Exploring :: Shugborough Hall NT … with the little Folks

Hi there everyone 😀

After we got back from the lodge at the beginning of August we had a couple of very busy weeks before it would be time to head down to Cornwall and Devon … for a few days in Bude with the family … and a very special wedding in Ilfracombe. 

We had a couple of days looking after Bobby, which is always an absolute joy, a couple of foodbank shifts for me, wedding haircuts for us both, lunch out with friends and the usual catching up on garden, home and general life admin. 

For our first day with Bobby we headed to Shugborough Hall for the day … along with Mum and Jackie and Phil and their youngest granddaughter Erin … and a picnic. It was the first time we’d all been out for the day together and none of us were too sure how the day would go. We needn’t have worried … everyone got on like a house on fire and we had the loveliest of days … though we were all absolutely shattered by the end of it. 

The forecast was fabulous and we were there and parked and ready to go by about 10.30. The plan was to have a wander round the walled garden, let Bobby and Erin have some fun on all of the children’s activities, maybe have a look at the farm area and then stop for our picnic. 

We started off in the walled garden which was looking lovely and Bobby dived straight in for some green beans straight from the plant. Erin decided what was good enough for Bobby was good enough for her … though one bite was all it took to decide raw beans were perhaps not for her 😂 …

After a bit of a blackberry feast, which was definitely more to Erin’s liking, we headed into the meadow area at the bottom of the walled garden, where all sorts of children’s activities had been set up … and the little ones dived straight in …

It wasn’t all fast action, high impact activity … there was a nice chill out space too …

There were puppets …

… musical instruments …

… and lots of other games and activities to keep the little ones entertained … a few nice benches for the adults wouldn’t have gone amiss 😜

Time to move on and after numerous refrains of … “just one more blackberry” we headed back through the walled garden …

We decided it was a little too soon for lunch and had a wander up past the cattle …

… to the farm, where the two most popular things by far were the chickens and the soft play. Fortunately there was a very well positioned bench for us oldies …

I think Bobby and Erin would have happily stayed on the soft play for the rest of the day but our picnic was calling so Martin and Phil headed back to the car to collect everything whilst the rest of us found a nice spot to eat …

It was really hot sitting in the sunshine and Bobby and Erin had a fabulous game cooling us all down by putting the picnic ice packs up the backs of our tops … for once there was far more squealing from the adults than the children 😂😂😂

After lunch we caught the buggy up to the house where we had a very swift look at the servants quarters and Mum, Bobby and I had a look round the Lichfield apartment. 

By now it was definitely ice cream time as we were all beginning to flag a bit …

We then decided we couldn’t leave without a quick walk around the rest of the gardens, so we left mum on a bench in the shade and headed off. It wasn’t long before there was a bit of tree climbing going on …

… and a bit of a stop for a breather …

We were all about done by now so headed back to find mum and wait for our buggy ride back to the car park …

It was about 4.30 before we were ready to head off. We’d had a really lovely full day and Bobby and Erin had been an absolute delight. 

The only thing that we missed, much to Bobby’s disappointment, was the Pooh sticks bridge, but we did manage to improvise … we will just have to visit again …

Thank you National Trust for another lovely day out 😀

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