Easter Fun at Saltram House National Trust

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Fiona Martin

For us as a family, Easter wouldn’t be the same without a visit to one of our favourite national trust properties to follow an Easter trail. The children love them, it’s great to be out in the fresh air and there is always a pleasant atmosphere at the national trust properties. We visited Saltram House in Plymouth last weekend for the children to follow their Easter trail.

Once the children had their maps they were off, running along the paths looking for the clues. It didn’t take long for Miss M to spot the explorer hat hanging from a bush and Mister B found the magnifying glass hanging from a tree on the lawn.

On the lawn we spotted a small marquee tent and ventured inside to find a couple of sand pits arranged as an “archaeological dig”. Each sand pit had the pieces of a puzzle which we needed to find and then complete the puzzle. My two couldn’t wait to start digging and were soon passing me pieces of puzzle – a really fun activity!

Back onto the Easter trail and Mister B was the first one to spot the spade stuck in the ground. He loved looking for the objects and carefully marked them off as he found them on his trail map.

I just love the beautiful plants and flowers that can be found in National Trust gardens and here are just a few that I saw here today.

And this tree was simply stunning!

We had a wonderful day wandering round and the children loved the trail, especially at the end when they collected their chocolate eggs!

Saltram House and Garden – a fun day with the children!!

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Fiona Martin

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!

A Family walk through the woods – Saltram

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Last week, we decided to go out for a family walk and to give Miss M a chance to have a little bike ride. We drove out to a local National Trust property that is set within a large area of parkland/woods and began to explore the woodland, collecting some twigs and leaves along the way to use for a crafty activity on a day we are stuck indoors.

The children couldn’t wait to get their wellies on and loved going off the track to explore amongst the trees. And we even found a few muddy puddles along the way that they insisted in sloshing their way through.

Half way around the walk we came across the estuary which of course Miss M and Mister B couldn’t resist a paddle in!!

It was great to spend the afternoon outdoors as a family, and although a little chilly we were sheltered by trees for the most part. We found a great set of trees on the grass by the car park that had all grown into each other at the bottom giving a great climbing platform for Miss M until she spotted the monkey bars! I was totally amazed to see her dangle herself quite high from the ground and actually make her way the entire length of the bars – how she had the strength I don’t know – I have never been able to cross a whole set of monkey bars!!

We finished off with a lovely warming cup of hot chocolate in the cafe and shared a slice of cake before heading back home with our bag full of woodland goodies ready for a crafty session in the near future.