NOW CLOSED Did you visit a National Trust place on their free weekend? Add your review, or tell NT what you think about their places in general to be in with a chance of winning £100 of NT vouchers

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

The National Trust have asked us to tell you about their free weekend, happening this weekend at selected properties (21st and 22nd Apr) and find out what you think about visiting National Trust houses and gardens in general. Here's what they say about the free weekend: "Our free weekend gives you the opportunity to explore over 200 houses, castles and gardens for free, as well as all the countryside spaces we care for. What better excuse to visit your local place?"

Download your voucher here to take part in the free weekend.

Whether or not you can go to the free weekend, The National Trust would like to know what you think about family days out - here are a few questions to start you off but please add any other comments you have. Everyone who adds their comments will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 of National Trust vouchers.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?

If you're planning to go along to a National Trust house or garden as part of the free weekend on 21st and 22nd April, you can also be entered into the prize draw if you add your feedback on the free weekend to this thread (once you've been of course!). Let us know which National Trust place house or garden your family visited, and your general opinions on the day - highlights, any lowlights(!) etc.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out?

We like places with a lot of space for children to run around. Animals are always a bonus. Also like interesting things to see and do.
Some of our local NT places often have events and nature trails to keep the children busy and focussed.

Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities?

We like outdoor stuff the best. Lots of fresh air. Prefer being able to take a picnic and make a day out of it.
I think it's important for children and adults to be around nature - trees, greenery, be able to spot birds and other animals. I am always refreshed after an outing like this.

What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years?

one of my favourite places is Cragside. It has something for everyone. Beautiful grounds, excellent for walks in the woods and also a great children's play area.

Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

We realised there are some National trust properties that we haven't been to. But, they were closed, so we could not go.

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family?
Many.
When we go to visit relatives or for weekends away we always check if there are any properties we can go and visit en route or while we are there.

If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

Most of the places in the NE and Durham area. Lots more dotted around the country.

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?

Without membership, it's expensive. We used to alternate member ship between Englsih Heritage and National Trust. Children have said they prefer NT places so we might renew this year again instead of joining English heritage.

As we go quite often, the best time to go in the summer is as soon as it opens, early in the morning as some of the palces can get quite busy.
When i get a day off during the week, I'll take my youngest as it's much quieter than on weekends.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

For us, living in Cornwall, it's beach beach beach. We also have a cheap locals' pass for the nearby seal sanctuary, so we go quite often. We're definitely outdoorsy!

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

DS is only 2, so we haven't been to any yet!

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?

See above.

We tried to go to East Pool Mine on Sunday, but encountered a problem with this offer. Neither my friend or I possess a printer, so couldn't print the voucher out.

I tried to call the site to see if there was a way round this, but no answer. So, we thought we'd try going along anyway. No deal, no admission, not even allowed in for a sneaky peek upstairs to see the engine workings. Apparently, if we'd turned up earlier, (we were there at 3), they might have been able to print it out for us. Shame nobody answered the phone then- they could have told us that!

In all fairness, we were then told about a couple of free locals' days later in the year, so we might come back then. But we were definitely left with a sense that the National Trust doesn't really understand the difficulties faced by families on low incomes.

After that, we went to the newly opened Heartlands, down the road, which was great- and free to everyone with no strings attached.

We went to Belton House in Lincolnshire with our voucher, on Saturday. Belton was recommended by other parents at DH's work who have taken their young children there. We had planned on going to the Southwell Workhouse, but decided it's not really suitable for toddlers. The best bits at Belton were the food, as we could afford to eat in the cafe as we didn't pay to get in - DS (2) loved the sandwich / lunch bag that he had and ate more than usual, the 2nd hand bookshop, the minature train and the gardens - Ds spent a good 15 minutes rolling down slopes on the lawns. The bad bit was the weather - it rained very heavily twice, mid afternoon, and had rained for a few days before so there were puddles everywhere - the adventure playground was like a swamp and DH got soaked when it hailed as he was too tall to shelter in the Wendy house! We'll be going back, but in the summer when the weather's been consistently dry and we can take a picnic to reduce costs. Also, their indoor play area should be completed by then.

