Longleat

On Monday, March 29, my cousin Gemma had rented a big van, actually a mini-bus, to take the whole crew to Longleat. It was about an hour and a half from Weymouth and I have to say that I was impressed with Gem's driving ability, maneouvering this large vehicle down some narrow and twisty roads.

Our ride:


Longleat is a massive country house that was built in 1580 by Sir John Thynne. Currently it is occupied by the flamboyant Alexander Thynn who is a direct descendant from the builder. The mansion is considered one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in the country. Due to large death duties and other taxes, Alexander's father decided to open part of the house to the public and added a safari park in 1966.

We started our day with a boat ride around a small lake by the house and we were greeted by three California sea lions swimming in the water. It became evident later why they escorted the boat as we were able to buy a cup of cut up fish to feed them. During the 15 minute ride, we also tried to spot a couple of hiding hippos who were wallowing deep in the mud bog. There was also a small island that is home to an old male mountain gorilla. It was hard not to feel a bit sorry for the fella as his mate had passed away a few years ago and he was too old to be reintroduced to a new one...that and he’s stuck on an island. However, the guy had a variety jungle gym apparatus and natural features to play with, plus, in his little house he supposedly had a TV with satellite cable and his favourite show is Spongebob Squarepants!

The boat ride:


Feeding the sea lions:


The lonely mountain gorilla:


Emma facing off a hippo, the biggest killer in Africa:


It was a bit chilly and rainy so we opted to head into the mansion. How decadent it is! In the main foyer there were some massive antlers that had to be too big to even be for moose. I asked a curator and it was from some ancient deer elk that no longer walks the Earth. The first room had a massive 35 foot high ceiling with a huge fireplace, giant paintings and some old hunting equipment hanging on the walls and a minstrel gallery up above. Would have made quite a first impression to visitors in the past as it still does in the present. Room after room was just filled with decadence. Tons of paintings, ornate door trims and ceilings, fancy furniture and fireplaces. What stuck out was that there were lots of paintings of the current Marquesse and he just didn’t fit in with his predecessors as many of them depicted him in his multi-coloured gawdy sweaters. He definitely was a hippie in his earlier life, but I guess a slightly self obsessed one.

After spending about an hour in the mansion, we whipped up some sandwiches back at our bus and then set off to drive around the safari park. They do have an impressive collection of many animals. We started with the giraffes and zebras (pronounced zedbras of course). The next section had some rhinos that were right by the road, in fact, one crossed in front of a car in front of us and then wandered back. That’s the cool thing about this safari park is that you just drive through the animal areas so you can end up with some very close encounters. The unfortunate thing was that the monkey area was closed. I remember visiting Longleat when I was a kid and the monkey section was my fave as they like to jump all over your car. My granddad actually lost a side indicator cover thanks to one of them...so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise seeing as we had this rental bus! We purchased a couple of cups of pellets to feed to some deer that would come right up and stick their head into your vehicle if you wanted them to. After that it was on to the cats, tigers followed by a couple of packs of lions and then some wolves...very cool.

Giraffes:


Close up with a rhino:


One of the tigers:


The final activity that was a must do for me was to get lost in the Longleat hedge maze. I definitely recall this maze from my childhood. It has 2.75 kilometers of paths, 3-4 small bridges and a central lookout tower that allows you to try and figure your way out. Everyone from our group that entered the maze had a great time getting lost in it...a good finish to the day!

The hedge maze:


The mazers at the main tower: