There’s a particular sort of beauty that lives in the British county of Wiltshire. Not the glossy, manicured kind - but a wilder, older magic. The kind you feel in the bones of the land. It rolls beneath your feet in chalky hills, it rustles through ancient oaks, it lingers in the morning mist that wraps around tennis courts and kitchen gardens alike.

Wiltshire is where EXEAT is based, and very much a part of our DNA. The rhythm of our days, the soft power of the countryside, the quiet hum of history, this is where our ideas are born. Where our designs take shape. Where we run (often late) to the post office with samples. And where we remind ourselves that power doesn’t always shout. Sometimes, it simply swishes.

But Wiltshire hasn’t always been quiet.

Throughout history, this county has played host to a legacy of formidable women - queens, artists, thinkers and rebel whose stories are often written between the lines of the more widely known (and loudly told) histories.

Queen Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, ruled in the 10th century and commanded armies with more strategy and spine than many of her male contemporaries. She fortified strongholds and defended her people with resolve, intelligence and grace. It’s easy to imagine her riding across the downs at dusk, wind in her hair, fierce and free.

Or Maud Heath, a 15th-century market woman from rural Wiltshire, who walked 10 miles to Chippenham each week to sell eggs. She later left her modest fortune to fund the building of a causeway for women like her, ensuring their safe travel long after she’d gone. Her statue still looks down over the Vale of Dauntsey, a quiet but everlasting monument to female foresight.

And then there’s the indomitable women of Lacock Abbey - from the sharp-witted 13th-century nuns who ran the estate like clockwork, to Talbot’s niece Matilda, an Edwardian eccentric who hosted wild garden parties and helped save the village from developers.

Wiltshire has always belonged to women who understood their own strength. Women who led quietly, cleverly, without waiting for permission.

At EXEAT, we honour that legacy through design that helps modern women feel strong, beautiful, and completely themselves. Our Wiltshire studio hums with ideas, ambition, and just the right amount of chaos.

If you ever find yourself in this glorious part of the world, these are five places we think you absolutely must visit. Preferably with a well-packed picnic basket, a couple of dogs, and the sort of outfit that turns heads at the farm shop.

EXEAT’s Top 5 Wiltshire Must-Visits
(In no particular order, except perhaps of mood)

1. Lacock Abbey
A vision of honey-coloured stone and cloisters, this medieval abbey turned Gothic home is soaked in history. Once a spiritual centre run by powerful women, it later became the birthplace of photography. Wander the gardens, peek inside the cloisters, and feel the soft thunder of centuries past.

2. Avebury Stone Circle
Forget the crowds at Stonehenge, Avebury is wilder, stranger, and far more atmospheric. These Neolithic stones form one of the largest prehistoric sites in Europe and are said to be a centre of female energy. Come at sunrise if you want goosebumps.

3. The Courts Garden, Holt
An Arts and Crafts-era dreamland, with perfectly clipped hedges, lily ponds, and a tennis lawn that may inspire your best whites. It’s a place that feels like stepping into a painting, best enjoyed with a picnic rug and someone who tells good stories.

4. Wardour Castle
Once home to Lady Blanche Arundell, who defended the castle during the Civil War with just 25 men against a siege of 1,300. That’s the kind of woman we raise a toast to. The ruins are breathtaking, romantic, melancholic, and unexpectedly empowering (it's where our founder Laura can be found most mornings walking the dogs).

5. The Chalke Valley
A secret pocket of Wiltshire where hedgerows tumble, swallows swoop, and time feels generous. This is where EXEAT breathes, where our samples are tried in the wild, and where the future of beautiful British tenniswear is quietly stitched into being.

Wiltshire, in its essence, is not a manicured chocolate box county - it's a place of substance, wild beauty and quiet power. A place where women moved with purpose, built legacies, and wore their strength lightly. It’s a perfect home for EXEAT, and perhaps, a perfect mirror for the woman who wears it.

Do let us know if you visit! We’ll be on the court.

Love,
EXEAT