We went to Clumber and had a lovely time. Weather wasn't too bad, a few showers but generally dry. Wetook our own bikes with us but you can hire bikes there. We biked round the lake which took about an hour. There's lots of other woods/areas where you can bike as well.

There's a new adventure playground there which is good, not as big as the one at Belton but still lots of fun.

I used to have NT member ship but its lapsed now. There aren't many NT places near me so I didn't feel I was getting my money's worth. Clumber is about half an hour away, but there are closer non NT outdoorsy places that we tend to go to. Sherwood, etc.

We do tend to go to one or two nNT places in the sumemr if we're holidaying near any. Cragside is probably my favorite of all the NT places we've been to. Interesting house, lovely gardens, walks, woods, adventure playground. I've been to too many NT props where the houses are just a bit boring even for me as an adult never mind kids. However I realise I'm probably a philistine (sp?).

Going to Norfolk in the summer and plan on is it Bickling Hall - looks good?

I've posted once about our NT day out but realised I hadn't answered the questions in the OP.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

We tend to go for outdoor places now. We have a two year old boy, so anywhere he can run around with a ball or his bike, We also like places with play areas or beaches. We went to Colby Woodland Garden near Tenby, on holiday last year. you could walk through the woodlands down to a beach or wander round the gardens, which was nice.

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

I went to loads of National Trust places as a child, often when we went away on holiday we'd go to 2 or 3 places, but DS is too young at the moment to really do visits to NT houses. He got bored and frustrated on Saturday that he couldn't touch things and rooms were roped off with only relatively narrow areas to walk through so it was hard to hold his hand and get past people who wanted to stand and look. Also, when we decided to end our visit to the House at Belton Hall we couldn't get him out quickly, and just had to carry on the prescribed route through the house, which was difficult - we felt awkward carrying a tired and crying toddler past loads of people who wanted to quietly contemplate rooms. DH and I used to go to Clumber Park when we lived nearer, and cycled there. It's lovely. We'll go cycling again once DS is old enough to keep up. We're not keen to stick him on the back of our bikes as he wouldn't get the exercise he gets using his own bike. We prefer to go to NT places in the summer, so we can take a picnic and keep costs down, or when we're on holiday in early autumn as we tend to holiday in the UK. Some NT places are lovely in autumn / early spring if you can walk in the parkland with mist / frost / deer around. very atmospheric.

over priced food that you have to q for a lot

We went to Ham House on Sunday, on the website it said that there was giant lawn toys/games, but there was only croquet on the day.
We had a picnic on the lawn and really enjoyed the house, especially the beer tasting in the cellar

We planned to go to Chartwell in Kent this Sunday as it was my father's birthday. We are all members already so weren't making use of the voucher. Unfortunately the place was rammed when we arrived at about midday and they'd had to close the site down - most disappointing and not the best way to celebrate dad's birthday as we then struggled to find somewhere else to go to in the time we had left. In the past we've had some wonderful days out at National Trust properties so I hope this was a one off blip because of the popularity of this weekend.

Hello!! I did visit a National Trust Garden along with my husband and family yesterday. Thank goodness the weather was ok. We were at Claremont Landscape Gardens and my Son had a whale of a time exploring and following the trail. I live close to Osterley Park and we do go quite often to the park and sometimes we take a picnic with us. Its quality time spent with the family. It was great yesterday as my little one had loads of fun rolling around in leaves. The play area is quite nice though he is a bit too bigh for it, he enjoyed himself with his Dad playing hide-n-seek and pretending to be the king of the castle.

The restaurant was ok and so what was on offer for the kids menu. I personally would take a packed lunch. So a great place to go, with a natural play area and loads of rambling to do!

