Something for Everyone
Lydiard Park is a beautiful historic parkland on the western edge of Swindon. The Palladian house, walled garden, parkland and children's play area offer something for everyone, all year round. With a programme of special events and the changing nature of the seasons, there's always something new to enjoy on a visit here.
Once the ancestral home of the Viscounts Bolingbroke, there's a wealth of history waiting to be discovered as you tour round the beautifully-restored State Rooms of Lydiard House, 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 has been faithfully restored with stunning displays of flowers, fruit trees and topiary – even in winter you can appreciate it’s elegant structure.
If your New Year's resolution includes plans to head outdoors to get fit and healthy, then come to Lydiard Park. We have 260 acres of parkland with wide, accessible paths criss-crossing the site, making it an ideal place to enjoy a winter walk, jog, run or bike ride. Parkrun is a weekly 5km run every Saturday morning – for more details see the Parkrun Swindon website (www.parkrun.org.uk/swindon/Home.aspx). There are also annual events like Race for Life and the Mad March Hare events coming up, so keep an eye on our diary of events for details.
The park provides different wildlife habitats, including the historic woodlands and the lakes and stream, and is home to a variety of birds, mammals, amphibians and invertebrates. To find out more about the site's wildlife, we have special events all through the year – in January, there's a Winter Tree walk and in February, find out more about our conservation work with Wildlife and Habitat Management Walk.
All details are on our Events page.
Green Flag
In July 2011, Lydiard Park was named as one of the nation’s best green spaces and was awarded a Green Flag, along with Green Heritage status, in recognition of achieving the required standard in the management and interpretation of a site with historic importance.
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