Longleat

Longleat House was built between 1568 and 1580 for John Thynne and is one of the best examples of Elizabethan prodigy architecture in England, symmetrical and glassy at a time when houses were neither. In 1946 it became the first stately home to open commercially to the public, and in 1966 the sixth Marquess of Bath went further and opened a drive-through lion reserve on the estate with Jimmy Chipperfield, the first outside Africa; the reaction from other landowners and from parts of the press was hostile, and the phrase the lions of Longleat entered the language. The park now holds lions, tigers, wolves, cheetahs and a monkey enclosure whose macaques will strip trim from cars, for which a bypass route exists. The grounds include a Capability Brown landscape and a hedge maze of sixteen thousand yews.

What you actually see

• The drive-through reserve - lions, tigers and wolves seen from your own car.
• The Elizabethan house - a 1580 prodigy house with state rooms and a library.
• The monkey drive - macaques that damage vehicles, with an optional bypass.
• The yew maze - sixteen thousand trees, one of the longest hedge mazes anywhere.

When to go

April to September for the full park; opening is seasonal with limited winter dates and a Christmas light festival. Animals are most active in cooler parts of the day.

Honest expectations

The monkey enclosure genuinely damages cars, removing wipers, trim and badges, and the damage is not covered. The full ticket is expensive, particularly for families. Keeping big cats in an English park draws criticism, and the site has had welfare controversies including a mass culling of lions in 2014.

Nearby

Warminster lies east; Stourhead and Frome are short drives.