The house received some modifications in the seventeenth century, particularly in 1654 when Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Bt, returned from his political exile and began to rebuild the family fortune after the Civil War.

[4] Later in 1759, Lord Verney constructed a new west wing for the house faced in stone to provide a suite of state apartments.

Following his election as MP for Buckinghamshire in 1768, Verney vastly expanded this house to create a new central rotunda entrance hall and ballroom wing.

[4] However, the house as it stands today is a fraction of its original planned size as the ballroom and rotunda were dismantled in 1791-92 after the Earl's death.

Lord Verney ran into financial problems before the latter two wings were entirely completed, and had to spend the final years of his life on the continent to escape his creditors.

[9] The exterior of the house is quite austere – seven bays in total, on two floors, with a three-bayed central prominent elevation surmounted by a pediment.

The broken pedimented door cases are adorned with rococo carving, by Luke Lightfoot, the most talented wood carver of the era, who worked extensively on the great mansion.

The walls of the staircase hall are ornamented with medallions and carved garlands reflecting the theme established in the main reception rooms.

The wrought iron balustrade of the stairs contains ironwork ears of wheat, which rustle like the real thing as one ascends the flights.

The entire room is a fantasy of carved pagodas, Chinese fretwork, bells and temples while oriental scrolls and swirls swoop around the walls and doors reaching a crescendo in the temple-like canopy, which would have once contained a bed, but now gives a throne-like importance to a divan.