LONGLEAT, Wiltshire: Lions, tigers and ghosts, oh my! Visit a safari park like no other
Cover art own photo & image via Pexels
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Longleat is a stately home that will definitely surprise you.
If someone had told me that a tiger would be casually strolling in front of our car in the middle of the English countryside, on an impossibly warm and sunny November AND on my birthday, I’d have said, “Hmm, sure. And do I get to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory as well?”
Then I would have carried on reading a very interesting book about the dark and dangerous history of fairies, sipping my cup of Lady Grey tea.
As it turned out, all of these things happened on a pretty fantastic day out at Longleat - an amazing Stately Home AND Safari Park. In fact, there is so much to do there, that we couldn’t fit everything on offer into one day.
Plus - I’ve never been so up close and personal with the finest criminal mastermind monkeys, but more on that later.
Longleat House photographed by Tim Firkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What’s so special about Longleat?
Longleat House is a stately home like no other. This stunning estate is extraordinary not just because of the exquisite Elizabethan architecture housing beautiful art collections, the ornate ceilings and hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, or the library housing around 40,000 carefully preserved books.
Book-nerd alert 🤓! If you love old books, you can book a VIP tour of Longleat’s four stunning libraries. Image
What is unique about Longleat is that among its vast, beautifully landscaped park-, farm- and woodlands, lies the first-ever safari park built outside of Africa. Opened in 1966 with its pride of lions, the park has grown to become home to over 120 species of animals.
The park works very hard on its conservation efforts, proudly supporting projects locally in the UK and in Asia, Australia and Africa, focusing on red pandas, elephants, southern koalas and many other endangered species, as well as tackling poaching alongside their global partners.
On top of the driving, walking and boating safari experiences, there are so many other fun things to do and see. There’s the hedge maze, house tour, mini railway, VIP animal experiences, as well as seasonal events - including the spectacular annual Festival of Light. The theme last year (2022) was the books of Roald Dahl!
Find out more about that below, but first of all, the big question:
Is the Safari Park worth it?
Although I’m a big doe-eyed softie when it comes to animals, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from what is essentially a drive-thru zoo. I like to take my time watching the animals to “ooh”, “ahh” and “aww”, while secretly wishing I could climb in their enclosure and become their friend without any dangerous consequences.
I wondered… would it just feel like being on a conveyor belt of cars, getting hustled along by other drivers in a rush to get their quick fix of fluffy ostrich, like waiting for a similarly fluffy Frappuccino at a Starbucks Drive-thru?
Happily, I can report that the experience was so much more enjoyable than I’d imagined! The enclosures at Longleat are so vast that I never had that nagging sense of worry that the animals felt stressed about feeling too caged in. They roamed about, seemingly indifferent to the steady stream of cars with human faces gawping from behind the glass. If anything, we were the ones locked in.
Of course, nothing comes close to the actual conditions of freedom in the wild, but being able to watch these beautiful animals, many of which are facing threats or endangerment of extinction in the wild, looking well cared for actually felt like a huge privilege to me.
Attack of the Monkey Mafia
One other exceptional experience at Longleat Safari Park is its monkey enclosure. Now, we all know that monkeys are cute and a little bit mischievous. Or at least that’s what you think until you start approaching the monkey section of the safari route.
Sign after sign warns you: your car and ALL its fixtures and trimmings are NOT the responsibility of the zoo, so drive in at your own risk, because the monkeys WILL climb on your car and cause damage, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED… so to bypass the monkey route, head this way —>
Needless to say, the brand-new 4x4s were smart enough to keep driving.
How bad could it be…?
We passed the sign with a count for how many license plates the zoo had to return to the DVLA last year. If I remember rightly it was 72. The heavy-duty metal gates were slid open by a guard and with a pinch of trepidation, we slowly rolled in.
Initially, these cute, pink-faced Rhesus Macaques weren’t all that interested and simply wandered in the car alongside the car. But as soon as one starts climbing up, others start to follow and before you know it, you feel like the car is covered in monkeys!
It’s a strange experience because you can hear and feel them walking about on the roof, whooping and playing and enjoying themselves, but you can’t see what’s going on. It becomes a bizarre situation of you laughing and pointing at other people in their cars and them laughing at you - but neither of you necessarily knows why!
