Celebrated 18th-century landscape garden and Palladian mansion.
An outstanding example of the English landscape style, this splendid garden was designed by Henry Hoare II and laid out between 1741 and 1780. Classical temples, including the Pantheon and Temple of Apollo, are set around the central lake at the end of a series of vistas, which change as the visitor moves around the paths and through the magnificent mature woodland with its extensive collection of exotic trees.
Built in the 1720s the mansion was home to the Hoare family, owners of Britain's only independent private bank surviving to the present day. The magnificent interior includes an outstanding regency library, an extensive picture collection and furniture by Chippendale the Younger.
King Alfred's Tower, an intriguing red-brick folly built in 1772 by Henry Flitcroft, is almost 50m high and gives breathtaking views over the estate. Much of the estate woodland and downland is managed for nature conservation and there are two interesting Iron Age hill-forts, White Sheet Hill and Park Hill Camp.
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