Hanging with the Marquess of Bath

Head to Longleat which is the estate & home of the somewhat eccentric Marquess of Bath but best known for it's very well renown drive through safari park, supposedly the first one outside of Africa. Again I have to say this wasn't something I was expecting to be super entertaining (rather, something that Ben will enjoy and I'll get my enjoyment out of watching his enjoyment, sort of thing). But it was excellent. Not just the drive through safari park which was very good with some incredibly active lions literally climbing trees and racing about as we dawdled along in the car in amazement. We bypassed the monkey section of the safari park since stories of damage are common and I didn't fancy explaining the ripped off wipers on our Volvo to the rental agency! We watched through binoculars and virtually every car had monkeys on the roof or bonnet.

But there was a lot more to the estate that we had access to. There was

- an outdoor ice rink complete with a large skiing snowman
- a massive Christmas tree with a super sophisticated light and narrated music 'show' that came on every half hour after dusk
- an after dark owl show put on by the nearby hawk conservancy trust where the owls literally fly so love over the audience you need to duck your head or they will hit you
- a walk around jungle kingdom zoo
- a massive (and I do mean massive) hedge maze that was so large they close it at dusk or you'll never find your way out, and
- Longleat House itself which is an Elizabethan country 'house' that had live actor pantomime characters throughout interacting with you as you toured the house.

And the whole thing was done like no expense had been spared. There was a lot of wow factor. I kept telling Carole how it may be the best value £30 we had ever spent. And that was for all 3 of us. The whole thing was massively entertaining.