The best things to do in Wiltshire
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After many years of living in London, country life beckoned and, in the late 1990s, I finally found the ideal place: the sweet spot where Dorset meets Wiltshire. It is home to the Cranborne Chase and its epic rolling grasslands. Ancient forests are dotted with some of the most beautiful villages in the UK, where nobody locks their front door. The Dorset side remains resolutely in its own twee time warp, but something curious has happened over the border.
I had a flash of the future at Tisbury railway station one crisp autumn morning back in 2015. An elderly gentleman in a tweed jacket and crimson corduroy trousers was telling his chum (mustard cords) about a recent accident in the high street involving newcomer James May. A pensioner had reversed his Skoda into the TV presenter’s brand-new Ferrari. “Shocking,” muttered Mr Mustard. “Was there much damage?” “Fortunately not, those Skodas are built to last,” replied Mr Crimson.
But a supercar? In Tisbury? Whatever next? Whatever next turned out to be an influx of artisans opening stylish independent stores and restaurants, and revamping old pubs with flair and sensitivity. I think the recent additions contrast spectacularly well with the area’s quiet, quintessentially English charm, though I suspect the corduroy boys are on smelling salts 24/7 these days. Of course, people still come here primarily to breathe pure air on bracing yomps across wildflower-strewn chalk escarpments and chase butterflies in river valleys, but it is rather lovely that afterwards you can now order fresh oysters for lunch, buy Danish hand-dipped candles from niche shops and hang out in boutiquey boltholes run by DFLs (Down from Londoners) who are now confirmed NGBs (Never Going Backs).
The best things to do in Wiltshire
Will ElsomA Lover's Stroll
For sheer romance, nowhere comes close to the neo-classical gardens at Stourhead near Mere. Its bewitching follies are tucked into gentle folds of beech, oak and sycamore and centred around an ornamental lake. On summer afternoons, the setting sun bathes its temples and grottoes in a golden glow, but I love it best when autumn’s fiery colours are reflected in the mirror-calm water.
Address: Stourhead, near Mere, Wiltshire, BA12 6QD
Website: nationaltrust.org.uk
Prices: Adults from £20Contemporary art kicks
Bruton in Somerset became the UK’s most talked about weekend away when the gallery Hauser & Wirth opened there in 2014, but two years later, we stole the crown for the West Country’s coolest arts hub with the reimagining of Tisbury’s medieval Tithe Barn as Messums Wiltshire, the country outpost of one of Mayfair’s top art galleries. Exhibits from artists including Grayson Perry and Dame Elisabeth Frink have to work hard, though, to match the majesty of the cathedral-like barn, with its centuries-old stonework and vast oak beams.
Address: Messums Wiltshire, Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury,
Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LW
Website: messumswiltshire.com
Endellion Lycett GreenSeek out exceptional artists
While Thyme is technically in Gloucestershire, many self-drive adventures around Wiltshire inevitably see foodies and culture vultures dip in and out of the county – and rightly so. One of the best reasons to do just that in 2024 is Endellion Lycett Green's temporary exhibition at the restaurant, hotel and spa complex. Endellion takes inspiration from the natural world, describing her work as “a lifelong homage to plants”. Catch her first solo show in a decade, exploring the intricacies of the brush shows on blades of grass and fallen leaves before a leisurely lunch in the Ox Barn.
Address: Thyme, Southrop, Lechlade GL7 3NX
Website: thyme.co.uk; lauralopes.co.ukHistory Fieldwork
This corner of Wiltshire is home to the pre-historic monument Stonehenge and the best preserved of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta (see the single sheet of yellowed parchment at Salisbury Cathedral). In other words, the area knows good history – particularly for seven heady days each summer when the tents go up for the Chalke Valley History Festival.
Address: Chalke Valley History Festival, Church Bottom, Bury Lane, Broad Chalke, Near Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP5 5DP
Website: cvhf.org.uk
Dressing like James Bond
It’s set in a modest red-brick townhouse in the shadow of Salisbury Cathedral but, as ebullient owner Jason Regent likes to say of his lifestyle emporium Regent Tailoring, it has a small front and a big behind – seven rooms crammed with shirts, suits and boots. His grandfather was Ian Fleming’s butler and Jason was brought up with a deep respect for old-school styling, evident in his classic cuts. He’s also a clever curator of under-the-radar European brands such as the French workwear range Vetra and skinny jeans made to order by Welsh perfectionists Hiut.
Address: Regent Tailoring, 73 New Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2PH
Website: regenttailoring.co.ukOld Masters in a mansion
Fans of The Crown will recognise Wilton House, outside Salisbury, as Buckingham Palace from the hit Netflix drama. The 17th-century state rooms also appeared in the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice as the drenched-in-gold drawing room at Mr Darcy’s des-res Pemberley. Do not miss Wilton’s jaw-dropping collection of Rembrandts, van Dycks and Brueghels.
