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Lydiard Park
Name: Lydiard Park
Where: Lydiard Tregoze, Swindon, SN5 3PA. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: Combining a huge 260 acres of parkland with a gorgeous manour house, walled garden and church, we can't recommend Lydiard Park highly enough. You can tour the house, experience its fascinaing exhibitions for all the family, and take a break with an Afternoon Tea in the stunning Coach House Tea Rooms.
Top Tip: Take a picnic and a blanket and find yourself a space on the main field in front of the House. Take in the scenery and once you're finished, walk the grounds and take a tour of the house!
STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway
Name: STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway, or the STEAM Museum for short.
Where: Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2TA. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: You can't talk for long about Swindon's heritage without mentioning the railway works. Swindon Railway Works opened in January of 1843 and by 1900 employed over 12,000 people! STEAM tells the incredible stories of the men and women that worked there, as well as being home to some of the locomotives themselves and even vintage advertising material.
Top Tip: Take a turn on the train driving simulator and feel what it was like driving a steam engine!
Swindon Designer Outlet
Name: Swindon Designer Outet
Where: Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2DY. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: If you're at STEAM Museum then we highly recommend a trip to Swindon Designer Outlet. A shopping destination that has been sympathetically placed inside the original Swindon Railway Works. Aside from the designer fashion deals to be had – all at below RRP – the mix of shopping, restaurants and historical interest means it’s a must for this list!
Top Tip: If you've got little ones, take a ride on the Hooter Express, a mini steam engine that does laps around the centre! If not, make sure you stop for lunch at one of the many fabulous restaurants.
Old Town
Name: Old Town
Where: A large area of Swindon streching out from Wood Street. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: Old Town is the original part of Swindon. Before the advent of the railways formed 'New Swindon' and eventually rose up the hill and connected the two. Originally a market town, the area now balances the old and new. You'll find stunning open spaces as well as thriving independent businesses, and historic buildings. For more information, take a look at our Total Guide to Old Town.
Top Tip: Go for a relaxing walk in Lawns Park, with views over Swindon, before enjoying Swindon's oldest Italian restaurant, Mario's, then enjoying the nightlife.
Railway Village
Name: Railway Village
Where: Town Centre, Swindon. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: In the 1840s, GWR built a small village near its Railway Works to house some of its workers. The charming terraced houses are still standing today! Among the houses is the GWR Medical Fund Clinic, which would prescribe dentistry and medicine to workers in exchange for a small amount out of their wages. It's considered the blueprint to the NHS. Close to the Railway Village is the Milton Road Turkish Baths and the former lodging house, which is now a community centre.
Top Tip: Best enjoyed as part of a stroll that also takes in Faringdon Road Park. A gorgeous open area that has hosted a Children's Fete dating back to 1866.
Richard Jefferies Museum
Name: Richard Jefferies Museum
Where: Marlborough Road, Coate, Swindon SN3 6AA. Click here to view on Google Maps
About: Richard Jefferies was a nature writer who was born in a country cottage in Coate on 6th November 1848. Best known for his writing describing rural life in the English countryside he used the nearby countryside as his inspiration. The Cottage, which still stands today, is home to the Museum, which holds exhibitions and examples of his work from through out his life.
Top Tip: Take a tour all the way through the old cottage, which has original manuscripts and a model of Jeffereis as a boy reading on his four-poster bed.
Swindon and Cricklade Railway
Name: Swindon and Cricklade Railway
Where: Blunsdon Station, Tadpole Lane, Blunsdon, Swindon, SN25 2DA. Click here to view of Google Maps
About: The passenger line at Swindon and Cricklade Railway is consists of a round trip of four miles of real steam-engine travel. Chugging away between Blunsdon Station and Hayes Knoll and also includes a souvenir shop and indoor and outdoor space for refreshments.
Top Tip: Fancy driving a real life loco? Try one of the Steam or Diesel Driver Experience courses!