Sheffield Park – National Trust

24/10/201912/07/2019 by Charlotte

It was a glorious Saturday, and just by accident, we had a spare few hours which made perfect time to explore a new, local national trust site.

This time, we headed to the much loved Sheffield Park site. We had heard many rave about the gorgeous gardens, and it’s somewhere I frequently pass, to and from work. With out National Trust membership cards, we decided it was time we explored it for ourselves.

If you haven’t already been to Sheffield park before, it really is a stunning park and garden to wander. With paved walks, woodland trials and even a waterfall. Among the lakes and ponds too. There really is so much to see and explore in Sheffield Park. It may even be my favorite National Trust site to date.

Whilst we were there, the waterlily festival was in full swing. It was gorgeous under the summer sun and created a perfect photo opportunity on the mirror like lakes. With lots of ducks, small alcoves of trees and great spaces to kick back and relax, it is the perfect location to enjoy the summer evenings.

This is something that made me fall in love with the site. Despite being there only a couple of hours, we managed to see lots of the site and it was truly serine. Completely quiet. It was lovely, considering there was a lot of families relaxing on the grass and having a picnic in the afternoon sun.

Out of all the National trust sites we have visited lately, this is by far my favorite. We are already looking to head back soon, with a picnic and a book or two.

In a nutshell, if you want to enjoy somewhere blooming in plants, wildlife and serine clusters of parkland, I would highly recommend Sheffield Park. There’s plenty of space to relax as a family, and push-chair / wheelchair friendly paths and routes to explore the gorgeous gardens.

I’m not sure where our next National Trust site will be, but I will be doing something different, and let’s just say IGTV may become a new fav spot of mine!

Some of the other national trust sites we have visited

Nymans
Bodiam Castle
Scotney Castle
Wakehurst Place

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A perfect day trip from London – Nymans estate

05/10/201908/05/2019 by Charlotte

I’m back with yet another glorious National Trust site! And this one makes the perfecttttt day trip from London. It’s been a fair while since our last excursion to a local site – Bodiam Castle, yet we decided a good old English bank holiday was the perfectttt oppertunity to explore a new site.

A rather nippy and over cast one albeit, yet we thoroughly enjoyed Nymans in West Sussex.

Upon recommendation, and my nifty national trust app, Nymans ticked all the national trust boxes with countless walks, gorgeous tended gardens and even a characted home to wander.

Just 10 mins outside of Haywards Heath, it wasn’t too far for us to travel and was the perfect destination for a bank holiday venture.

We even took a cheeky meal deal picnic to enjoy on the lawns over looking the house ruins.

History of the House

The rather beautiful thing at Nymans is the now ruins of the house being the center piece of the site. Following a great fire in 1947, most of the house was burnt down. Whilst a small part of the house was re-built and is open to the public, the ruins of the great hall is currently under conservation.

Although, it is due to be open to the public in June, so you will yourself be able to explore the ruins of the old grand hall. I think we may even return to explore the ruins!

Info:
Entry – Adult: £14.00 Child: £7.00
Parking – FREE
Facilities – Character house, 3 woodland walks, walled garden, garden center, second hand book store. Wheelchair friendly walking spaces.

There is so much to enjoy when at Nymans. With woodland, tended gardens and wide open spaces, it makes the perfect National Trust site to take the family, any time of the year! It’s pretty wheelchair and buggy friendly too with most of the tended lawns, gardens and estate walks level and maintained.

We spent roughly 4 hours at Nymans, firstly exploring the estate and then venturing the orange woodland walk.

Have you ever visited Nymans? Any other trust sites we should be making a visit to next?
As always, leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Why not check out our other National Trust visits including Bodiam Castle and Scotney Castle.

Bodiam Castle – National Trust

05/04/201925/02/2019 by Charlotte

Didn’t we have just the perfect weekend, weather wise, just at the end of February! It was gorgeous sunshine, light breeze and warmish! I would say it was the perfect winter weather!

And we took full advantage of the stunning weather by heading to our next National Trust Site – Bodiam Castle.

It’s somewhere I had been before, albeit years ago, and not one I had remembered. So with the weather in tow, we headed for a early Saturday stroll.

Bodiam Castle

If you have ever been to the area of Bodiam, you will completely understand when I say, it arrives out of nowhere. Just a 40 min or so drive from our home, the picturesque valley as I would describe it flaunts village life. With a steam train station, the river Rother and a quaint little pub called the Castle Inn, it’s quintessentially English!

Info
Entry : Adult = £9.80 Child = £4.90
Parking :
Time to wander round : 2-3hours

There is rather a lot to explore within the castle itself. The grounds don’t have too much to offer, but the castle certainly makes up for it.

The 600 year old abode used to home 44 apartments, and now is nothing but a couple of remaining turrets and the outer shell. However, there is lots to be found in depths of the castle and the remaining ruins of the castle give you a great indication of medieval life.

It’s often depicted as a romantic castle, and from the images you can snap in and around the castle, you can understand why! With far reaching views from the top of the tower, to the gorgeous moat filled with carp, there is so much to enjoy at Bodiam Castle.

Note : The spiral stairs are something to be marveled at! The narrow steps and steep incline made it a little tricky for some, but well worth the achy thighs for that stunning view!

As always, our trip to yet another National Trust site didn’t disappoint and was utterly perfect for the first flurry of proper sunshine. Where will we be heading next? Only time will tell!

Read our other two trips to Wakehurst Place & Scotney Castle.

National Trust explore – Scotney Castle

09/04/201907/01/2019 by Charlotte

We may have only just reached the first weekend of 2019, but we are already onto our second National trust site of the year! If you caught our first ( a return visit to Wakehurst place ), you’ll know that we were very kindly gifted a national trust membership for Chrimbo. We love exploring locally and even more so when we have gorgeous places like Scotney Castle on our doorstep.

So, without further a do, lemme take you on a quick pit stop of Scotney Castle from your very own sofa.

Scotney Castle : Royal Tunbridge Wells

A little history….. for somewhere I had never heard of, it certainly has a rich history. From 1778, it was the Hussey family who were in residence at Scotney until it was left to the National Trust in 1970 by the last Hussey to live there, Christopher Hussey.

With not one, but two homes to visit, there is a lot to be seen at Scotney castle.

On our trip, the weather was nippy but dry leading to the estate being fairly busy. We had to wait a lil while to get into the house, but no matter, there was plenty of gardens to explore.

The house was filled with the last of Christmas decorations. The home was laid how it would have been back in the 1800’s for Christmas day and it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Christmas. I would love to head back in the summer to see the house in the sunshine.

It wasn’t long before we explored all the grounds including the original Scotney Castle. With a gorgeous moat and a little flurry of greenery, we had a glorious winter walk.

I really enjoyed our afternoon at Scotney Castle. It was really interesting to learn the steep history of just one sight. The castle itself is stunning, even in winter, and makes me want to visit again, under sunshine of course. Being just a 40 min drive from home, it was a great new National Trust site to ease into the new year.