In the end, we got off pretty lightly with only a chewed aerial and some monkey pee on the window 😅.
It’s a really fun experience, but if you value your car, you might want to skip this one!
The House and the Haunting
Despite being a privately owned estate as well as the family home of the 8th Marquess and Marchioness of Bath, Longleat House opened its doors to the public in 1949 and since then has allowed visitors to share in its splendid exhibits and collections.
Guided tours bring the rich 450-year history of this stately home to life along with the stories of those who owned, lived and worked there. You’ll be shown around the ground and first floors, including the original Elizabethan Great Hall, spectacular 19th-century interiors, magnificent State Rooms, ornate bedrooms and ‘back stairs’ areas, where you’ll discover an incredible collection of paintings, furniture, tapestries, ceramics, silver and books.
The house has been a popular filming location for decades, including an episode of BBC’s Sherlock.
There’s a small additional fee for the tour, but I felt it was worth it, especially since I’m a sucker for a supernatural tale - and Longleat has a ghost story of its very own: The Green Lady.
The Ghost of the Green Lady
There was once a kindhearted, gentle Lady named Louisa Carteret. When she came of age, she married the second Viscount of Weymouth, Thomas Thynne, who resided at Longleat House.
Longleat House has been home to the Thynne family lineage for many generations, since the 16th century. When Louisa came to live in her new marital home, she insisted on bringing her footman to continue to serve her. He had been her servant for many years and she had grown very fond of him.
In fact, she was so friendly with him, that the other servants became suspicious. Despite Louisa’s peers asserting that there was nothing romantic going on according to written accounts, some staff felt that she was spending a little too much time with this manservant and that it was a disgrace to her husband Thomas.
Heart of jealousy
Whispers and gossip travelled fast down the vast hallways connecting the 128 rooms of the stately home and it wasn’t long before the seeds of suspicion germinated and grew into jealousy.
We don’t know which member of the 50 staff that served the house took Louisa’s husband aside to have a quiet word with him. Perhaps it could have been an envious maid, also fond of the footman. Or maybe one of the original servants clashed with him and sought to protect his master’s name.
But we do know that Thomas was a hot-tempered man, who could fly into a rage within a heartbeat.
Disappearing act
One day, Louisa’s footman disappeared. Louisa, now pregnant, was distraught. She couldn’t believe that her friend would simply leave his position without saying goodbye. Fearing he had been locked away somewhere as punishment, she went searching in every room of the house over and over.
The seasons changed and still, she hadn’t given up the search. She felt miserable and alone, whilst her husband spared her no sympathy and treated her with contempt.
Then, the gravest tragedy struck on Christmas Day. Louisa lost her life during childbirth, never having found her lost friend again.
It is said that she still prowls the corridors, knocking on doors and tapping on panels in her desperate search to find him hiding. She is said to appear as a Lady in Green, and when she passes you, a cool chill brushes your skin along with the gentle scent of lavender.
But what became of the footman?
In the 1980s, excavations unearthed a chilling discovery. In order to fit a new boiler in the basement of the house, workmen had to dig below the stone slabs of the cellar floor to install pipework. What they found below was a gruesome surprise.
Hidden under the slabs were the bones and skull of a full human male skeleton, complete with a pair of boots belonging to the exact period in which Lady Louisa’s manservant went missing.
It is believed that Thomas ambushed the footman in the corridor outside the old library and blasted him with accusations. Furious that the footman dared to deny making moves on Louisa, the jealous viscount roughly shoved him, sending him tumbling down the spiral staircase.
The fall broke his neck and killed him stone dead.
Fearing a charge of murder, Thomas had him buried quickly in the cellar and pretended that the footman had left to attend some family business.
Centuries later, the house still didn’t want to spark a scandal, so the discovery of the skeleton was never reported to the police. Instead, they placed the bones in a hat box and buried them in the church graveyard, ironically not far from Lady Louisa’s husband.
Sadly, the churchyard is too far for Louisa’s ghost to ever cross paths with the lost spirit of her dear friend. And so, she wanders on in the corridors of Longleat House.
