Day 23: A visit to beautiful parkland at Heaven’s Gate overlooking Longleat House and estate.
We’d promised to take Dave’s cousin to Warminster today and detoured via Heaven’s Gate, a place Dave remembered from his youth, so that we could enjoy the outlook over Longleat.
There was a large car park- free for a change – and we only had to cross the road to take the winding path to the ridge overlooking the countryside below.
Dave remembers the path lined with rhododendrons and they are still there but not flowering at this time of the year. It would have been spectacular if they had been! They are so old they are the size of trees. This one below had an exposed mass of tangled trunks and branches.
The path ended at a gate and the land opened up to see for miles.
As you pass through the gate there are ‘standing stones’, sculpted as part of the millennium celebrations. They are made of Cornish granite and took the sculptor, Paul Norris, 2 years to carve.
Then it was back to the car and on our way to Warminster for Carol’s appointment.
A trip down memory lane for Dave and a delightful detour for me.
NOTE: A day ticket to enter Longleat and enjoy all the attractions was £42.95 (nearly $100!). We chose not to do it.
The Daily Snail 
There is a Safari Park at Longleat, so that might account for the price for a tour. I think there was/is an eccentric landed gentry owner who set the zoo up originally. Dubbo Zoo would do as well if not better and probably cheaper. Have you found the cost and prices of things a bit of a shock?
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I think food is more expensive and having to pay for parking almost everywhere adds to the cost of everything. Coffee is particularly good wherever we’ve been.
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