A couple of weeks ago we had my parents and aunt to stay and very conveniently school had an inset day (don’t you just love it when things work out), so whilst all the other parents were musing the inconvenience of an inset day just a week after they returned to school I was thankful for the time off. It meant we could all visit a National Trust site together without the normal weekend or holiday crowds.
We choose Scotney Castle for our visit as it was fairly
local but not somewhere we had been yet. Living in 1066 country has its
benefits as it means we have an abundance of local castles that we can visit
and enjoy.
All was going well on our journey to Scotney Castle and we
followed the brown signs and turned off the A21 and then missed a turning to
the right almost as soon as we had turned off. So be aware to have your eyes
peeled the minute you leave the A21. Luckily we didn’t go too far and the lack
of brown signs warned me I had made an error. Once on-site there was a pleasant
drive down a single road with plenty of passing places and then a good amount
of parking at the end.
Toilets were convenient right by the parking and they were
clean and well-stocked. The café was also right by the entrance and the cream
tea and chocolate cake that we had along with our drinks were good and fresh.
We were not bowled over by the kid's packed lunch offer, to be honest, normally
at NT sites we have found the kids can pick their own items to go in the pack
but here it was set and not very imaginative. We didn’t have any of the hot
meals or the fresh to order baguettes but lots came out and they all looked
very good but as you expect with National Trust sites they were not cheap,
probably about £7 or £8 apiece.
We moved through admission very quickly and were given a
timed entry slot to the more modern house. Luckily our slot was straight away
so we headed straight in there. The kids had a fun map of the home and there
was something for them to spot in each room and a bit of history that was age-appropriate. There were also laminated plans for the adults and these gave more
detail and history. The house is beautiful and really well kept and it provides
for a good hour or so tour around it. I found each of the NT staff that we
spoke to knowledgeable and helpful and many really tried to engage the children
and help them out with their questions.
Once we finished our tour of the house we started walking
with the aim of going to the old castle but the kids spotted a discovery centre
and we had to do a stop off there. This is a self-led area with loads of great
information for the kids. They enjoyed doing brass leaf rubbings, watching out
the big windows for birds, checking out the animal parts and preserved
butterflies in the draws and generally reading and exploring all the nooks and
crannies that are stuffed with information.
Next, we headed off towards the old castle and took some
detours through the grounds on the way, they really are very lovely and there
is lots of great space for the kids to run and explore. Loads of levels to go
up and down, so they won’t get bored.
I had not realised the old castle was a ruin but you can see
how beautiful it would have been when fully intact. I was really interested to
read that the family that first lived there were the Ashburnham's as I now live
in the grounds of their ancestral home and it seemed such a coincidence to read
of them here about 30 miles away.
In all we had a lovely time, this isn’t the best NT property
I’ve been to but if you have a membership it is definitely worth a visit and next
time we go we will take my husband and explore the grounds more as there are
770 acres of beautiful land. The only thing that let it down on the day we
visited was that there was scaffolding on the new house, as the roof needed
fixing after last year’s storms and then when we got to the old castle there
was scaffolding on that too as they were doing their annual maintenance and to
be honest if I had paid for entry I would have been complaining as you could
not get an uninterrupted and pretty picture of either building (I see it is now
notified on the website, it wasn’t the day we visited).
If you are not a member then the cost of visiting Scotney
Castle is £13 per adult and £6.50 for a child or you can get a family ticket
for £32.50. if you like this sort of day
out though I’d definitely recommend membership as we have used ours so much
since I bought it in April and then I also bought membership as a gift for my
parents too!
I’m not sure which NT site we will visit next, I know JJ has
his eye on Chartwell as he loves learning about the second world war and as
this was Churchill's home I imagine there is a good amount of information and artefact's there.
Why not pin this post for later?
