I just love the National Trust. My family had a membership when I was a child so we visited a lot of places, and now my parents buy my own little family membership every year for Christmas. I can remember, before I had kids, visiting The Vyne near Basingstoke and watching the little ones splashing around in puddlesuits and wellies, and saying to Stu that I couldn't wait till we had little people of our own to bring them to places like that and do the same. I have to say, I don't often go into the lovingly restored National Trust buildings, just because they don't really interest me too much (sorry!!!) but we definitely make full use of the grounds and gardens.
With a relocation (sorry, I will stop wittering about the fact we've moved house soon) that means we have a whole new host of properties to explore, so the kids and I checked out Stowe last week. It is absolutely incredible. I mean, look at this view!
The grounds were huge with plenty of little buildings/monuments to look at. The paths were mostly good so it was easy to navigate with the pushchair, although I did struggle to push it up a fairly steep hill towards the Gothic Temple.
Come on, they have their own Gothic Temple! And Queen Temple. And several pavilions. And other stuff I can't remember. There's also sheep. The eldest very much enjoyed examining their poos ("Look! A really curly one!") and the littlest’s "baaaa" noises are coming on very nicely.
We went first thing in the morning and there was hardly anyone there. Found a spot with a bench to have our picnic, and popped into the cafe on the way back to the carpark for a drink as it was such a hot day. Brilliant.
I actually would like to look round this house. From a quick glance on the website it looks like the house isn't managed by the National Trust, just the gardens, but house tickets are subsidised for National Trust members and you can go back as many times as you like in a year. I think Stu could probably get some great photos with his fancypants camera, rather than the shots I got on my iPhone so I'm positive we'll be back.
With a relocation (sorry, I will stop wittering about the fact we've moved house soon) that means we have a whole new host of properties to explore, so the kids and I checked out Stowe last week. It is absolutely incredible. I mean, look at this view!
The grounds were huge with plenty of little buildings/monuments to look at. The paths were mostly good so it was easy to navigate with the pushchair, although I did struggle to push it up a fairly steep hill towards the Gothic Temple.
Come on, they have their own Gothic Temple! And Queen Temple. And several pavilions. And other stuff I can't remember. There's also sheep. The eldest very much enjoyed examining their poos ("Look! A really curly one!") and the littlest’s "baaaa" noises are coming on very nicely.
We went first thing in the morning and there was hardly anyone there. Found a spot with a bench to have our picnic, and popped into the cafe on the way back to the carpark for a drink as it was such a hot day. Brilliant.
I actually would like to look round this house. From a quick glance on the website it looks like the house isn't managed by the National Trust, just the gardens, but house tickets are subsidised for National Trust members and you can go back as many times as you like in a year. I think Stu could probably get some great photos with his fancypants camera, rather than the shots I got on my iPhone so I'm positive we'll be back.
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