VISITORS to Bowood will soon be able to tuck into a Sunday lunch as well as enjoying the picturesque house and gardens.

The elegant restaurant is inside the main house and from next Sunday will be offering two-course lunches for diners. Lady Arabella Unwin, 39, the daughter of Lord Lansdowne, said: "It was the family's idea in response from visitors. We already have a coffee shop near the entrance that is very popular.

"Visitors like the idea of having a restaurant inside the house itself where they can walk out onto the terraces. The restaurant isn't currently open so it's being reopened specifically just for Sunday lunches during the season."

There is already a kitchen team at the house, which provides light meals at the coffee shop and the team will be cooking the lunches, which will be a traditional roast with a choice of three meats or vegetarian option, and a choice of four puddings.

Lady Unwin said: "We think it's going to be really popular. We only have limited space though so we can only seat so many.

"We're suggesting people pre-book their table."

The lunches are £11 for adults and £6 for children but this also includes the price of admission into the house and gardens.

After lunch visitors can spend the afternoon exploring some of Bowood's attractions.

Children can burn off their energy in the large adventure playground with its giant slides and huge scramble net while the adults can visit the impressive 18th century house. Visitors can see the Adam Orangery, which contains a picture gallery and the Lansdowne collections of paintings and sculpture, the chapel and the laboratory where Dr Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen in 1774.

There is also a library and a sculpture gallery created by the present Marquis of Lansdowne in 1980. Upstairs is a gallery of family treasures and exhibition rooms of 18th century costumes, Victorian memorabilia and a collection of Indian artefacts. Diners can then walk off their lunch with a stroll around the expansive gardens with its 19th century Italianite terraces, sloping lawns and lake.

  • To reserve a table for Sunday lunch contact (01249) 812102 (weekdays) or (01249) 810961 (weekends) or email: sundaylunch@bowood.org

FACT FILE:

  • Bowood House and Gardens is open from April 1 to October 31
  • The house is open 11am-5.30pm and the grounds from 11am-6pm
  • Sunday lunches will be served at the restaurant between 12-2.30pm
  • The ground floor of the house is fully accessible for wheelchair users