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Compiled by Brian Robert Marshall from lydiardpark.org.uk

Lydiard Park is the ancestral home of the Viscounts Bolingbroke. The Palladian house, beautiful church, formal parkland and surrounding pasture are the striking remains of a great country estate which reached its peak in the 18th Century. Rescued from ruin by the Swindon Corporation in 1943, the house is beautifully restored and opened to the public in the 1950s. In 2005, work began on a £5 million landscape restoration project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. To date, many significant 18th Century landscape and architectural features have been restored including:

re-instating the lost lake
renovating the Grade II listed Coach House
restoring ice house and castellated dam wall
and returning the 18th Century ornamental fruit and flower Walled Garden to its former glory.

Open all year round, Lydiard Park includes the striking Palladian house with the ground floor State Rooms open to the public, with its original furnishings, ornate plasterwork and family portraits. Next door, St Mary’s Church is packed with intriguing monuments to the St John family including the unique triptych and Golden Cavalier statue. The ornamental fruit and flower Walled Garden built in the 1740s to provide the St John family with a peaceful, sheltered garden to stroll has been faithfully restored with stunning displays of flowers, fruit trees and topiary.

Lydiard's ornamental fruit and flower walled garden is open to the public. For the first time in centuries, the 18th Century walled garden is restored to its former glory, complete with well, flowers elegantly displayed with colour, texture and smell from beautiful tulips, lilies and bedding plants.

The planting plans for the garden are based on archaeological excavations and expert historical research.

In the museum collection, letters written in the 1660s by Lady Johanna St John reveal her love of plants and there are illustrations in the 17th Century painted glass window and beautiful floral panels painted by the Society artist and beauty, Lady Diana Spencer in the 1760s.

The centrepiece of the restored walled garden is a replica of the original 18th Century sundial.