Wiltshire Estates

The Wilshire Estateswas a location that the Atlanta survivors found early on in their days on the road. Located several miles outside Atlanta, the suburban residential area was surrounded by a set of strong walls and a metal gate. Three days after the zombie outbreak, Philip Blake's group (the governor) stayed here briefly on the way to Atlanta, they left after one of their group members are killed. Weeks later, Ricks group initially want to settle in this housing settlement but the next day the group is overrun and they must flee.

The residential district also appeared in The Walking Dead (TV Series) where both Shane and Andrea go and search the estates for Sophia in the episode, Secrets.

The Governor's group
Philip Blake, his daughter Penny, Philips older brother Brian, and his best friends Bobby Marsh and Nick Parsons are staying in an upper class house at Wiltshire Estates; the group had been driving for three days away from their home in Waynesboro, Georgia in order to escape the apocalypse, and were heading towards the refugee center in Atlanta, Georgia prior to stumbling upon the walled community - infested with the undead and recently abandoned. The group intended to stay only for a night, but upon finding ample provisions and amenities inside, they chose to make it a more permanent settlement, hoping to wait out the crisis.

As they go out scavenging and build barricades, the undead become drawn to their presence. Days later, after fending off another small wave of them from the fences, Bobby is bitten by a child-zombie while trying to rest, and immediately turns after dying, prompting Philip to kill him. With the undead clawing at the barricades continuing to grow in number, the group buries Bobby and pack their vehicle with weapons and supplies, leaving the next night. Brian posts a sign outside the gateway that reads "ALL DEAD DO NOT ENTER" before they ultimately depart.

Grimes group
Desperate and traumatized, Rick Grimes group of survivors stumbled upon Wiltshire Estates at the end of issue 8 by pure luck. Traveling fast on the road in the RV nearly caused them to pass it completely. The combination of the cold winter weather and the prospect of starvation made the choice of scouting the area undisputed.

Other than a frightening encounter with a downed frozen zombie, the group was safe until Rick and Tyreese attempted to clear the first house. Rick accidentally let loose two locked zombies in the basement and was set upon; only because of the quick intervention of Tyreese did the two survive the attack. Afterwards, Rick decided they all remain within the cleared house and handle the rest of the neighborhood the following morning.

Several sub-plots and relationships within the characters were formed in their short stay. Rick and Tyreese who already took the leadership positions of the group quickly formed an evident friendship. Their one night at Wilshire saw Andrea and Dale fully expressing their mutual intimate interest in each other by engaging in sexual intercourse. Tyreese and Carol's regular flirtation developed into obvious interest as they slept in the same room.

The next morning (issue 10) ended their safe stay. Over-confident in the area's potential, Rick split the adults into two groups to scout the neighborhood. When Allen and Donna went by one of the surrounding homes, Donna insisted she was not being careless in wandering too close without the others. Rick meanwhile went back to the RV to check some things, and saw the previously obscured warning message on the walls of the estate, stating "ALL DEAD, DO NOT ENTER". Before he could warn the others, a nearby lurker caught Donna by surprise and bit her eye out. A shocked Allen retaliated (despite the group's efforts) by firing wildly into the undead, but Donna was already rendered helpless as the lurker and other alerted zombies overwhelmed her. Rick ordered the majority of the group to fall back to the RV while he handled Allen. In an obvious state of shock and anger, Allen nearly gave up on his life while surrounded, but with Rick's convincing to stay alive for his sons Ben and Billy, Allen managed to move and escape.

Tyreese went to warn Chris and Julie in the upstairs of the safe house, and caught them just before intimacy. Putting his anger on hold, he ordered them to dress and get ready to leave.

Rick got Allen back to the RV but realized the trio were still at the home. He ended up outrunning the hordes of undead to make it back to the house and meet up with them, before realizing escape was impossible with the zombies now covering the exits. Fortunately, Dale drove the R.V. right through the horde for the four of them to jump on the top, and the survivors successfully manged to escape the now zombie-infested Wiltshire Estates. Inside the van, Allen breaks down telling his sons that their mother is dead.

Deaths in Comic

 * Bobby Marsh
 * Donna

Television Series
Shane asks Andrea to help him follow up on a lead to Sophia's whereabouts and the two drive up to the suburban community. Though no walkers appeared at first and the area seems to be completely abandon, the residence has been clearly hit by the epidemic dead, decaying corpses can be found inside some houses as well as the community itself suffered some decay, abandon cars littered everywhere and garbage overflowing onto the streets. When Shane and Andrea finish their search, the neighborhood appears to be overwhelmed with walkers. Shane uses this as a perfect moment to help Andrea with her gun training and she eventually succeeds and both kill several walkers together and then flee the area heading back towards Hershel's Farm without finding Sophia. {C

Deaths in TV Series

 * Numerous counts of zombies

Trivia

 * When Robert Kirkman was asked "In the comic book there’s a great little story arc where Rick and the rest of the survivors think they’ve found this great, undead-free place called Wiltshire Estates, which actually turns out to be Zombie Central. Were you tempted to incorporate that into the show?" He responded: "I like that Wiltshire Estates stuff in the comic too. There is a kind of a tribute to that coming later in the season."
 * At the 2012 Arizona Comic Con, Robert Kirkman confirmed that the neighborhood Andrea and Shane visited in the episode Secrets is in fact Wiltshire Estates. It was intended to be a small easter egg for the fans.
 * Here's the link to the video:thumb|300px|right|start at the 20:20 mark