Wilton House, Wiltshire
Wilton House, Wilton, Salisbury, SP2 0BJ
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Wilton House is part of a huge estate, still numbering 12,000 acres, given to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke by his brother-in-law, the murderous King Henry VIII, in about 1544, following the dissolution of the monasteries, and still lived off by the descendants today. The Wilton House Trust, a charity, manages the property, its stated aim is "To preserve Wilton House, its contents, gardens and park for the public benefit... while continuing to maintain the house as a family home". In 2019 around 26,000 people visited Wilton House and its grounds, which may sound a lot, until you compare it with around 400,000 to the estates of nearby Stourhead, and 1 million to Longleat. Apparently the current occupant, William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, said to The Observer, in 2005, that opening the property to more tourists does not pay in the long run - as it increases wear-and-tear on the house*.. That sounds like an awkward conflict with its charitable status. It would be good to see more of Wilton House open more often (not just a few days in a few months per year), as well as them improving the gardens which can look tired, but wheelchair access to the grounds is good. Compared with Longleat, which offers more and maintains free access to Heaven's Gate, Lake Shear Water, and Longleat Pleasure Walk, Wilton House is a disappointment. In Wilton House of more than 100 rooms only around 5 are open to the public, though in their own right these are impressive. For these reasons Wilton House achieves just a 2 star rating from Tour Wiltshire, if more of it were open more often it would easily achieve 4 stars.

Wilton House is home to annual supercar events in aid of Salisbury Hospital's 'Stars' charity.

Film/TV Location For: Blackadder II; Pride and Prejudice; Young Victoria; Bridgerton; Tomb Raider; The Crown; Sense and Sensibility; Lady Caroline Lamb; Barry Lyndon; The Bounty; Scandal; The Madness Of King George; Portrait Of A Lady; Mrs Brown; The End Of The Affair; To Kill A King

​* Lynn Barber. ""Heirs and Graces," The Observer, 31 July 2005.

The equisite Wilton House, but very little of it is open to the public, and not often.

Wilton House isn't open to the public often.

A scene in Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice was filmed at Wilton House shows how lavish the rooms are.

An exquisite model of Wilton's palladian bridge built by Eric Walford and painted by his wife Molly.