Images: Top - own photo; Middle: “Mrs Florence Humphries” 1892 by Henry Scott Tuke, via Wikimedia Public Domain; Bottom: “The Cemetery” Caspar David Friedrich, via Google Art Project.
Step into a kaleidoscopic wonderland of your favourite childhood tales
Every year in late autumn, over Christmas and into the New Year, the gardens around Longleat House are transformed into the dazzling Festival of Light.
I’d expected that this would mean a few nice fairy lights in the trees and maybe some pyrotechnics, but I was delighted that I was so wrong!
Instead, the whole surrounding area comes to life with colourful sculptures in the shapes of beloved storybook personalities, animals and places. These life-size lanterns of charming characters, buildings, trees and even pieces of landscape create glowing, whimsical scenes that are absolutely magical to walk around from dusk into the evening - especially around Christmas time!
Last year, I was lucky enough to experience Roald Dahl’s enchanting books brought to life, including the huge fox den of Fantastic Mr Fox, James’ Giant Peach floating on the lake and a show-stopping architectural marvel from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This year (2023), the theme is “Treasured Tales” so you can expect to find scenes from childhood classics like Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, Snow White and many more.
Find out more about the Festival of Light at Longleat and book here.
So is Longleat worth a visit?
If you love:
seeing well-cared for animals from all across the world
feeling like Jane Austen in a beautiful country estate with fascinating history and legends
experiencing electrifying Christmas magic, along with other spectacular event days
taking the kids (or being a kid!) on a day out where there’s loads to see
— then yes!
Plus, you’re supporting conservation efforts via the contribution from your ticket, so that’s a win-win to me.
How to visit Longleat
Good to know
You must book your tickets online in advance to visit Longleat.
Only debit card, credit card and smartphone payments are accepted on-site.
You can book the guided tour of the House as an optional extra during the booking process.
The main Safari is a Drive-through experience only, but there is also a smaller walking safari.
Opening times
Check the latest opening times here.
Ticket prices
Find the current ticket prices here.
How to get to Longleat
By public transport
Be aware that the Safari Drive-through is only accessible via vehicle. So if you’re arriving by public transport, you’ll need to book a seat on the Longleat Safari Bus to go on the safari. You can book Safari Bus Tickets at Guest Services in the Main Square. Check the website for current Safari Bus prices.
By train from Bath and London:
Take the train to Frome. This is the closest station to Longleat and has a good service from Bath and London.
By train on the Cardiff - Portsmouth line:
Take the train to Warminster. This station is about 5 miles from Longleat and is on the Cardiff to Portsmouth line.
From the station, take a taxi to Longleat (details below).
By train on the London Paddington - Penzance line:
Take the train to Westbury. This is about 12 miles from Longleat and is on the London Paddington to Penzance line.
From the station, take a taxi to Longleat (details below).
Taxis from Warminster and Westbury Stations:
Starline Taxis: +44 (0)1985 212215
AAA Taxis: +44 (0)1985 846674
DJ's Taxi's +44 (0)1985 215151
Train times:
For train times, contact the National Rail Enquiry line on 08457 484950 or visit www.nationalrail.co.uk
By car
Longleat, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 7NW
Longleat is just off the A36 between Bath and Salisbury (A362 Warminster – Frome road).
For SatNav users, please use postcode BA12 7JS. Please ignore the Sat Nav voice as you approach Longleat and follow the brown tourist signposts. Some Sat Nav systems send you to a dead end.
From the South East:
Take the M3 (J8) - A303 - A36 towards Bath – Longleat is just off the A362 between Warminster and Frome.
From M4 (J17):
Take the M4 Chippenham towards Melksham and Westbury - Longleat is just off the A362 between Warminster and Frome.
From the South West:
Take the A303 in a London direction – A350 towards Warminster – A36 towards Bath. Longleat is just off the A362 between Warminster and Frome.
From the North:
Take the M4 (J18) – A46 towards Bath – A36 towards Salisbury. Longleat is just off the A362 between Warminster and Frome.
Parking
Parking is free of charge.
Where to eat at Longleat
Longleat has plenty of restaurants and cafés to choose from - find whatever you fancy here!
Where to stay at Longleat
You can even stay the night at the Longleat Estate!
There is a variety of charming self-catering cottages perfect for families and groups wanting to extend their stay.
Find out more here.
