Wakehurst Place with Kids, National Trust Review

A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I wanted to catch up with the kids and also wanted to find somewhere to take our Nanny Dot out. Close by is Wakehurst Place in Haywards Heath, which is always a favourite place for Nanny Dot (who is my Nanny and the children’s Great Nanny) due to her love of all flowers and plants!

Wakehurst Place is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens like Kew Gardens but you can use your trusty National Trust membership card which is great for us – now the weather is warmer we must use it more! The only charge you have to pay on the day is the £10 fee for the car park (charges vary from £2-£10 depending on how long you stay) but we borrowed my mum’s Friends of Wakehurst card so that was waivered for us!

We started off with a spot of lunch at their lovely cafe, its in a truly beautiful old Mansion House with seats inside and out in their pretty courtyard and tons of variety in the food department. Then Finlay and Elodie made a beeline for the trees – there are soooooo many great trees for climbing at Wakehurst! Orla was quite taken with Nanny Dot’s walker (which is purple – her favourite colour) so she spent ages pushing it around like a pushchair!

There are all sorts of things to explore at Wakehurst place, it’s a good spot for all ages – we found natural play areas, wildlife, the Millenium Seed Bank, a mansion, walled gardens and there is a wonderful tree trail, but we didn’t manage to explore that so that’s something for another time!

My favourite part was venturing around walled garden, there were lots of different flowers and vintage fountains, quirky watering cans and unusual planters. Elodie enjoyed stroking the soft plants called ‘lamb’s ears’ which were aptly named! We could have stood there forever stroking them!

I think the children loved the tree climbing the best – oh and the huge piece of chocolate cake that they devoured once we had had a good potter around! Ignore my crazy son’s face in this photo – this is his new go to expression in photos! Orla loved saying hello to the ducks and Elodie loved spotting all the different colours of flowers there were – it’s pretty spectacular when it’s all in full bloom!

We walked around the lake and the walled garden but Wakehurst Place is massive and had we had more time, there would have been plenty more exploring to do. Best of all, it was lovely to spend lots of time with Nanny Dot and Auntie Hannah in the fresh air and on a lovely day! Elodie also enjoyed learning about all the plant and flower names from the flower pro that is Nanny Dot!

I’m looking forward to head back at some point and check out all the fabulous events they’ve got going on! They have lots for the kiddos during school holidays – this Wild Wood Weekend looks amazing for my little tree climbers!