Longleat — Best Manor House Gone Wild - Beyond Downton Abbey: A Guide to 25 Great Houses - page 105

house and the remainder of the estate, the 6 th Marquess of Bath opened Longleat to the
public in 1949. It was the first stately home in Britain to open to the public on a fully
commercial basis.
Longleat is considered one of the best examples of high Elizabethan architecture in Bri-
tain. The home's interiors are stunningly opulent. The handsome 400-year-old building is
surrounded by 900 acres of parkland, landscaped by Capability Brown in the 1700s, along
with 100,000 acres of woods and farmland.
Beyond all the treasures one might expect when visiting a country house estate, at
Longleat there's something unexpected — what Frommer's guidebooks refer to as “a bit
of a cheesy tourist trap, although thousands of visitors are fascinated by the extra amuse-
ments.” What's cheesy about Longleat? According to many, it's the Safari and Adventure
Park that adjoins the historic property.
Billed as the first drive-thru safari park outside Africa, the park opened its gates in 1966,
and is home to rhinoceroses, elephants, giraffes, zebras, camels, and llamas. The Longleat
menagarie even includes lions, tigers and gorillas. The park offers theme park rides, an
adventure castle, and the world's longest maze.