Shaw Wiltshire hotels:

Lydiard House, the delightful yet little-known ancestral home of the Viscounts Bollingbroke, lies in beautiful 18th Century parkland within easy reach of Junction 16 of the M4. Rescued from ruin by Swindon Corporation in 1943, the Palladian house has been lovingly restored and welcomes visitors throughout the year. As one of Wiltshire's smaller stately homes, the house benefits from a highly-intimate atmosphere. Visitors are free to wander at leisure throughout the elegant ground floor apartments where ornate plasterwork and original family furnishings are preserved alongside portraits and photographs of the St. John family who lived in Lydiard House from as far back as Elizabethan times. Striking character figures of the family and of their servants bring the house to life and their story is told through audio commentaries and displays. The adjacent parish church of St Mary is one of England's finest small churches. It is richly packed with monuments to the St. John family including the Golden Cavalier, a full-size effigy of Edward St John emerging from his tent in full battledress.