Dorset estate among England's best National Trust sites

The Herald Scotland

30-04-2025

Kingston Lacy, which is located near Wimborne, was featured in a list from The Telegraph.
Explaining why they created the article, the publication wrote: "The Trust may not always be universally popular, but just imagine life without it for a second, and think about how much of our patrimony we would have lost to demolition, development or just plain passage of time.
"As it is, we can choose to visit everything from industrial heritage to stately homes, with large chunks of landscape thrown in, usually with a cup of tea and a scone available somewhere in the mix."
The full list of England's best National Trust properties can be found on The Telegraph website here.
Why is Kingston Lacy among England's best National Trust properties?
Kingston Lacy was praised for its huge collection of paintings, books and objects, which gave it great historical significance.
Alongside that, the estate has a Japanese garden among its features, which allows for plenty of areas for great walks.
They wrote: "Exoticism is the raison d'etre of Kingston Lacy, owned for centuries by the Bankes family, some of whose wealth came from slave plantations.
"The Philae obelisk, one of a pair from Aswan and part of a huge Egyptian collection, faces the house.
"The display of top-quality paintings, objects and books was choreographed remotely by William John Bankes, exiled to Venice for his homosexuality in the mid-19th century.
"The huge estate includes a Japanese garden and Camellia Walk."
On its National Trust website, Kingston Lacy is described as an "opulent" home which was "built to resemble a Venetian Palace".
It adds: "Enjoy a summer picnic on the south lawn, or let little visitors run wild in the two play areas.
"Wander through the Japanese Garden to the Kitchen Garden, now supplying produce to the cafe.
"Or explore the vast 8,500 acres of estate, featuring Iron Age hill forts, colourful heathland, water meadows and the world's oldest pedigree herd of Red Ruby Devon cattle."
Kingston Lacy has also been well-received by visitors, earning a 4.4/5 rating on Tripadvisor from 2,063 reviews.
One person wrote: "Entering the house we were extremely impressed with the willingness of the room attendants and their wealth of knowledge about not only the venue but each individual room and the contents.
"It was pleasantly surprising to be greeted and informed in as little or as much depth of history as you wanted.
"Leaving the house we wandered around the stunning grounds and in particular the Japanese gardens which were lovely. Highly recommend this property more so because the rooms contain the original furniture and fittings."
Recommended reading:
Another shared: "The house is beautiful and in a lovely setting. The big glass windows you first see as you climb the stairs were a great feature you don't often see in historic properties allowing a great view across the garden.
"Inside there were a number of surprises with lots of art and quirky features which made each room interesting.
"Outside the Japanese garden was pretty as was the walk round to the kitchen garden which, whilst spacious, had limited planting within it but is hopefully expanding with young fruit trees present."