We absolutely love a National Trust day out and the Hardwick Estate in Derbyshire is one of our favourites, so we were delighted when we were invited to spend the day there last week.
We had such a lovely day there, it’s the perfect destination for a family day out this summer and we will definitely be going back over the next six weeks.
The Stableyard
The Stableyard is the main area where you enter Hardwick which houses the restaurant, gift shop and toilets. The grass area here is the perfect spot for a picnic or to play some games on a summers day.
We grabbed an ice cream and sat on the picnic benches whilst enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful view of the hall.
Restaurant
The Great Barn restaurant is really impressive with it’s high ceilings and beautiful wooden beams.
There is a great choice of food, the perfect place for us to fuel up before we went off to explore the hall and gardens. The kids had a kids box each, which includes 5 items of their choosing. Me and James opted for a jacket potato each which were delicious, and of course cake and tea afterwards!
The Hall
We were unsure about visiting the hall at first, it isn’t something we would usually do with the kids as I worry they will just run around, make noise and generally annoy people! I didn’t expect there to be much for them to see or do but I was pleasantly surprised. There were golden keys dotted around the house for the kids to find and they loved exploring all the rooms searching for the next key. There were also jigsaw puzzles and costumes for the children to dress up in, which they really enjoyed doing.
The Gardens
The gardens at Hardwick are absolutely gorgeous, especially at this time of year. We enjoyed having a walk around and the kids even found some fairies living in the trees! It was so cute to see how excited they were to find the fairy houses.
After we’d had a wander around the gardens we found a spot to sit down for a while and then played a game of skittles.
Woodland Play Trail
On our way back out towards the car park we discovered the Woodland Play Trail which is a lovely little play area for children. The kids were able to have a game of noughts and crosses, go on the swings, and even build a den out of tree branches!
More information on The Hardwick Estate can be found here. For more National Trust days out please click here.
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What a fabulous day out! I love National Trust and Hardwick isn’t too far from us so will definitely have to visit.
Your children are totally adorable too, looks like they had the best time! #twinklytuesday xx
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Thank you 🙂 It’s definitely worth a visit x
Really great post! We live a stones throw away from Hardwick and I visit with the children and the dog most days!
#twinklytuesday
Author
Ah do you! It’s only about 40 minutes away from us x
Looks like a wonderful day. Your pictures are just beautiful!
Author
Aw thank you x
It looks like a great day out. Beautiful photos!
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Thank you x
This looks like such a great outing, great post and gorgeous blog.
Meg | Meghan Silva’s Blog
@MeghanSSilva on Instagram
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Thank you 🙂 x
What a fab day! I keep seeing wonderful posts of people out enjoying National Trust places – must have a look and see what’s near us! Thanks for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
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We love a National Trust day out, definitely worth looking it to x