Hardwick Hall

On Sunday we visited Hardwick Hall with Mark's parents. Built in the late 16th century and home to Bess of Hardwick, Hardwick Hall is an impressive Elizabethan manor house in Derbyshire. We came to see the snowdrops and only had time to see the gardens this time. We had a lovely little walk and the Podlings were very taken with the fairy doors in the garden. There is much to see there and I would very much like to visit again and see inside the hall. I am especially keen to see the collection of embroideries.

Hardwick Old Hall, adjacent to Hardwick Hall, was the birthplace of Bess of Hardwick. I hope we will also have time to look around here on our next visit.

Alex loved the fairy houses

My boys!

Through the Rabbit Hole at Erddig House

 

 

On Sunday we packed up a picnic and drove to Wales to visit Erddig House near Wrexham. We wanted to do the Alice in Wonderland trail there before it finishes at the end of January. The house itself is closed for the winter, but the garden has been turned into Wonderland by a team of artists and sculptors and they have done a lovely job. I love the book, so I tried to bring the story alive for them as we walked around the garden. Emma is a particularly imaginative child who delights in make-believe and she thoroughly enjoyed pretending to be small after drinking from an imaginary 'Drink Me' bottle and then being quite anxious to find the sculpture of the caterpillar so we could eat some of the mushroom to grow big again. We had a really lovely time following the trail through the garden and the Mad Hatter's tea party was wonderful. It thoroughly delighted my sense of whimsy and Emma and Alex in particular loved pretending to eat the very realistic pretend cakes.

 

It was a very cold day, so we were very glad of our hot winter picnic. We warmed up with tea, soup and sausages in the car park before climbing back in the car and heading back home.  I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Wonderland and we intend to go back in the warmer months and explore the house and estate further.

 

This bold little chap hopped into the ticket office and explored behind the counter whilst we were in there and then posed beautifully for me outside.

There was a dress-up area, so Emma was in her element

There were distorting mirrors to make you appear bigger and smaller, like Alice in the story. Alex really loved these, especially the one that made him bigger.

Two little caterpillars

I'm late, I'm late!

Alex thought the Cheshire cat was a tiger...Emma found it rather scary!

 

She's getting so grown-up this one!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

 

Alex looking longingly at the pretend cake and, I suspect, wishing it was real!

The Mad Hatter's tea party was so beautifully laid out and was my favourite part of the trail.

This squirrel was having the time of his life on the bird feeder!

Painting the roses red

A winter picnic. Tom was very cold and opted to sit in the car.

 

Clumber Park

On Sunday we met up with Mark's parents for a lovely walk around Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. We didn't have a particularly long walk, but it was very pleasant and peaceful. There were a lot of water fowl and the Podlings were delighted by the little goslings. We loved watching the squirrels chasing each other in the woods and I enjoyed spotting the woodland birds. We finished up in the lovely adventure playground where the Podlings tucked in to the chocolates grandad had bought and then, as a final treat, we bought them ice cream from the gift shop. We would like to go again and explore further as the park is fairly extensive and we barely scratched the surface.

We went back to Mark's mum and dad's house afterwards for a lovely (indoor) barbecue tea and left rather late for our drive home. Thankfully the bank holiday meant that the Podlings could all sleep in the next morning, which they obligingly did, allowing Mummy and Daddy a little more rest also!