Luxury Living: Homes with enticing dining rooms

John Gay’s House is an important Grade II-listed manor house dating from the Tudor period, with later Queen Anne, Georgian and Victorian additions. The original architectural details in this beautiful, fully updated home include the ornate painted ceiling and patterned oak flooring in the dining room. Other highlights include a library, conservatory, indoor pool, and 20.75 acres of grounds with formal gardens and world-class equestrian facilities, including a manège and one-kilometre exercise track.

This vintage waterfront retreat in Lido Key, Sarasota, was the former home of singer Bobby Vinton — and even includes the ‘Blue Velvet’ curtains he installed. The stunning 9,000-square-foot home has no shortage of spaces in which to both relax and entertain. The stately dining room has personalised lighting for 18 guests, and is complemented by a gourmet kitchen and 800-bottle wine room. After dinner, guests can retreat to the waterfront porch, the lavish tropical bar, or the resort-style pool area overlooking the bay.

A winning blend of architecture, grounds and location — with uninterrupted Sydney Harbour views — makes Berthong one of Australia’s finest estates. At the heart of the home is a sophisticated Calacatta marble kitchen that serves a formal dining room adjoining an equally regal formal lounge. A sandstone terrace, perfect for outdoor entertaining, descends to a manicured lawn and swimming pool at the water’s edge.

This striking 10,000-plus-square-foot residence is set within a series of walled gardens in the heart of Princeton. An homage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style, La Maison de Verre was built in the early 1960s by architects William F. Shellman and William H. Short, and later preserved and expanded by its current owner. As is typical of Wright, the dining room is the emotional heart of the home. Here it takes the form of a Philip Johnson-inspired ‘glass house’ centred between two garden entertaining areas.

This stately residence in Valencia's historic city centre was commissioned in 1880 by the Marquess of Serdañola, a peer of the Spanish realm. The two-storey, six-bedroom home boasts lavish interior décor, designer furnishings and exquisite architectural details such as high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, exposed beams and picture windows that frame views of the city. The centrepiece is a formal dining room, which has been referred to as ‘the most beautiful dining room in all of Spain’.