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.

A Winter's Walk at Scotney Castle | Days Out with The National Trust

I've been meaning to write this post up for weeks now! We had the loveliest winter's walk at Scotney Castle with Harriet and her family back in January. The girls running along hand in hand and Parker exploring to his hearts content.

Scotney features a 14th century moated castle, country house and a romantic garden all inside a beautiful wooded estate. With over 770 acres of woodland and parkland to explore there's plenty to keep the whole family busy!

It was rather wet and frosty on the morning of our visit, but we didn't let that stop us. We headed for the castle first - I say we, but the girls actually decided on our route as they ran straight off down the hill together first!

Although partly ruins now, the old castle is still such a beautiful spot to explore. Of course it's lovelier to visit in the warmer months, with the gardens in bloom and brighter skies. But there was something about it in the frost.

It was a little bit magical!

We stopped to watch as the ducks found their way across the ice, before diving into the icy water. Hunted for the children's adventure play which was unfortunately closed (it looks fab though and should hopefully be open soon!). And then made our way back up to the top of the hill to the house. 

We ate in the tea room, which although small was nice. Food for us adults was on the pricier side, but we expect this at NT properties and it was tasty. The kid's lunch boxes were reasonably priced though, and they had a good selection of food for the little ones.

The Scotney estate is open all year, offering a variety of walks through their parkland, woodland and Hop farm. It's good to note though that the only toilets are next to the tea room and car park - so if you do venture down to the old castle keep this in mind!

Christmas at Standen House | Days out with The National Trust

If you've followed us for a while you'll know our love for The National Trust. I still honestly think signing up last year was the best thing we did - thousands of places to visit for just a few pounds a month!

We've slowly been discovering local properties, and our most recent find was Standen House and Gardens. Located in East Grinstead in an idyllic location, with views across the Sussex countryside,
Standen is an "Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors".

It's extra special at this time of year though. Christmas has arrived!

We only had a quick passing trip, as we were off to a birthday party. But it was still such a lovely visit. They weren't lying when they said the house it set in an idyllic location. The views are incredible!

We sat on the terrace at the quaint little tables and chairs, and just soaked it all in (while the kids ate their snacks of course!). I can really imagine people fighting over these spots in the summer months. But even on a beautiful winter's day, with the sun beaming down, it was just perfect.

There was so much we didn't have time to explore, but it's just given us the perfect excuse to go back. The main attraction for us though was of course the Christmassy additions!

The house is decorated for Christmas - from Victorian decor through to modern day. Wreaths are hung at every spot, and you can even get create and make your very own pom-pom Christmas tree. The main attraction though has to be the Winter Tree in the courtyard.

Decorated by designed Kaffe Fassett, the tree is full of colour. Covered in colourful handmade decorations such as pom poms, tassels and garlands. It's the most unique and exciting tree I've ever seen, and the kids absolutely loved it too.

There's the opportunity to meet Father Christmas in his woodland grotto - something we would have definitely booked if we had known earlier! As well as extended twilight openings, for special tours around the house after dark (until January 2nd).

We had such a lovely Christmas visit to Standen; we just wish we could have stayed longer. We'll definitely be back in the new year!

Felbrigg Hall | Days out with The National Trust

On the last day in Norfolk we decided to head to a lovely National Trust property, Felbrigg Hall Gardens and Estate. It was actually my mum who suggested we visit, and I'm glad she did. Felbrigg is absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful day out.

We did encounter a little problem at the very beginning of our visit. We were using a Sat Nat to find our way there, and we ended up being taken along a rather strange route. We didn't go through the main gate, and we actually thought we'd have to turn around when we reached a gate! I'm not sure if it was something wrong with the sat nav, but we did enter the postcode on the website. Strange.

We made it though, and started our visit with a wander through the walled gardens. These are located just off the car park, and are full of flowers, fruit and veg and even a beautiful dovecote you can go inside.

The gardens were bursting with colours and smells that the littles loved exploring. Everywhere we looked there were hundreds of ladybirds as well. I remember our wedding day being over run by ladybirds, and they seemed to follow us around Felbrigg too!

After a gorgeous lunch in the cafe - which I must add is located in a beautiful courtyard - we continued exploring the grounds. The huge park features a lake, 520 acres of woods and way marked trails, meaning so much to explore. Most of the walks are buggy friendly too; although Parker decided he wanted to run around and not sleep for the whole day!

We walked through the woods around the back of the house, which was a perfect trail for little ones to explore - enclosed and not too long. Indie had her bucket from when we visited the beach, and was collecting as many stones, chestnuts, leaves and acorns as she possibly could. I've always said these kind of places are so much more fun in the Autumn - there's just so much more to see!

We soon left the woods, and were greeted with the lovely views of the Hall itself. We didn't actually go inside (the littles are still a bit too small for houses), but it is beautiful from the outside. The main house is surrounded by gates, but just outside were cows roaming the lands - a highlight of Indie's trip I think!

As we made it back to the entrance we stopped to play with the provided outdoor games. Hula hoops, cones, balls and plastic rackets - I can imagine these are hugely popular in the summer months. We all enjoyed them though and even had a mini game of frisbee before we had to leave.

We had the perfect end to our holiday at Felbrigg Hall. I just wish we could come back and visit again sooner!

Sheringham Park | Days out with The National Trust

We researched a few National Trust properties before our trip to Norfolk, and the one that kept popping up was Sheringham Park. After a quick google I knew it would be a perfect place to visit, especially as I just love woodland walks in the Autumn.

Located just outside of the seaside town Sheringham, Sheringham Park is a gorgeous estate. Woodland walks, activity trails for little ones and if you walk far enough you’ll come across coastal walks too.

There are a number of walks to choose from, all ranging in difficulty and length. We would have loved to walk down to the coast, but at over 2.5 hours long we knew it wouldn’t have been possible with our two. A perfect excuse to come back and visit though!

We had the pushchair with us, so just decided to walk until we had to turn around - which ended up being not very far, as getting anywhere fast with Parker just doesn’t happen. And the kid's were too excited to explore every few steps.

It was just as much fun regardless though. We jumped in the mud, crunched in the fallen leaves and found and explored nearly every little nook and cranny Parker and Indie found. Parker explored so far at one point he got stuck, and Jack had to go in and rescue him!

We didn’t stay for too long, but it was definitely the perfect place for a morning exploring. As National Trust members we could obviously park for free; making it a fun free day out too. And my two clearly don’t need paid activities; collecting sticks, acorns and throwing leaves was just as much fun for them.