One of my best purchases over the last year was not a new bag or a pair of shoes, but a family membership to the National Trust. So far we have enjoyed a Boxing Day walk at nearby Claremont Landscape Gardens and an Easter egg hunt at Ham House as well as trips to Petworth House and Uppark, both in Sussex.
The staff are great at engaging the children with stories of what life was like in ‘the olden days’ and there are usually little activity stations and play areas dotted around the houses. What my three enjoy most, however, is exploring the often vast grounds and gardens – climbing trees and rolling down hills, things they don’t really get to do on a day to day basis. And best of all, once you’ve paid for your membership, if you bring a picnic it’s virtually a free day out and all that fresh air is sure to guarantee sleepy children by bedtime.
Yesterday we spent the morning at Bodiam Castle in Kent, about an hour away by car from where we live. We had promised Casper that we would go there before Christmas as he missed a school trip to the medieval castle when he had his operation a couple of months ago. It was a grey and drizzly morning but we had lots of fun exploring the castle which was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dallingridge, a rich soldier. As it wasn’t quite picnic weather, we warmed up afterwards in the National Trust cafe with home baked scones slathered in butter and jam and cups of tea and hot chocolate.
A lovely day out.
{Bodiam Castle viewed from the courtyard}
{The children contemplating whether or not to roll down the muddy hill outside the castle. Luckily they decided not to!}
{Listening to a talk about the history of the castle}
{There were lots of nooks and crannies to explore}
{Cameron looks rather pleased to see his brother in the stocks!}
Sounds fantastic! A bit like our National Parks Discovery pass which always gives us great options for outings. My kids adore muddy hills, and nooks and crannies too!
I know, it’s great to see them running around and exploring nature. We have some lovely parks nearby but otherwise we live in a fairly built up area, being so close to London. X
We love Bodiam Castle it’s not far from where we live and we have NT membership. There’s always so much going on there and perfect hills to roll down!
I bet it’s gorgeous there in the summer. I’m sure we will be back when the weather is drier. We would love to explore the area around as well. X
This sounds fun, I am going to pass this on further to learnermother. Check out her blog for some ideas on entertaining children. She writes about similar things like you. xx
Thank you so much. Have you got a link for her blog? I would love to check it out! X
It is between my favourites http://learnermother.co.uk/about/
Dear blogger/friend! I have been nominated by the lovely learner mother for Liebster award and that meant also blogs I like and nominate them further and I chose you. Here is my latest blog post
http://katdesigner.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/day-52-liebster-award-40-days-to-go/
and when you feel free to accept the award and answer the questions at the bottom, I will be ever so grateful. So here we are, I think you great so, keep blogging and looking forward to your next post. Love Kat xx
Thank you so much! I am very honoured and will respond as soon as I can. X
Looks beautiful. My kids would flip out if I told them we were going to explore a castle for the afternoon! 😉
This was a particularly great one, the kids loved it. They have a fun day out but also learn a bit about history.
I got your message about the gingerbread lattes. Woohoo that’s great! Let me know what you think of them! X
Kids love adventure days.I’m sure you had a great day out.x
Thank you, we did. It’s nice to have a day out and explore. X
Look like you had so much fun, and this castle looks so beautiful. I love castles. You are lucky there are many of them in the UK 🙂 Blackberry #1 loves rolling down muddy hills too 🙂
Yes we are very lucky there are quite a few castles around here to explore. Mud, puddles – my kids love it all. X
Thank you for liking my blog on teaching my toddler to dress himself, that really made my day. I live very close to Bodiam castle and there’s a good pub opposite for a Sunday roast after walking around the castle grounds!
Thank you. That’s really good to know, I’m sure we will be back. X
Love this. Glad you’re getting value from your membership! (And always good to see the kids in stocks 😉 ).
Ha ha, isn’t it just?! X