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If Stourhead is an unexpected outcrop of Italy in Wiltshire, the African savannah intrudes even more bizarrely at Longleat (Easter-Sept daily 10am-5.30pm; Oct-Easter guided tours at set times 10am-3pm, call 01985/844400; safari park: Easter-Oct Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat, Sun & school holidays 10am-5pm; house GBP7; safari park GBP7; combined ticket GBP14), two and a half miles south of the road from Warminster to Frome. In 1946 the sixth marquess of Bath became the first stately-home owner to open his house to the paying public on a regular basis to help make ends meet, and in 1966 he turned Longleat's Capability Brown landscapes into a drive-through safari park - the first in the country. Once committed to such commercial enterprise, the bosses of Longleat knew no limits: other attractions now include the world's largest hedge maze, a Doctor Who exhibition, a hi-tech simulation of the world's most dangerous modes of travel and the seventh marquess's steamy murals encapsulating his interpretation of life and the universe (children may not be admitted). Beyond the brazen razzmatazz, though, there's an exquisitely furnished Elizabethan house, built for Sir John Thynne, Elizabeth's High Treasurer, with the largest private library in Britain and a fine collection of pictures, including Titian's Holy Family . Longleat is about four miles from the train stations of Frome and Warminster and is currently served by a Lion-Link bus (Easter-Oct only) that leaves Warminster train station at 11.10am and returns from the Information Centre at Longleat at 5.15pm - the service is provided free to coach- and rail-ticket holders, and otherwise costs GBP1.50. Alternatively, there's the #53 bus (Mon-Sat) which shuttles roughly every hour between Warminster and Frome train stations - though be prepared to walk the two and a half miles from the entrance of the grounds to the house
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