One of the many joys of EXEAT Manor are the abundant, lore filled walks we spend our weekends on here in the magical rural county of Wiltshire. We know you’ll love them too & every month we’ll be sharing a favourite ramble. So fill up your flask (ours is a tea but others have been known to favour something a little stronger), grab your wellies & fire up the Landrover… we’re going on a stomp!

This weekend the sun shone after months of rain, so we pulled on our wellies and headed out on one of our most beloved rambles down to Fonthill Lake.

A Brief History of Fonthill Lake

Part of the historic Fonthill Estate, the water was shaped in the late eighteenth century by William Beckford, novelist, collector and architectural visionary. His great Gothic masterpiece, Fonthill Abbey, once rose nearby in theatrical splendour. Though the Abbey has long fallen, the atmosphere most certainly endures.

Most striking of all is the solitary stone archway (scroll to the end of the pics!). A surviving fragment of Beckford’s grand entrance façade, it stands in the greenery like a portal to another age. Romantic, eccentric and thoroughly English through and through.

Walking the lake on a weekend morning, just the dogs, swans and a flock of sheep for company, it is impossible not to feel your spirits soar. This is Mother Nature meeting human imagination (not to mention ambition) at its finest. The resulting landscape becomes a captivating narrative and source of endless inspiration.

This is what we love about our Wiltshire home here at EXEAT manor - history and ingenuity are never far away… And that is something worth stepping out for. Plus the sensational burger action at the pub 🍔.

📍Fonthill Lake near Fonthill Bishop, SP3 6PX
🗺️ There is limited parking at the lake (esp. at weekend) so why not park nearby in somewhere like the village of Tisbury and plan your route on foot using @ordnancesurvey app.
🍔 Burgers @thebeckfordarms just 10 minute on foot from the lake. Booking essential if you’re eating.