Kingston Lacy NT
Kingston Lacy House and Gardens,
Wimborne
,
Kingston Lacy House, with its magnificent collections, is set in 300 acres of landscaped gardens and parkland, with a surrounding estate of over 8,000 acres in Dorset. The estate includes an impressive Iron Age hillfort, Badbury Rings, 12 very diverse farms varying in size from 50 to nearly 1300 acres, village communities and a National Nature Reserve.
Acquired by the Bankes family in the 1630’s, it remained in their ownership for some 350 years, funded principally by the family’s monopoly of graphite production in this country.
Since 1982, the National Trust has restored many of the estate buildings and undertaken major renovation work to Kingston Lacy House, before it opened in 1985.
Unlike in the past, when Kingston Lacy was a secretive and private place, great emphasis is now placed on welcoming visitors not only to the house and garden, but to the wider estate.