For six weeks during May and June, Bowood’s rhododendrons are in flower and a separate woodland garden is open. Visitors approach it through Kennels Lodge off the A342 between Derry Hill and Sandy Lane.

The walks are over two miles in length, but for those not wishing to cover this distance, any number of alternative rides are accessible, and seats are provided throughout. The walks, which are signposted are named after members of the family except for ‘Pauline’s Walk’ named after the Hon. Mrs Spender-Clay from whom the late Lord Lansdowne acquired a large number of the rhododendron plants, and ‘David’s Ride’ named after the retired Heads Groundsman, Mr. David Cleverly, who helped lay out the newly planted areas.

Running for 200 miles from Lyme Regis on the South Coast to the Wash is an uninterrupted seam of Upper Greensand and Gault. The Rhododendron Walks are on the Western edge of this sedimentary formation. It is this soil type, coupled with the protection from the elements by mature oak and scotch pine, together with ample moisture, which provides the ideal growing conditions for rhododendrons and azaleas.

The first rhododendrons were planted by the 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne around 1854, and each successive generation up to the present day has added to the collection. The present Lord Lansdowne has extended the planting by a further ten acres and added new walks. It was thanks to his father that these grounds were reclaimed, having nearly reverted back to wild during the Second World War.

As the visitor walks along the rides, each step opens up a new vista of breathtaking beauty, from the minute detail of the individual flower to the grand sweep of colour formed by hundreds of shrubs surrounded by a carpet of bluebells. Only nature could create such a profusion and harmony of colours. Towards the Northern edge of the rhododendron woods the land starts to drop towards the ‘Washway’ and the main park. Here, in a key position looking Eastwards across the Wiltshire landscape, stands the Mausoleum. It was commissioned in the early summer of 1761 by the Dowager Countess of Shelburne as a memorial to her husband, the purchaser of Bowood, and as a resting place for the family newly established there. It was Robert Adams’ first work for them, and it is also the finest building on the Estate. Conceived as a Pantheon, its portico is balanced by three transepts intended for monuments. Within, columns screen the vestibule and transepts, and in the position usually allotted to an altar stands the sarcophagus commemorating the 1st Earl of Shelburne. This work is by Augustine Carlini, an Italian sculptor who settled in England, becoming a foundation member of the Royal Academy in 1768. He completed the sarcophagus in the mid-1770'’.

The visitor, on leaving the Mausoleum, has several possible walks to follow which lead back towards Kennels Lodge. Lady Shelburne’s Walk should not be missed; a few hundred yards along the Walk from the Mausoleum are two worked-out quarries on either side of the path. Both contain exciting and beautiful varieties of rhododendrons. Continuing South from the quarries, the second path on the left is Petty’s Walk which slopes gently into a sheltered pocket of woodland. Here can be found a selection of giant plants with bold foliage and a selection of Rhododendrons raised from seeds collected by Roy Lancaster in Yunan in 1979.

At the end of Petty’s Walk, the visitor should turn right and head back towards the entrance. There are two possible alternatives – Lord Kerry or Fitzmaurice Walks. The latter, in places winds through tunnels of immense rhododendrons which follow the water course of a subterranean spring. On reaching the Keepers Drive, the visitor has completed the tour.