We’ve been a member of ZSL London Zoo for many years and I take the kids several times a year. I’ve been meaning to join the National Trust for years but never actually gotten round to it…… until the other day. I’m fortunate enough to live an hours drive away from many National Trust locations and it’s always made sense to join. If only to get the kids away from their tablets and Xbox for a few hours!
There’s plenty of fun to be had for young children in the play area, which is conveniently next to the refreshments shop
Claremont Landscape Garden, is in between Cobham and Esher and is only a few minutes from us by car. So, it made sense that we made this our first National Trust visit. It is an amazing place! So much natural beauty with so many picnic spots. There are plenty of adventures for children to go on. There's a play area for young children with a pirate ship and castle fort and then there's an area for collecting logs and building your own forest den.
There are also many points of interest to visit during the walk. The Belvedere Tower is a very impressive building and a lovely place to take photographs. During non-COVID times, you can enter the tower and climb to the top. This is definitely something that we will be doing when the tower reopens. The views must be amazing.
The Belvedere Tower at Claremont Landscape Garden
There is a natural amphitheatre adjacent to the lake and the top has a lovely view of the garden. Whilst walking round, you will find plenty of little activities to do and scenes to admire.
Badgers Basecamp was a highlight. There is a play area but the main activity is to build your own den. There are lots of logs, branches etc strewn about the place. It gets the young minds thinking and gets them to be physically active.
We had a picnic by the lake and saw the famous Black Swan!
Black Swan at Claremont Landscape and Garden. Apparently they are mainly found in Australia!
I really recommend a visit and the kids loved it so much, that we went back there the following day.
