Wonderful Treasures of Salisbury and Wiltshire – 2024

Bowood is a Grade 1-listed Georgian House which has been owned for the last 250 years by the Lansdowne family and stands in grounds designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.
The house has a long, fascinating history and is set within 100 acres of grounds which include an Italianate terrace garden, herbaceous border, lake and arboretum and most important of all – cafés!
Moving along from Bowood we head to Salisbury and to our lodgings for the trip, the 800-year-old 4* Red Lion Hotel in the centre of Salisbury. The Red Lion claims to be the oldest purpose-built hotel in Europe!

After a leisurely breakfast, we’ll depart and make the short journey west to Wilton House which is the home of the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembroke.
Renowned for its art collection, the property has been in the same family for over 450 years and is constructed on the site of Wilton Abbey, destroyed in Henry VIII’s smash and grab of properties loyal to the Church of Rome that is now referred to as ‘the dissolution of the monasteries’.
Its development has been influenced by famous characters such as Hans Holbein, Inigo Jones and James Wyatt and the house is set in 21 acres of landscaped parkland, including a Palladian bridge.
There is a café and a gift shop (of course!) where we can enjoy anything from tea to a light lunch.
In the mid-afternoon we’ll leave Wilton and head back to Salisbury where we’ll enjoy some free time. Why not visit the Cathedral, most famous for having the country’s tallest spire? Entry to Cathedral, is not included.

eparting our hotel we head to Lacock, a beautiful village much featured in the 2019 Downton Abbey film and once home to William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the photographic negative.
We’ll visit the Abbey, located at the heart of the village within its own woodland grounds, which is a quirky country house of various architectural styles built upon the foundations of a former nunnery. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you may well recognise this venue!
Visitors can experience the atmosphere of the medieval rooms and cloister court, giving a sense of the Abbey’s monastic past.
There is also the Fox Talbot museum, where you can learn about the history of photography.
After our visit, we’ll head on home, arriving back in the early evening.