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Longleat, Wiltshire

Longleat House in Wiltshire is one of the great prodigy houses of the Elizabethan era. It was completed in 1580 and has all the dreamy spires and turrets that would be associated with that time. The house looks particularly fantastical at night when it is lit up in blue. This style of building is the first to ignore defence in the building of large houses, indicating that society was becoming more peaceful and orderly, Instead of battlements wealthy people now had the option of putting something a little more decorative on their houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longleat Park, see beyond the knot garden

The house stands in a nine hundred acre Capability Brown landscaped park. Between the house and the lake there is a small recreation of the formal Elizabethan gardens that preceded the park landscape. The Elizabethans were fond of knot gardens, consisting of low hedges, often laid out to create a picture when viewed from above. See our article on the history of gardens in Britain for more information. See also our interactive map. Switch to satellite view, and zoom in to see the knot gardens from above.

 

 

 

 

Longleat Safari Boat

Longleat also has a famous safari park, and safari boat rides on the lake, where you can feed sea lions, view hippos, and see Samba the gorilla in his island home. Collections of exotic animals have a long history of association with wealth. Henry the Eighth had his own zoo at the Tower of London. Of course members of the public weren't allowed in to look at King Henry's animals. Public zoos began in 1828 with The Zoological Garden in London's Regent's Park. In 1966 Longleat opened the first safari park outside Africa. This was a new type of zoo where animals were allowed to roam in enclosures which attempted to mimic a more natural environment. So Longleat is both an echo of old royal animal collections, and the first of a new type of zoo. Back in 1828 thirty thousand people visited London Zoo in Regent's Park in its first seven months. This was the first indication of the huge interest in the natural world, that would eventually become a defining feature of life in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Longleat Safari Park remains hugely popular, as is the television programme Animal Park telling the story of its work.

 

Longleat has many other attractions. These include a hedge maze with over one and a half miles of path, a miniature railway, motion simulators, a butterfly garden, and a wonderful children's playground. There is a large restaurant, and a cafe in the old wine cellars of the house.

 

Longleat House is open every day except Christmas Day, from 11am to 3pm. There are guided tours during term time and most mornings. The safari park and other attractions are open weekends only from 1st - 9th March, daily from 16th - 24th February and from 15th March to 2nd November. The safari park is open 10am - 4pm weekdays and 10am - 5pm weekends and school holidays. The other attractions open 11am - 5pm weekdays and 10.30am - 5.30pm weekends and school holidays.There is a camping and caravan site near the house. Please note that the Postman Pat village is closed until the Summer 2008.

Directions: Longleat is just off the A362 near Warminster in Wiltshire. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Longleat.

Access: disabled access to the house is good. Wheelchair users can enter via the Victorian Gardens found at the rear of Longleat House. There is a lift to all floors. Each wheelchair user must have two helpers with them. The various attractions each have their own arrangements for people with mobility difficulties. Some are inaccessible, such as the Safari Boats, and Motion Simulators.

Contact:

phone: 01985 844328

web site: www.longleat.co.uk

 

The Butterfly Garden