Catching up on many of our summer of fun activities again. We recently visited Bekonscot Model Village and on our way home we used our National Trust membership to visit Hughenden; once home to Benjamin Disraeli. 
Now having Monkey with us means that a tour of a house, stately or otherwise is a whistle stop affair. But I do like what the National Trust are doing to make the insides of their houses more interesting to children. At Hughenden we had some items to spot as we went around the house. It does help slow Monkey down enough for Daddy P and I to at least glimpse at things as we walked round. I’ve always had a fascination with Queen Victoria and enjoyed learning more about her beloved Prime Minister. The views over the garden and surrounding Buckinghamshire countryside were lovely and something had caught Monkey’s interest. Croquet Mummy! 
There were a number of garden games freely available to play on the lawn and Monkey had tried Croquet on our visit to Charlecote earlier in the summer. He was on a mission. 
Apparently it was time to teach Daddy P how to play. There seemed to be a fair amount of cheating going on, but they were having fun. I’ve loved Croquet since I was a child, so it was lovely to share memories with Monkey.
Then it was off to explore the grounds. We popped over to see the bee hives – all the bees were out on a nectar collecting mission. 
We then meandered through the wooded pleasure garden before discovering the walled garden. 
This was just full of colour and Daddy P got his fruit and veg spotting fix for the day!
Then it was time to back in time to the Second World War! During WW2 Hughenden was used as a top-secret map making base by the Air Ministry. 
The Ice House is currently housing an exhibition so we had a quick look. It was very interesting.
We spent a really enjoyable afternoon at Hughenden and it’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. The cake in the Cafe is rather good too!
I’ve only ever been to Hughenden for a work meeting so we didn’t get to see any of the grounds or house, but it looks beautiful. Your flower photos are wonderful.
It’s lovely if you’ve got a couple of hours to just wander.
It sounds like a great day out and it’s really great to hear they are becoming more child friendly. I remember me and my sister getting so bored looking around stately homes that I have avoided them with our two – we shall have to give one a try!
They’ve come on a long way from when I was a child and the outdoor spaces are perfect for children with den building activities etc at a lot of the NT places we’ve explored. Well worth investigating.
Some amazing views there.
I love all those flower photos – national trust properties are great places for kindling my dreams of an ideal garden!
They are wonderful aren’t they
Oooh, I like the look of the secret map rooms, I love all the hidden away gems. It’s hard to visit properties with a little one, I always feel like there’s no point going inside when they just race around everything. But the gardens there look amazing! I love that they have games out to play on the lawns and such beautiful grounds!
Thanks for linking up to #whatevertheweather 🙂 x
Oh my gosh I used to live so close to here and I never knew it existed! If I did I would have visited all the time. I absolutely adore old houses. It’s so great that there’s so much to do for children. I agree, I love what National Trust are now doing to keep children interested. It really helps them to absorb more information and be less bored while they’re looking around. Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I love the look of the gardens and would absolutely love to try crochet. I think a road trip is in order. Thank you so much for linking this up to #whatevertheweather xx
It’s always the way isn’t it, we visited somewhere on Sunday that is literally down the road from us, that I’ve only ever driven past too.