Lord Bath has relinquished the reins of the Longleat estate and safari park near Warminster after 18 years to hand the business on to his eldest son.

Alexander Thynn, 77, the colourful 7th Marquess of Bath, will continue to live at the Elizabethan Longleat House, which is now at the centre of one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, but the control of the business, Longleat Enterprises Ltd, is now in the hands of his son Ceawlin, 36, the Viscount Weymouth.

In an interview with the Wiltshire Times, Lord Bath reminisced over the 18 years he has spent in charge, after taking over from his father Lord Henry Bath in 1992.

During his tenure, he has tried and failed to build a life-size recreation of Stonehenge, overseen the launch of holiday village Center Parcs in Longleat Forest, allowed the cameras into his stately home and safari park for a popular TV show and watched as the estate’s infamous nightclub Oscars, was closed down due to problems with violence and drugs.

Since taking over the Longleat business, Lord Bath has boosted visitor numbers from 600,000 a year to 875,000 a year, thanks in no small measure to the introduction of Center Parcs to the estate in 1994.

“Initiating Center Parcs and getting that through was probably the biggest hurdle, but it’s a big success and has been a big support to the estate,” Lord Bath said.

“The BBC programme Animal Park also solved any publicity problems we had.

“They have been wonderful and I have watched many of the episodes.

“Often when I have guests I show them around the safari park, but I don’t interfere too much, I think it’s better that way.”

Despite the successes under Lord Bath’s leadership, there have also been some major disappointments.

The estate’s nightclub, Oscars 2000, closed in January 2003 after Wiltshire Police built up a dossier of 220 reported crimes connected to the club between January 2000 and January 2003, including offences involving weapons and drugs.

Lord Bath also spoke of his disappointment at not being able to create what he called the ‘Thin Henge’ on the estate.

He said: “I wanted to create the Thin Henge which would have been the creation of a ring of stones. It would have been a recreation of something similar to Stonehenge and I think could have been a big tourist attraction but I’m afraid that didn’t get past English Heritage.”

Ceawlin Thynn, who is not married but has a daughter called Eloise, already has an apartment on the estate.

He has business experience as a financier and managing director of Lion Trust Development Management, which builds hotels in Russia.

As a teenager he cleaned the toilets at Oscars nightclub for pocket money.

In January, he was fined £1,500 for playing loud music and operating a printing press at his Notting Hill flat at 4am.

He blamed the incidents on his partial deafness sustained when he was caught up in an explosion in Delhi in 1996, which killed 17 people including best friend Crinan Wilde and girlfriend Scarlett Kirby.

His mother is Hungarian born actress and writer Anna Gael Gyarmathyl, who has been married to his father for more than 35 years.