Longleat

[Rupert]

Recently did a lovely bike ride starting and finishing in Bristol and out on the Bristol - Bath cycleroute and then the Two Tunnels Greenway cycleroute to Midford.  Then thru' Frome and across the Longleat Estate (NCN24).  While cycling thru' the Longleat Estate, I decided to see if I could find a cafe and walked past the House to where a cafe was signposted.  Suddenly, a Longleat official/warden stopped me and asked where I was going.  I replied that I was looking for a cafe at which point he told me that I was off the official cycleroute and that I would have to pay £34.95 unless I quickly turned around and retraced.  I pointed out that there were no signs to let me know that I was not allowed into the area at which point the official/warden became a little aggressive towards me.  I was not going to let some Jobsworth spoil my day so retraced without another word.  Has anyone else had similar experiences?

[robgul]

You're lucky he didn't set a lion on you 

Rob

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've ridden through it on a couple of occasions, including once on a tour organised by JBB otp and in the company of a few other forumites, but only on the official cycleroute, as far as I know. So can't really say. TBH I'd expect any cafe in a place like that to be overpriced, crowded and not amazingly good, so I'd be inclined to hold out to the next town or village.

You're lucky he didn't set a lion on you 

Rob

Or make you "sit for your portrait" with Lord Bath!

Totally OT but the last time I visited Longleat for the animals was way back in about 1994. A friend of friends drove us there in order to flex his swanky shiny new BMW. There are signs before the monkey enclosure warning you they can cause damage to vehicles. He decided to risk it (or we persuaded him, I can't remember) but no one expected quite this sort of damage: An inquisitive female monkey jumped onto the windscreen to gawp at the lesser apes behind the glass hedge. A male monkey jumped in behind her because he'd been watching Discovery Channel. Maggie Monkey wasn't in the mood for being a star of spectator sports and hopped away, but not quite fast enough, because Mark Monkey left a white splodge on the shiny new windscreen...

[Kim]

swanky shiny new BMW

This appears to be a typo

[Cudzoziemiec]

lol! TBF I think he might actually have been leant the BMW by a friend who'd gone away for a week. (So that would make it a friend of friend of a friend's BMW... )

We don't appear to be helping the OP much though.

[Rupert]

I did actually find a very nice cafe a few miles further on near Warminster.

[tonyh]

I hope Longleat policy isn't shifting against cyclists. There are about eight good tarmac routes in and out, and I've not been challenged on any of them, save for on one occasion when a very polite pair of "heavies" apologetically stopped me near the top gate. I wasn't allowed through just then, as the young Lord was having a wedding party.

I gratefully took this as encouragement to ride through a fabulous area at all the other times. Still fabulous and mainly quiet, except near the House. The carparks have got bigger and there is more prominent advertising of the Attractions.

[Captain Offensive]

I grew up in the villages around Longleat and went to school with Ceawlin who now runs the estate

Sadly the attitude to cyclists is the same as to locals. It always used to be that locals were allowed into the grounds free (though of course we paid if we went into any of the attraction bits). That changed some years back. Gates and fences went up and locals have been made to feel unwelcome.

I think the estate would be happier not to have the cycle routes through them at all. Such a shame

[Rupert]

Fully agree with that.

However I never once saw any ticket kiosks, not even by where I exited the estate, so how and where do others pay their money?

[Captain Offensive]

They expect everyone to drive in so there are pay gates on the one or two roads in that aren't blocked off