I had a few days holiday remaining so I booked a long weekend in Devon. Not wishing to waste any of the valuable time off, and to minimise the car miles, I decided that I would start on the Thursday evening and stay in a hotel for the first night.
On Thursday I happened to have a meeting in Leeds that I had to attend so I drove from my home in Sussex to Leeds (5 hours), attended the meeting and then drove down to a hotel in Radstock, Somerset. (5 hours). This left me in the perfect position to start my Holiday on Friday – just a few miles from Longleat.
I wanted to visit Longleat for a long time but usually the only times I was in the area, was on a Saturday, and I didn’t fancy the crowds. So a Friday, at the end of the summer, was ideal.
For a fairly modest sum (around £23) you get a very full days worth of attractions. The whole place is very slickly orgainised and of a very high standard.
We chose to begin with the Safari Park – This includes Lions, Tigers and Wolves – normally you would also see the Monkeys and Deer but both these parts of the park were closed. One monkey appears to have herpes and the deer are rutting – it would have been nice to have seen these too, but didn’t detract from the rest of the experience.
After the Park, there are lots more attractions. I only managed a few before I had to head off to Devon.
The Lake Cruse, where you see the Sea Lions, Gorilla and Hippos.
The House – as good a stately home as you will find
The Maze – Amazing – Really – it’s huge and difficult.
