Melbourne, a manor that had belonged to the Bishop of Carlisle in the twelfth century, was partly rebuilt in 1629–31 for Sir John Coke by a Derbyshire mason, Richard Shepherd.

[4] In 1692 it was inherited by Thomas Coke (1675–1727), a gentleman architect in the golden age of English amateur architecture, who laid out the formal gardens that survive, with some professional assistance from Henry Wise, between about 1696 and 1706: there are avenues, a parterre, a yew walk that has become a yew tunnel, basins and fountains, and lead and stone sculpture, much of it supplied by John Nost.

At the sale of Nost's effects, Sir Thomas purchased his copy of Serlio's Five Books of Architecture, English'd by Robert Peake, which is still in the Library.

After the death of the 6th Earl, it was leased for twenty years to Colonel & Mrs Henry Gooch, who modernised the house and restored the church.

Those features listed Grade I include: six pairs of cherubim,[14][15][16][17] statues of Perseus,[18] Mercury,[19] and Andromeda[20] the Birdcage Arbour,[21] the Muniment Room[22] and a barn,[23] seats near the Fountain Pond,[24][25] eight vases,[26][27][28][29][30] two fountains flanking the Lower Terrace,[31][32] the steps that link the Top, Upper and Lower Terraces,[33] and the Tea Rooms,[34] a pair of statues depicting slaves,[35] and the walls to the south and east of the house.

[41] An ice house,[42] an urn[43] and a pair of metal flower baskets,[44] and three sets of walls are listed at Grade II.