Child friendly National Trust places

[VeganNugsNotDrugs]

Husband and I are mourning the loss of our youth after the excitement of receiving a National Trust membership for Christmas.

So...I'm looking for recommendations for child friendly NT places to visit please. Child is young primary age, autistic with ADHD and loves being outside but would struggle wandering around a stately home. We also have a dog so bonus points for dog friendly (but not essential).

We live in the West Country but are looking to do several weekend/short breaks away this year rather than one bigger holiday, so local or nationwide recommendations gratefully received!

Thank you 😊

Belton has an amazing play area.
Woolsthorpe Manor has a lovely science exploration area (Isaac Newton lived there).
Wimpole for the farm.
Chirk Castle had a good range of dungeons etc and looks like a “proper” castle.
mottisfont (but always seems busy)

we love our NT membership, thought DS would ask us to cancel his at 18 but he uses it a lot. He uses it for dates with his GF 😀

I find that the NT try and make most of their properties child friendly. Nostell Priory is local to us, in Wakefield, and we visited loads when the dc were little. It has a fantastic playground, loads of running around space, often has kids activities on and has a doll's house of itself, and some little bike routes. And a pizza van/ice cream van aswell as a cafe.,

Clumber Park, Notts, has an amazing playground and bike rides, huge estate, but no property.

Quarry Bank near Manchester airport is an old mill, "big house", workers accommodation - lots of interactive stuff and the usual high quality playground and cafe in the grounds.

Cragside in Northumberland is an amazing arts & crafts house, with lots of interesting stuff in the house as well as trails etc in the grounds - first domestic property to be lit by electricity,

In the SW we enjoyed Cotehele house and garden, and the mill and quayside that are an easy walk from there. Also Stourhead (all year round), Lyte's Cary and Alfred's Tower - a tall folly lookout tower on the boundary of Somerset/wiltshire/dorset. It's a good climb for great views, and lots of woodland to explore (the woodland is not NT, the NT bit is just the tower, not visitor centre, toilets, cafe etc, not worth the visit by itself, but good in combo with Stourhead).

Calke Abbey is Derbyshire is also great, big old family home, old toys etc. large outdoor space.

You could do a great holiday to the Lake District based on NT places - Wray Castle, Sizergh Castke, Allan Banks and more - great walks (NT land with free parking to NT members) at Aira Force (massive waterfall), Tarn Hows and Felllfoot.

A holiday my dc (12, 15) still take about was when we got the ferry to Belfast and toured the Antrim coast, taking in the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (as NT sites, amongst others).

NT membership is also very handy for parking in the Lake District and Peak District, where they own and manage a lot of land.

The Lake District also has Beatrix Potter's house, Hilltop, in Hawkshead (also has Wordsworth connections). Hawkshead has become overrun with tourism and Peter Rabbityness, but if Bea P is your thing, it's probably worth a trip. We visited Hawkshead as children a lot in the 70s/80s as we had family there. It's not a big village, and had become a bit of a Peter Rabbit theme park in the last 20 years or so.

Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire, is a great tie in to doing the Romans at school.

Calke Abbey has the most amazing woodland play area, outside is all dog friendly. The house is full of weird and wonderful stuff collected by the former owners, our grandchildren love it. There is a small formal garden and acres of parkland. Probably the best ice cream in the Midlands too

Derbyshire would be great for a short break.

Calke Abbey, Sudbury, Hardwick Hall. All have play areas or child-friendly attractions.
Keddleston is in the area too but is more about the house and has a pleasant trail with little else.

Belton is further east towards Grantham but has lovely grounds and play area (plus the Moondial)

There's a lot of other options in the area if you want to mix it up. Crich Tramway Museum is sensibly priced and it's an annual ticket so free entry within a year if you return to the area.

Went to Stourhead last Friday and Tyntesfield yesterday. Plenty of space to run around apart from visiting the houses. Stourhead grounds and lake are gorgeous. Dyrrham Park is also good for walking and has a play area. Brean Down has lovely sea views and a derelict Victorian fort to explore.

Another vote for fountains abbey. It's in a nice part of the country for a short break away

Came on here to say the same! Also has an indoor soft play if you want a rest and a brew for an hour.

God, they are ALL child friendly!! Look at the NT website. It lists all the facilities each house/venue has, for adults and kids.

For walking, Calke Abbey, Stowe, Lyvedon, Ickworth
Play area Belton House
Quick walk outside Badersley Clinton

Just so you know, a child's membership is £10 and they offer 2 x free companion cards (I can't remember the conditions, DLA I think), so a child can take two 'carers' free. It works for us, making it a cheap day out.

Cotehele near Saltash is gorgeous. The house is smaller than most so maybe more manageable for DC. No dogs in the formal gardens but there's loads of footpaths through woods and fields, and also there's a river down by the mill where dogs and kids (and adults!) can have a paddle. Nice for a picnic there too.

Saltram is nice, very big house though. Think there's a meadow walk.

Lanhydrock was voted best dog walk thingy of the year last year in some newspaper or other. There's always loads of dogs there, and there's a playground but with things to climb next to a cafe. There's cycle trails in the woods with jumps and stuff too if you want to bring bikes with you, or you can hire them.

Glendurgan is nice, garden is steep, and hard work on the way back up! It goes down to a shingle beach (no swimming, water quality is bad) and there is a maze and a rope swing.

Tyntesfield has really big gardens and the house is so pretty.

But the very very best thing in the west country with NT membership is free parking in the coastal car parks!

This is good to know! With one vegan (me), one restricted diet (autistic DC) and one general tight arse (Husband) we are picnic pros!

It's OK, ancient-ness hit like a tonne of bricks yesterday when we realised Wallace & Gromit (DCs current favourite) is well over 30 years old 😳

It annoys me too, still cheaper for NT members though with getting the house and garden included. Does make me favour the others in the area though. DS loves the farm so worth the extra for us but still annoying!

Cheshire is a great area for NT - not too far from the North wales ones either - Erdigg is a good one in that area if you haven’t tried it!

@MrsWhites (and others)
sorry to be pernickety but it’s Erddig.
(double d presents in the welsh language but not double g)

Could be combined with Brimham Rocks (and just general walking in the dales)

Quarry Bank near Manchester airport is an old mill, "big house", workers accommodation - lots of interactive stuff and the usual high quality playground and cafe in the grounds.

We went a couple of years ago after not going for a while, they've done quite a lot of work on the gardens. However, a warning that when they run the machines it's VERY noisy.

Woodchester park in Gloucester

Mottisfont near romsey, hampshire. Big house with grounds and the river test running through

Oh yes - if you're going up to the North Devon beaches & want to visit Croyde, there is the NT Baggy Point car park which is free for NT members - great for the beach.
Lytes Carey Manor is lovely but not open all year round. Did a fab Bee Safari there in May.
And Stonehenge - NT members get in free there too as it's joint NT & English Heritage.

Belton House in Grantham. Biggest play area I've seen. Kingston Lacey near Bournemouth is lovely.

Dyrham Park near Bath has lovely grounds to run around in summer, used to take DS there.
if you can get over the bridge to Wales, lots of Dr Who episodes have been filmed at Tredegar Park (article in most recent NT magazine!)
Dinewfr near Camarthen is lovely at Christmas
Dyffryn Gardens outside Cardiff has truly stunning gardens and has doubled as Versailles (it’s very much smaller than the real thing!)
And in Devon, as others have said, parking access to beaches and coastal paths is a real bonus. Try South Milton Sands where you can swim through Thurlestone Rock and there is an excellent restaurant, Beach House.
Cafes are always outstanding with a reliable veggie/ vegan choice.