Sometimes it sucks being a blogger – this is not one of those times…
I was lucky enough to be paid to review Audley End a few months ago, and at the weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting another English Heritage property for the same purpose: Wrest Park.
To be honest, we visit these wonderful properties up and down the country anyway. We have been members since we first married ten years ago. Reviewing another one of their location wasn’t too much trouble at all, we probably would have been there anyway.
My little girl was celebrating her eighth birthday and what better way of marking the change from this…
My little girl at 4 days old…
…to this….
Taken at Audley End, another English Heritage property – which we also reviewed…a professional shot, and she looks beautiful…not my baby girl anymore…
…than with a trip on a lovely autumnal day for a spot of lunch, and a lot of fun in the grounds of a gracious pile, and a run about the grounds at Wrest Park.
Set in a small village in Bedfordshire, Wrest Park is, quite simply, a stunning piece of British architecture and landscaping, but in all honesty, all the kids are looking for is a place to run around, jump about, explore, hide, build, admire, roll, scoot, and even climb. Thankfully, Wrest Park has all of those things in spades. There was even a bit of room for silliness too :-D
Upon arriving, its a bit difficult to drag the kids away from the playground that greats you opposite the visitor centre, but don’t hang about, there is far too much to see to spend too much time here. We managed 20 minutes at the end, and we didn’t even go in the house. The extensive grounds include lawns, a pavilion, a long lake, a cave, an Orangery, a bowling green house and that playground.
The only disappointment in the day was the choice of hot food in the cafe; but we went out to eat and found The Raven at Hexton, just up the road was rather good, so we weren’t wholly totally upset….look at my dessert – well worth the trip out!
There was so much to see and do in Wrest Park, we didn’t manage everything in the time we were there….
Run
Stuntboy was happiest running and playing football on the ample lawns…
Jump
Both the Stomp Rocket and the playground provided plenty of chance to jump…
Explore
There was so much to see and do, not least the Pavilion which had lots of little doors and staircases for little people to climb up and down…
Hide (well pop out)
Stuntboy kept finding things to hide behind, and then pop out from behind…usually with a silly expression on his face *don’t know where he gets that from*
Build
The Bowling Green House kept the kids entertained for a while constructing replicas of some of the attractions within the gardens…Stunboy made the Archer Pavilion, and the orangery was turned into a wedding by Chatterbox – complete with couple at the front!
Admire
The buildings themselves in Wrest Park are beautiful – made even more compelling by the beautiful weather….
The blue sky was stunning against the old stone of the buildings at the park…
The sunshine also meant that the gardens, which are being restored in a 20 year program, looked wonderful too….
The colours within the gardens took your breath away…
Roll
One always needs somewhere to roll in a park right? Hills, replica pavilions within the playground, you name it, we roll on it!
Climb
And if we can’t roll on it, then we are climbing on it, obviously…
Scoot
We were disappointed that, unlike in Audley End, there were no bikes allowed in Wrest Park. However, problem solved when we found out the scooters were!
Being Silly
Finally, there was a bit of time for silliness in the sunshine….
An amazingly enjoyable day which the kids will remember for a long time…and thanks to this poster on the wall as we left, they are already asking to go back…..
I was paid to write this review by Netmums as part of their campaign for English Heritage. However, all opinions within this post are my own. We really did do all these things, and the kids do want to go back, dressed as pumpkids, annoyingly… ;-)
For more information on joining English Heritage visit www.english-heritage.org.uk.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!
Coombe Mill - Fiona
Wednesday 9th of October 2013
Such a fantastic day out! Wrest Park looks like a stunning place to visit with lots to see and do. Your photos are beautiful and I hope your little girl had a great birthday. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.