Starting Our National Trust Adventures With Belton House

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This year we promised ourselves that would make the most of family time but finding things to do with children 5 years in age apart can be difficult. Joshua (age 6) likes to use his brain a bit while out and Jacob (age 18 months) likes to run around and let the wind blow away the cobwebs. 

Thankfully we think we have found a way to keep both boys happy along with Ollie and I. 

We like to explore and after reading the lovely Anne’s post about visiting the National Trust Packwood House we decided that looking into finding great deals on memberships by checking out MyVoucherCodes National Trust page which at the moment has a great offer of a free  M&S gift card when purchasing a membership

After purchasing a years worth of family membership we headed to Belton House in Lincolnshire to pop our families National Trust cherry and explore what this 1680s, mansion has to offer in terms of fresh air and history. 
 We found the estate easily and with people on hand to advise on where to park we flashed our passes and got through the main gate and got given a complimentary map and explanation of what there was to explore and where and we headed off to start our adventure. 

First stop for us was the beautiful designed soft play. After all being cooped up in the car is not fun for small children so we decided to let them run off some steam and then have a snack before exploring anywhere else. 

Let me tell you if you haven’t been before .. You need to try their sausage rolls in the cafe .. They were the tastiest sausage rolls that Ollie and I had ever eaten and they weren’t too costly either which is great to know since some places overcharge in the cafe and eateries. 
We then headed off to the formal lawns in keeping to the 17th century mansion to let the kids run free and explore the 1300 acres of land! 

There is also a wonderful boating lake and boat house that have plenty of benches dotted around for sitting and whiling away some time taking in the peace and quiet. 
On the way down to the boating lake however we obviously had time to stop off and try the maze out for size … we did let Joshua be in charge of the directions and thankfully he did us proud and got us round and out in no time. 
Although if you are claustrophobic don’t worry the maze isn’t too tall and Ollie could see over the top if needs be! 

We have decided that if we were to go back we would take a picnic and really take in the beautiful surrounding and scenery. 
Next we were in for a real treat inside. Most of the rooms in the house you are able to view (if the doors are shut you can’t enter) however if you wanted to see what life was like below stairs there are set tours each day for those. 
We decided that a stroll around at our own pace was the fay forward with so much history to take in. Each room is packed with an impressive collection of porcelain, silver, books and paintings all showcasing its history and wealth. 
There is something quite magical about seeing how people lived many years ago and Joshua found it totally fascinating that people lived there so long ago. 
He was also shocked that there was no TV and each room he looked for one, just in case I was wrong.
On our way round the house, most rooms had someone from the National Trust on hand to fill in key dates and facts about Belton House which was even more interesting.

During the year there are lots of added activities on certain dates from thing like Talking pictures workshops, have a go archery and painting in the gardens. All date and times can be found on the website HERE. 
The final adventure at Belton House was to head off and explore the Adventure Playground before heading home. 

If you haven’t had the privilege of visiting you must leave LOTS of time to explore this area if you have little ones. It is one of the best playgrounds we have visited for a very long time. 
Its tucked away to one side of the house and grounds and its massive! 

We expected a little playground but it had masses for the kids to do with climbing frames, slides swings and rides in abundance. It was obviously fairly busy but there was so much to do we could have spent so much more time here exploring. 


There were things for all ages to do and it made a perfect end to the trip with both boys being super happy playing.


Thank you Belton House for providing a whole days worth of fun, history and magic to keep us all busy. We will certainly be back to explore again. 

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