Kingston Lacy

Following the "slighting" of Corfe Castle after the English Civil War, Dame Mary Bankes and family relocated to Kingston Lacy country house and estate. The original house has been extensively altered by subsequent generations of Bankes's and is now reimagined as a Venetian Palace by William John Bankes in the late 19th century. The house, together with the entire Bankes estate (including Corfe Castle and Shell Bay), was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1981.

We visit the house and see a statue of Mary with her sword of defiance and castle keys - they were returned to her and can be seen in the Salon here. We see the incredible Spanish Room. Next, we walk in the Formal Gardens, noting the Philae Obelisk shipped back from Upper Egypt. We stroll the 3 mile Woodland Trail and finish bsck at the lovely Japanese Garden.

The Badbury Rings are a few minutes drive away by road, but still part of the Estate; they are the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, with its ditches and ramparts, and there is much evidence of Bronze age barrows in the area. In the Roman era, several Roman roads converged here.Read more