King Alfred’s Tower, a prominent landmark on the Stourhead Estate, near Mere in Wiltshire, is set to open its doors on its 250th anniversary.  

The tower, which closed at the beginning of the pandemic, will now be open every weekend from Saturday 23 July until Sunday 30 October, between 11am-3pm.  

At 160 feet high, King Alfred's Tower offers far reaching views across the Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset countryside to those who make it up the 225 steps inside the triangular tower. The surrounding countryside also offers beautiful woodland walking routes across the Stourhead Estate.  

King Alfred’s Tower was designed by Henry Flitcroft, the same architect who designed Stourhead’s iconic temples. It was the vision of Henry Hoare II ‘the Magnificent’, creator of Stourhead’s landscape garden. The tower commemorates the accession of George III to the throne in 1760 and the end of the Seven Years War. It is named after the legendary Saxon King, Alfred the Great, who according to legend raised his standard there is 878 AD. 

Admission to the tower is free for National Trust members. Admission charges for non-members are: adult £5, child £2.50, family £12.50, family one adult £7.50.