MONDAY 14th MAY
We shall meet at Temple Meads Station at precisely 10 am to board the 10.22 train to Salisbury. We expect to start the visit to Wilton House at 12.00 noon. We will have time for lunch then we will visit the Italian church. We plan to head back to Bristol via Salisbury around 4pm.
Please bring with you (if you have one), your bus pass and rail card.
Total price will be £25.50 each including entry ticket and return rail fares.For your information the day return flexible group day rail fare will be between £13-14.
Please email dnembruce@btinternet.com as soon as possible whether you would like to join us on this trip ( and do confirm if you have a senior or disabled rail card and/or bus pass). Total numbers are limited to 20.
Please bring with you (if you have one), your bus pass and rail card.
Total price will be £25.50 each including entry ticket and return rail fares.For your information the day return flexible group day rail fare will be between £13-14.
Please email dnembruce@btinternet.com as soon as possible whether you would like to join us on this trip ( and do confirm if you have a senior or disabled rail card and/or bus pass). Total numbers are limited to 20.
Wilton House - Near the town of Wilton is the home of Lord & lady Pembroke, relations to the Queen. The family have been here 450 years; there was a memorial service of the late Lord Pembroke a few months ago & they had the ceremony at the church in Wilton. Wilton House opened to the community 1st May 1951, with its history, architecture, art treasures & 21 acres of gardens & parkland has fascinated visitors from all over the world. Wilton House is on the site of a 9th century nunnery begun by King Alfred. This, in turn, was taken over by a 12th century abbey which, with its adjacent lands, was given up at the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries, to King Henry 8th , who handed them to William Herbert round 1542. Wilton House has stayed in the family since that time & is now the home of Henry Herbert 17th Earl of Pembroke. A fire in 1647 harshly damaged the inside of the south range; John Webb finished the renovation of the house. The south front & State Rooms stay proof to the architect’s talent & the status of the Palladian style of architecture in the middle of the 17th century. The Single & Double Cube Rooms are familiar as the finest rooms of this era in England.
There’s many rooms to see like the splendid Double Cube room, that has the world famed collection of Van Dyck paintings Within the Old Riding School (where we used to exercise our ponies before moving to The Pembroke Centre), is the recreated Tudor Kitchen, Victorian laundry & Times Past, Times Present exhibition. Widespread parkland surrounded by the river Nadder gives you a perfect setting for the Palladian bridge, Millennium Water Feature, Whispering seat, Rose & Water Gardens.
Wilton House is one of the jewels of this part of the UK. There’s also the Garden Centre just up the road that has parking, & the Riverside restaurant to relax in. It has thousands of gift ideas, Stunning Decorations, Festive Foods, Christmas & House Plants, Santa's Grotto & late night shopping.This is really a very lovely place to visit.
The house was designed by the architect Inigo Jones (who also did Covent Gardens in London).
Some of the highlights include the Double Cube room, known as the room where General Eisenhower planned the D-Day operations in 1944. There are also several paintings scattered throughout including a Ruben and a van Dyke. In the ante room as you exit be sure to check out the painting Rembrandt did of his mother.
Most striking, in the Large Smoking Room is a Chippendale bookcase.
The grounds are spectacular.
People visited specifically to see the van Dyke paintings and it has been said that this is the type of place where if you have a great interest in art/antiques/history then you will enjoy your visit.
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