Charlie's WorldTrip to the UK – Part 4
Time, as ever, is the mortal enemy and pretty soon we were down to the last full day together. It was very overcast and threatening to rain bit we decided on an outside adventure anyway.
There’s a lovely old stately home only 15 minutes drive from my parents house that I last went to probably when I was Ella’s age. No, really, it was that long ago.
Penshurst Place has gardens and an adventure playground open all year (but the house is only open in the summer) which sounded perfect – combine that with a toy museum and some lunch, we thought that would be a good day out.Being mid winter, the gardens are not in their full glory, but I like the barren browns and greens of the English countryside. The grounds are spectacular, well worth the time to go see if you’re ever in Kent.
The current house is beautiful, dating back to 1341, but there are records of a house on the site dating back to the end of the 13th C. The gardens are amazing – all contained within the high old brick walls – they’re formally laid out with yew and box hedging and expertly trimmed trees. The kids really want to come back in the summer so they can see it all in it’s full colour glory.
We had lunch – which was a little disappointing – but mostly just expensive. I’d recommend bringing your own food and have a picnic instead – we spent more than the entrance fee on some decidedly average food.
Ah well, it did the trick though and the kids, fueled up, quickly wanted to explore. With lunch quickly forgotten, we got onto the business of being awed by the amazing landscaped gardens.
The kids wanted to play on the adventure playground – its amazing – so many things for them to do – slides, swing tires, obstacle courses and lots more. We did a treasure hunt, fed the chickens and played for a few hours before it was time to go home.
Charlie's World 