With the husband on a ten hour shift at work today and the sun shining, I knew the children would be itching to get outside but I didn’t really fancy venturing down to the local park on a busy Saturday. So whilst having a quick peek at my twitter feed over breakfast I noticed that the National Trust were offering free entrance to most of their properties this weekend.
I quickly packed up a bag with a few essentials and off we went in the car to visit Saltram House, our local Georgian National Trust Property. As the house doesn’t open until 12pm we headed through to the gardens which Miss M and Mister B absolutely loved. They ran ahead and led me through the winding paths, climbing every tree they could. We found little shelters to explore and even an underground cellar. The flowers and trees were wonderful just coming into bloom giving us plenty to look at and talk about. The children loved running around in the fresh air and the sun was shining, helping them to burn off the excess energy they woke up with.
After about an hour of exploring we headed in to the house, a beautiful Georgian Mansion. Miss M was given a clipboard to carry around, noting down the rooms she spotted hidden wooden mice in – a great activity to keep children’s eyes peeled and maintain their interest in wandering around the property. We even found a dressing up room upstairs where we could try on replica clothes and pose for a photo. Mister B insisted on trying on the entire range of gentleman’s hats!!
Once we had finished the tour of the house, Miss M was given a sticker for her excellent effort in spotting all the hidden mice. We then headed off to the cafe for a late lunch and even sat outside in the glorious sunshine to relax. What a lovely day spent with just me and my two children, it was so nice to get away from a day stuck at home and has definitely inspired me to take the children to more National Trust properties when we’ve got the time, although may have to find a day daddy isn’t working for the ones more further afield!
