Goodnestone ParkGardens

Goodnestone Park has belonged to the FitzWalter family for more than three centuries, since Brook Bridges built the Palladian house here in 1704. Jane Austen's brother Edward married Elizabeth Bridges, a daughter of the house, and Austen herself was a regular visitor during the 1790s, staying nearby while drafting an early version of what became Pride and Prejudice. The fifteen acres of gardens include a walled garden restored by Margaret FitzWalter from the 1960s onward, along with a woodland garden, parterre and terrace, and an arboretum planted to mark the family's golden wedding anniversary. The Old Dairy Café, converted from one of the estate's original dairy buildings in 2017, serves lunches and cream teas using locally sourced ingredients alongside a small gift shop.