Address: Wilton House, Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 0BJ
Website: wiltonhouse.co.uk
Prices: Adults from £18.50
Bella WestEat your greens
Obviously, sibling rivalry should not be encouraged unless the brothers in question are Oliver and Piers Milburn. The former co-owns London’s hugely successful Kitty Fisher’s restaurant, and the latter took over the Pythouse Kitchen Garden in West Hatch a few years ago. Piers has one clear advantage: the Pythouse is a magical 18th-century, bashed-brick conservatory overlooking frilly rows of vegetables, so your lunch is measured in food inches rather than miles; the £45 set Sunday lunch menu attracts a crowd, so book ahead of time.
Address: Pythouse Kitchen Garden, West Hatch, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6PA
Website: pythousekitchengarden.co.ukRambling among ruins
The dramatic remnants of Old Wardour Castle are set by a lake and surrounded by dewy woodlands. It was built by the fifth Baron Lovell in 1393 and laid siege during the Civil War, but just about enough remains to warrant paying attention during the free audio tour. There’s also a pretty circular walk to the village of Donhead St Andrew where you should expect a letter from the parish council if your house doesn’t have a thatched roof and roses around the door.
Address: Old Wardour Castle, Near Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6RR
Website: english-heritage.org.uk
Jake EasthamSpitroast and cocktails
For something more refined, try The Beckford Arms, a blueprint for the laidback country inn from Charlie Luxton and Dan Brod whose mini empire includes the excellent Beckford Bottle Shop in Tisbury and Mells’s Talbot Inn. You can crowd into the hop-strewn bar for whole suckling pig cooked on the open fire, but I like to kick back in the elegant Georgian sitting room with a Beckford Bellini made from local peach liqueur and the fish of the day, so fresh you’ll think you hear seagulls.
Address: The Beckford Arms, Fonthill Gifford, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6PX
Website: beckfordarms.com
Prices: About £60 for twoWorldwide design
Back in Tisbury, The Long Room has an eclectic homeware range, including Portuguese platters that will make any old salad seem special, cactus-fibre bags handwoven by women’s cooperatives in Mexico and neon-coloured pom-pom tassels so you need never lose your keys again.
Address: The Long Room, The Square, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6JP
Website: montesandclark.co.ukEverything stops for tea
Beatons Tearoom & Bookshop in Tisbury is old-fashioned but in a good way, so afternoon tea is a wholesome affair involving doughy scones smothered in clotted cream and preserves alongside crumbles and indulgent sundaes. There’s a more contemporary gloss to Fisherton Mill, a revamped Victorian grain mill in Salisbury. Upstairs are studios and a swanky gallery, downstairs is a café that elevates cake to an art form. The chocolate-and-cherry-liqueur tart is deliciously rich.
Address: Beatons Tearoom & Bookshop, The Square, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6JP
Website: beatonstearooms.co.ukWhere to stay in Wiltshire
The Compasses Inn, Tisbury
It’s rare to find a proper old country pub that hasn’t had a ghastly makeover by a big-name brewery these days, so when Ben Maschler, a former director of food at Soho House, stumbled across The Compasses, a 14th-century boozer in tumbledown Lower Chicksgrove, he snapped it up. Downstairs, he’s retained its sagging ceilings and wonky flagstones, but he’s brought the four bedrooms bang up to date with mid-century curves for the furniture, horse blankets for the beds and a whole lot of white on white for the walls. With the legendary London food critic Fay for a Mother, Ben serves pretty sensational pub grub, too.
Address: The Compasses Inn, Lower Chicksgrove, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6NB
King John Inn, Tollard Royal
A feel-good country inn on the borders of Wiltshire and Dorset, where bedrooms are stuffed with striking fabrics, antique furniture, 19th-century prints and objets d'art. If the rooms are great, the food is even better. The chefs cook varied locally sourced dishes and represent pub grub at its absolute best – and sometimes even better (English lamb kofta; Castlemead Farm chicken Milanese; sweet pea and mint mezzaluna), backed up by a huge wine cellar. At weekends, King John is humming, jammed with both Hunter-booted, Barbour-jacketed locals and city couples after a breath of fresh air.
Address: The King John Inn, Tollard Royal, Wiltshire
The Three Daggers, Edington
On the edge of the Salisbury Plain, the sleepy village of Edington is the weekend retreat of Chad Pike, one of the City’s biggest property players. In his spare time, Pike runs Eleven Experience, a collection of high-octane adventure hotels in the USA, France, Iceland and the Bahamas. He’s stayed closer to home for his latest project: the new six-bedroom Hillside Cottage in Edington, which is decorated in shades of clotted creams and biscuit browns. Pike also owns an excellent gastro pub, The Three Daggers, across the road and a farm shop/microbrewery that sells flagons of his moreish craft beers.
Address: Three Daggers, 47 Westbury Road, Edington, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 4PG