Sheffield Park and Garden | Days out with The National Trust

9.5.17


We love exploring with our National Trust passes. Living in West Kent we have so many fantastic properties and places around us; so last weekend we decided to visit Sheffield Park and Garden.

Situated halfway between East Grinstead and Lewes, Sheffield Park is really easy to get to. It's even close enough to the Bluebell Railway, that you could hop aboard the train (at weekends you can get a bus from the station straight to the entrance).

The park features acres of landscaped garden, bordered by historic parkland and woodland. Four lakes create the centre of the garden, with paths then circulating through the glades and wooded areas surrounding them. The house is private, but forms a beautiful backdrop for photos!




There was so much to see and do for the little ones, and Sheffield Park is very child friendly as the paths are all mostly buggy accessible. There are lots of open areas of water though (the lakes don't have any fences), so do keep that in mind if you have a wild one on your hand like I do!

Family facilities include:

  • Natural woodland play trail across the parkland.
  • Family activities to pick up from reception every day.
  • All-terrain pushchair and back carriers available to borrow.
  • Baby-changing facilities in toilets at reception and the tearoom.
  • Children's lunches and lunch boxes in the tearoom, as well as bottle and baby food warming facilities.
  • Children's scooters are allowed (weather dependent though).




I must say the park was absolutely beautiful to walk around. Blooming flowers wherever you looked, ducks waddling along behind you (much to our twos delight!), and just a calmness that seemed to be created by the place.

We were gutted to have missed the Bluebell woodland walk, but I can imagine this was lovely to walk through. We also would have loved to explore the play trail but with so much else to see, we just simply didn't have the time!




Before we had a proper explore we did check out the Tearoom for a quick lunch. I'm a sucker for a National Trust meal - they're always crazily overpriced, but the fab quality does make up for it. The Tearoom itself was lovely. A good size with a great outdoor seating area and great facilities for little ones.

The food was disappointing though. The children's lunch boxes were pre-made, so you couldn't choose each item like you usually do (there only seemed to be 4 instead of 5 items too!). My sausage roll was undercooked and the cleaning staff cleared up our tray without asking, throwing Jack's half full drink away in the process!

Hopefully it was just a one off bad experience, and I know we'll definitely go back again. Just a heads up if you do visit.



8 comments :

  1. Wow, what stunning photos. Even though your food was disappointing you look like you had a great day. I hate when people take plates without asking!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely little place to visit & explore.
    Looks like your little ones had a great time, the images you've taken are BEAUTIFUL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow looks so pretty there! Cute photos and sound like you had a fab day :) xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your photos and it looks like you had a lovely day out there! Got to love national trust - my mum always took us as children and it's so nice to take my own now they're getting a little older x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful photos. Cant wait for my girl to be old enough to do full days out!
    http://www.onesliceoflemon.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your photos are beautiful! It sounds like a great day out especially if you had a ride on the train too, shame about the food as one of my faves about the national trust lunchy boxes is being able to mix and match for the kids x

    ReplyDelete
  7. It sounds like you had a great day out - minus the food part! Lots of beautiful family moments captured, but how adorable are the last pictures with Indie and the petals?!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Many young kids square measure terribly keen on horticulture as a result of they like to see things growing. though desirous to assist you along with your horticulture, most kids square measure happiest of all with little plot of their own.

    ReplyDelete

If you have any questions or enquiries email me at emilyandindiana@gmail.com or tweet me at @emilyandindiana