The house is home to the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and has been open to the public since 1975.  Whilst developing the house and gardens they have tried to provide something of interest for all ages whilst maintaining its historical distinction. I certainly enjoyed the visit.

The house has many interesting exhibits, paintings and artifacts.  One of the ante-rooms to the library used to be a laboratory.  This was where Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen gas on 1st August 1774.  Subsequently the laboratory was used by Dr Jan Ingenhousz who discovered photosynthesis in plants and worked on inoculation against smallpox.

Of course I especially loved the gardens with their many styles and tiers.  At one end of the garden are some ornamental steps which originally had a statue of a river god above them.  This has been replaced by a striking female nude, which was commissioned by Lansdowne in 1978.

The house is surrounded by parkland which was designed by Capability Brown.  It was lovely to walk down to the lake where there was a lovely view of the Doric temple.  Tucked out of view just around the corner at the end of the lake is a water cascade and a hermits cave.  There was even an arboretum which made up for the rained off visit to Westonbirt.

Then there was a stressful drive to Westbury, but more on that tomorrow!