Exploring Croome Court

Exploring Croome Court

We were looking for some new places to explore over the recent Easter holidays and I always like to make use of our National Trust membership where I can.  I was flicking through the members book, looking for ideas when I found somewhere that I was pretty sure would tick boxes for all of us.  So we packed the car and headed off to Worcestershire to spend a day exploring Croome Court.

Exploring Croome Court

With 700 acres of garden and parkland, the country house and a RAF museum, we’d certainly have an action packed day exploring Croome Court.  We were given a map showing us all the main sights around the estate, which also showed us a few different trails we could walk along.  There are also a number of trails which can be downloaded from the National Trust site.

Exploring Croome Court

Map in hand our tour guide took control. Apparently his priority for the day was to find as many sticks as possible. No change there then, and we agreed that a walk along the wilderness walk would probably be a good starting point for his stick obsession.  It wasn’t long before he was daintily walking between the bluebells in hunt of some new treasures.

Exploring Croome Court

We’d decided that we’d cover as much ground as possible while the weather was on our side, and the route we would take would include all the points of interest, and we’d could take a tour of the house as a half way stopping point.

Our first stop was the Church of St Magdalen which has a wonderful view looking over towards Croome Court and the estate.

Exploring Croome Court

The church has some beautiful marble work inside and is well worth popping into.

Monkey’s becoming quite the aficionado these days when it comes to Ice Houses.  They never cease to amaze him and this 18th century restored version was another to add to his list.

Monkey loves birds, but being quiet around them isn’t his strongest point.  I didn’t hold out much hope for any birds to hang around once we arrived in the bird hide, but we were luckier than I thought.  I didn’t have a long lens to get better shots but we saw a range of tits while we were there.

We spotted two arched gateways as we were exploring Croome Court, and tried to imagine what it must have felt like to arrive at the estate in a horse and carriage in bygone times.

You can access the Walled Garden at certain day, during certain months of the year, but as this has an extra charge, we decided to leave on this occasion.

We are used to seeing different buildings dotted around parkland with our frequent visits to Stowe, and Monkey was very excited to learn that by exploring Croome Court we’d find a number here too. First stop the Rotunda, with a rather lovely ceiling to look up at and admire.

I’d mentioned another building away across the park and that was it, we were off on the next part of our adventure as we headed down towards the Park Seat.

The views over towards the Malvern Hills were beautiful even on a dull April day.  Monkey was happy, he’d found even more sticks, because apparently, you can never have to many.  We came across some bulls along the way, luckily they were penned in and friendly.

Park Seat offers a great view across Croome river, towards the house and there’s seating inside if you want to take a break.  Someone had beaten Monkey to it, so we continued on our way.

There are a couple of different trail options at this point, but we decided to stay on the Park Seat side of the river and head along the river path back towards the house.

Exploring Croome Court

Whilst Monkey ran along like a boy on a mission, I lagged behind to savour the scenery and was very excited to spot some goldfinches.  Gutted not to have had my longer lens with me, but I still managed to captured one of them.

Exploring Croome Court

The river winds its way through the parkland and forms a lake as part of the design by Capability Brown.  The lake is well hidden at this point and we walked on with the house getting ever closer.

Exploring Croome Court

There are toilets to be found by the house as well as a cafe within, and as lunch was calling us it was a race to get to  Croome Court first.

After lunch we had a quick look around the house before heading outdoors again to continue our exploration.  We saw so many bluebells on our walk as well as cowslips and on one area some gorgeous fritillary.

The wooden Chinese bridge is quite something to look at and our own little bridge troll couldn’t wait to cross it.as we  walked towards the lake area.

It’s possible to do a circular walk around the lake, and also visit one of the islands which can be reached by two bridges. There are statues and a grotto to see along the way as you walk round.

We had so much fun exploring Croome Court and I can imagine we’ll be back again in the future to see the grounds at different times of the year.

Monkey certainly loved his little adventures and has decided that the kids lunch bag makes and excellent stick storage facility.

Exploring Croome CourtWe made a quick stop at the RAF Defford museum by the visitor centre before heading back to the car.  It had been a great choice to spend the day at Croome Court and was well worth the drive.  Have you been?

Perhaps you might like to pin it for later?

Exploring Croome Court

Country Kids

13 thoughts on “Exploring Croome Court

  1. Croome Court looks like the perfect place for Monkey to get his explorers head on and discover this new place. It’s great that he led the way along the paths in search of new adventures, his stick collection must really be growing now! It’s great that there’s plenty to discover as you explore the trail to keep you entertained.

    Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids

  2. My boys are the same, we never leave somewhere like this without a load of sticks! Croome Court looks great with its massive 700 acres to explore and run about in. Look like you timed it right with all those bluebells too 🙂 #countrykids

  3. I think you got around a bit more than us, although we had a boiling hot day when we were there. It is a brilliant place (if a bit of a trek to the house). but so much to see.

  4. Wow! There certainly was a lot to do there, and the photos look beautiful despite the cloudy day #countrykidsfun

  5. Our National Trust passes are by far the best investment we have made. I also try to use them wherever possible and love flicking through the magazine. My monkey being that big younger play areas feature quite highly. Will add this to the list incase we are ever local. #CountryKids

  6. That looks like a wonderful place to explore. I love how Monkey always has to collect sticks along the way – and the lunch bag is a very good place to store them! Having a trail to follow always makes it more interesting too 🙂 #countrykids

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