Holiday apartment in Swindon – railway history and parks

Culture and history

One outstanding example is Lydiard House. The Grade I listed building preserves elaborate stucco work, original family furniture, and portraits and photographs of the St John family in its state rooms. The house was this family’s home for more than 500 years; its history dates back to the Middle Ages. The historic Lydiard Park estate on the western edge of Swindon also includes a Palladian house, a church and a walled garden set within 260 acres of parkland. Events take place there throughout the year, including open-air theatre, live music and The Luna Cinema.

The railway forms another important part of the town’s history. STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway is housed in a restored Grade II listed railway building and tells the story of the people who worked for the Great Western Railway, operated its trains or travelled on them. Swindon Railway Works opened in January 1843 as a repair and maintenance facility for the new Great Western Railway. STEAM can be reached on foot in around 10 to 20 minutes from Swindon railway station, the town centre or the bus station.

The Railway Village Museum also explores this era. It is located in a Victorian cottage at 34 Faringdon Road and shows how a Great Western Railway worker might have lived with his family in Swindon around 1900. The museum is available year-round for tailor-made heritage experiences for schools and groups. The Swindon and Cricklade Railway is the only standard-gauge heritage railway in Wiltshire; Blunsdon is its main visitor centre. At Hayes Knoll, visitors can view ongoing restoration projects in the engine shed.

Museum & Art Swindon offers further insights into the town’s history and culture, with collections of modern British art, studio pottery, local archaeology and social history relating to Swindon. The Richard Jefferies Museum comprises a thatched 17th-century cottage and a later-built, three-storey 19th-century farmhouse. The Wilts & Berks Canal runs through Swindon and opened in 1810.

Parks and landscapes

Coate Water Park is a country park 5 kilometres south-east of the centre of Swindon, near Junction 15 of the M4. Several level, surfaced walking paths are suitable for wheelchair users. The circuit around the lake is 1.75 miles or 2.8 kilometres long and takes around 45 minutes at a leisurely pace.

To the south of the surrounding area lies Barbury Castle, set on 60 hectares of chalk grassland and associated wildlife. The area is suitable for wildlife watching, walking, mountain biking and horse riding. Liddington Castle is a Scheduled Monument and a hillfort connected with the ancient Ridgeway route. It stands on a plateau on Liddington Hill and offers wide views across the Thames Valley and the Marlborough Downs.

Stanton Park comprises a 36-hectare nature reserve with a lake, woodland and grassland. A surfaced circular path is suitable for wheelchair users. Shaw Forest Park is a community woodland of around 40 hectares, approximately 3 kilometres north-west of the centre of Swindon. Its landscape includes ash and willow woodland, scrubland, juniper and alder. The Shaw Forest Park ranger team organises entertaining and educational events.

Paths and activities

For outdoor exercise, Lydiard Park offers broad, largely accessible paths for walking, running, jogging and cycling. The Works Heritage Trail is a mostly level, 2-mile circular walk with 21 stations and information panels about historic buildings. Swindon also has short, circular, traffic-free routes for cycling, walking and jogging.

Shaw Forest Park is also connected by a network of paths. This includes an important cycle route linking the park with Rivermead and Swindon town centre to the south, and with Mouldon Hill, Rodbourne Cheney and Priory Vale to the north. This places historic traces, woodland landscapes and different types of routes alongside one another within the area described.

Additional location options include Swindon, Highworth, Liddington, South Marston and Broad Blunsdon. Further destinations in the wider surrounding area include Cornwall, North Somerset and Wiltshire.

For the higher-level travel overview: South West England.