We've been through the whole NT family experience from babies to very reluctant teenagers. We are probably more outdoors people and retain our NT membership now largely because of its work preserving countryside such as the Lake District.
When the DC were young we did find the attitudes of some of the volunteers pretty off putting. NT was trying to encourage families, but some (certainly not all) volunteers did not want children around in the houses.
When they were teenagers there was nothing of interest for them at all.
My biggest bugbear now is the standardisation of what is on offer in the tea shops. Where once you would get locally produced food on nice china in pleasant tea rooms, the general offering is now bog standard catering stuff served by people who scarcely know how to make a cup of tea. this this drop in standards has coincided with vast improvements in private tea shops/cafes and I would now choose the private tea shop outside the grounds to the NT cafe.

We went to Hinton Ampner last weekend and were very impressed with the children's activities - this is definitely an area that has improved lots in the 8 years we've been Trust members. There was a quiz for DD1 (9) which she enjoyed and all the volunteers were really helpful, and a brilliant picture quiz for DD2 (5) which didn't involve reading.

We (me, 17mo DS, DM and DSF) went to Tredegar House in Newport.

It has only just been taken over by the NT, and the staff were hopeful that there will be some further improvements/restorations in the future.

We enjoyed it, although most of my time was spent trying to prevent DS from breaking things (no pushchairs allowed in the house) - I was particularly twitchy when he made a beeline for the display stand containing about 60 19C ceramic jelly moulds .

The staff were very friendly and knowledgable, and there were staff available in every room to explain about the details/history etc.

It was a shame it rained as the grounds are particularly nice. We didn't venture into the cafe/tearooms due to DS's massive tantrum coupled with a bit of waiting around when reclaiming the pushchair, but it was really busy in there and smelt gorgeous.

Many thanks NT

We went to Wimpole Hall Farm. It was unfortunate that the farm cafe was being refurbished, which also affected the outdoor play area. My son loved this area on a previous trip.

I guess in part due to the weather we didn't feel that we actually saw many animals . We really appreciated the free weekend but the normal entry fee of £25 for a family ticket seems expensive so I'm not sure we will go again.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

The beach, places with big open green spaces, big trees to climb. Now DD is growing older, places with some things to do, history about them.

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

We love Saltram House, go there a lot with the children, love the Easter Egg Hunt they do, lovely grounds. We also visit Wembury a lot, which is not itself National Trust, but the carpark is, so our membership saves us a lot there and is the main reason for our membership. Love Landydrock and the maze. Greenway Holt, the Agatha Christy Holiday home is next on our list by steam train. Love the family friendliness of most of the places, easy parking, locally sourced food in cafes, beautiful grounds to run in. I like that my membership means I can just nip in with the children if I dont want to spend all day there. There are more places to visit with our new membership and this year is going to be busy visiting waterfalls, small secluded beaches, as well as our usual haunts.

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go? NA.

I have just written a strongly worded email to the NT about their TOTAL RIP OFF Easter egg hunt at Lyme Park.
Advertised as £2 per child.
It actually cost : £ 5 car park entry , £11 adult entry to house and gardens, and £5.50 per child entry to the house and gardens, so the total cost would have been £31 to go get 2 Cadbury's eggs I didn't want to go to the house and gardens. I wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt. For £ 2.
And THEN three members of the NT said to me "why don't you buy a membership then you can get a refund?"
Hardly a refund. For an egg they probably got free from Cadbury's.

Anyhow, as you were.

Bit elitist innit. Not for us poor single parents

surely YADBU

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out?
Gardens, forests, rivers - anywhere we can walk and spot wildlife/birds and the kids can run about!

Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities?
Outdoorsy definitely.

What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years?
Ooh - hard to choose just one. we like Paradise Wildlife park in Herts and Woburn safari Park in Bucks.

Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?
Killerton house in Devon!

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family?
Several - Housesteads fort, Hadrian's wall, Dunstable downs, Whipsnade tree cathedral, Ashridge estate (one of our favourites!!), Anglesey abbey, Avebury, Waddesdon manor, Claydon, Stowe Gardens, Ascott House, and loads more!!! Visited Killerton House in devon this weekend and really liked it.

What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited?
The nice loos, the good food and service at the cafes, the kids' playparks, the sensible parking all help us to enjoy a day out :) Love the kids' activities and special events as well (for example, in Ashridge estate, bird song early morning walks, badger walks, bat walks, deer spotting walks).

Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?
No, they all have some good ualities at any time of year. I esp love going to the gardens in the spring though adns eeing tulips, daffs, blossom on the trees, azaleas, etc etc blooming!

hth

We used the free voucher this weekend to go to Fountains Abbey in north yorkshire. We had been before, but about 5 years ago when DS was a baby. he is nearly 6 now and DD is 3.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?
we prefer outdoorsy stuff.
DS is mad on trains, the best days out we have had lately have been train trips and thomas days.

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?
i don't know about time of year.
we tend to use national trust car parks for walking etc, in the lakes and on holiday in cornwall (e.g. kynance cove, walking around tarn hows)
in cornwall we enjoyed st michael's mount. this was a surprise as i thought the children aged 3 and 5 would want to wreck the furniture if we did an indoor stately home thingy.
but it was relatively small and child friendly and the causeway and castle on island thing was quite exciting for them too.
they absolutely loved getting a medal at the end too and wore them for the rest of the holiday.
at fountains abbey we mainly wandered around the abbey and then walked up to the visitors centre and playground.
DD aged 3 liked the playground there and they both liked the ride on sheep at one of the exhibitions (swanley grange)

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?
we have been although not that often.

If you're planning to go along to a National Trust house or garden as part of the free weekend on 21st and 22nd April, you can also be entered into the prize draw if you add your feedback on the free weekend to this thread (once you've been of course!). Let us know which National Trust place house or garden your family visited, and your general opinions on the day - highlights, any lowlights(!) etc.

it was quite busy at fountains abbey but we enjoyed it.
it was just me with DCs who are 3 and 5 (DH was busy job hunting).
the children were good so i think they were probably enjoying it!
i liked the fact there was a playground and ice cream to reward the children when they'd done quite a bit of walking around.
DS aged 5 liked trying to follow the map.
i thought the map was clear, when i could get hold of it. liked the way there were walking routes.
there were other activities on due to world heritage weekend but we didn't quite make it to any.
i liked the way there were plenty of picnic benches and thought we could probably come for a full day in the 'summer' and bring a picnic. there also seemed a nice mix of indoor and outdoor stuff although we didn't do much indoor stuff as the children have a relatively short attention span.
children liked the exhibition at swanley grange (? i think) as it was quite child friendly with ace ride on sheep!
also liked not having to pay for parking.
think we would probably go back.
DS certainly asked to go back.
lowlights - the ice cream queue wasn't particularly long but still seemed to take about 10 mins (sorry we are very impatient!). apart from that there weren't any serious lowlights.

I took DS to Castle Drogo on Saturday- with grandparents ( NT members) and DH. We had a really good morning out, DS had visited the castle before with school and I was surprised at how much he remembered and was keen to show DH and I. we got a few odd looks for DS and I lying on the floor in teh dining room looking under teh table for teh electric socket- but we found it. The picture trail was just right for DS's level of reading and he liked hunting for things.
On Sunday we visited Barrington Court in Somerset ( again with GPs) Nice restraunt, family friendly. but not juvenile ( which would have annoyed grandad) . no picture trail, but DS was OK listening to the audio bits particulary about the children who had lived there in the past.

We are NT members and make the most of our membership. I have one DD, (2.2).

We live in Cambs and visit Angelsey Abbey and Wimpole Hall the most. Definitely outdoorsy visits. My DD has a great time in the walled garden at Wimpole and thinks it is Mr McGregor's garden. We often see squirrels and pheasants.

However, my family live in other parts of the country and we break our journey up with visits to NT places on the way. Much nicer than a service station, lovely food, decent loos and changing facilities and a proper chance to walk about somewhere pleasant. Often go to Clumber Park when travelling on A1. We have also used the membership for costal car parks.

We go throughout the year, but less in winter. We have had lovely times in autumn in particular gathering conkers.

