacock in the conservatory. The mother-of-one said: ‘I have tried to give it a spin on Belvoir Castle because I love what the Duchess of Rutland, Emma Manners, has achieved there.’

Ms Mancini, a nurse practitioner, is now trying to sell her home for £375,000, but she says the lucky buyer can also purchase the entire house fully furnished for an undisclosed additional fee.

She spent all of her spare cash over the course of three years to give the 1,023 sq ft cottage — which she bought in 2006 — the stately home feel. The work was finally completed 18 months ago and Ms Mancini wants to begin another project in a new home.

The flamboyant artwork took a year to finish, with the ceiling painting in her daughter’s room taking four months alone. It is a homage to a Renaissance scene which Ms Mancini saw in a chapel in Italy.

The ceilings at her home in Kettering, Northamptonshire are painted with lavishly ornate designs, the bedroom walls are covered in heavy luxuriant fabric and there are stuffed animals at every turn

The downstairs lounge featured a antique fireplace and one of the many stuffed animals that are scattered around her home

Portraits of Charles  II and Edward VII in the living room. Ms Mancini, a nurse practitioner, is now trying to sell her home for £375,000, but she says the lucky buyer can also purchase the entire house fully furnished for an undisclosed additional fee.

Taking in the sumptuous fabrics, chintzy wallpaper and heavy velvet drapes, Ms Mancini was left in awe at the skill of the castle’s design team 

She spent all of her spare cash over the course of three years to give the 1,023 sq ft cottage — which she bought in 2006 — the stately home feel

Her love for the former royal manor became a personal obsession as she turned her own two-bedroom terrace into a homage to the stately home. Some of the taxidermy includes this peacock in the conservatory

And here’s the original  

Crowing a hill in rural Leicestershire, Belvoir Castle (pronounced ‘Beaver’) is one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in the world.

It has been the home of the Duke of Rutland’s family since 1067 after William the Conqueror gifted the land to his standard bearer Robert de Todeni, the first Baron of Belvoir. The present Duchess of Rutland, Emma Manners, (above) runs the estate.

The castle — the fourth to occupy the site — was completed in 1832 and is packed with artworks and antique furniture. It is open to the public on selected dates between March and October

Crowning  a hill in rural Leicestershire, Belvoir Castle (pronounced ‘Beaver’) is one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in the world. It is owned by the Duke of Rutland’s family. Right: the present Duchess of Rutland, Emma Manners, (above) runs the estate