My only criticism is the the queuing for food in the restaurants. The food is usually lovely, but sometimes it is a trial to buy, particularly when struggling with a toddler. I have queued for over 10 minutes quite a few times. The set up at Angelsey Abbey is particularly bad. If you would like a cold drink, the fridge is before the queue for food, so you end up holding two or three drinks on a tray, which makes looking after little ones very hard when you have no spare hands, and gets quite heavy after a while.

On the subject on cafes, we visited Coughton Court in Warwickshire and had a fabulous experience. One of the NT staff noticed that I was struggling with a toddler and a baby and kept them entertained and safe whilst I got lunch. When I visited the loos I found nappies and wipes - top marks to The National Trust!

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities?
Yes I would say that we are a very outdoorsy family and walk very regularly but mainly on various bridleways and canal/river walks as it is free apart from the petrol money.

What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?
A couple of years back we visited Weston Park, it is not National Trust but a stately home. We didnt go into the house itself but really enjoyed the grounds, particularly the play area for all ages of children.

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?
Me and my partner used to be members but stopped visiting after my son was born because at the time it was very difficult to get around the houses and grounds with a pram, this is the first time that we have taken my children and they loved it!
I dont think that there is a best time to go, summer is good for picnics etc whereas the houses feel a bit more magical in the frost and snow.
This weekend we visited Attingham Park, a beautiful place with fantastic grounds, the children loved doing the geocaches on there (the main reason that we chose that house over any other) and we really appreciated the mouse trail where there was a mouse in each room for the kids to find as they were soooo enthusiastic and I think with the number of rooms there they may have been bored by the time we finished them all.
We also went to Whitwick Manor near Wolverhampton, I have been here a few times as it is the closest NT property to my home. We found the staff here to be brilliant and so nice to the children (aged three to six) - even taking them to see things they considered may have interested them, for example the picture of a kangaroo on a wall. The other thing that was great here was that the children were allowed to play with the toys in the nursery- a nice change from them being continually told to look but not touch!

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?
I think the National Trust would get more visits from families with young children if they put more emphasis on how fantastic the grounds of the properties are for playing/exploring/picnics etc instead of the image of dragging bored kids around a museum where they cant touch and have to look at furniture.

We used the voucher on Sunday to visit Wallington Hall, DD (8) had a face on when I suggested it as going out with her parents is supremely uncool and DS (2) is generally happy to do whatever. It was a particularly soggy day but that didnt stop anyone from having a great day, there were loads of 'St George' activities and even DD thoroughly enjoyed herself doing the knights trail etc. We're not regular NT visitors as the cost is prohibitive but we did enjoy our freebie.

What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities?

Beach, parks locally - free days out in fresh air

What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols?

Blenhiem Palace - grounds were great fun

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go?

Not a great amount of properties near us but we like Speke Hall on a suny day - grounds are great for picnics, playing and walks through woods. Added bonus of watching planes take off from adjacent airport! Has a great playground and maze.

We took advantage of free weekend and went to Rufford Old Hall and went round the house - DS (5) did a bug hunt inside and out which kept him amused.

If you haven't ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family, why is that? Is there anything that you think would make you more likely to go?

I think the National Trust would get more visits from families with young children if there was more made for kids to do in thr grounds - giant chess, play area and activities / trails to do.

Q. What sorts of places do you like to go for family days out? Are you 'outdoorsy' as a family or do you prefer indoor activities? A. Definitely go for more outdoorsy days out, unless the weather is really awful. Lots of walks, picnics etc

What's the best place you've visited as part of a day out in recent years? Did you discover any new family day out destinations over the Easter hols? We were abroad for Easter, but we really like a NT place - to which I will refer in the next question!

Have you ever visited any National Trust houses or gardens with your family? If so, which ones? What do you/your DC like about the one(s) you've visited? Is there a certain time of year that you think it's best to go? We really like going to Gibside, it is great for quite small children as there is a lot of space to run about, and quite interesting little paths through the woods, as well as a great new playground. It's a little further away from us, but Cragside is a great day out too. It's just a shame that in Durham there isn't an obvious NT place to visit; we could do with a nice place for Sunday afternoon walks when the weather's a bit wild for the moors.