One of the best things about living in the city is that there’s always something fun to do or something magical to see.
And our recent visit to Speke Hall was definitely magical!
We had an extra family day this weekend as it was Bank Holiday Monday, and Boe is currently going through Leap 17, so space to run and play to his own agenda was a must!
So on Bank Holiday Monday (much to Mr Plinky’s annoyance as he wanted a lie-in lol) we got up and dressed, headed to our local Co-Op for our usual picnic foods of freshly baked sausage rolls, some crisps and a bag of donuts (so much for being low sugar eaters these days) and off we headed to Speke Hall.
For those of you who have never seen or heard of Speke Hall, it’s a National Trust property in the Speke area of Liverpool.
It’s from the Tudor period, so as you’d imagine, it’s very old, but beautiful – especially in the sunshine. The inside of the house is amazing, with so many gorgeous rooms to see and learn about, but as Boe is only 2.5 ish years old, we only wanted to see the gardens today. Which gave us a cheaper entrance fee…. result!
We absolutely LOVE the gardens, but this was Boe’s first time visiting during his active days. We last went in October last year, so he was all bundled up in his pram and pretty much slept through most of the visit. But this time the weather was gorgeous, so he was able to run around to his hearts content. Which pleased him greatly. And us too…. Leap 17 so far has been pretty hard going… dare I say it, borderline Leap 4 levels :O So being able to let him do as he pleases with *hardly* any boundaries made all of our hearts happy.
After we’d had a brief chat with the lovely ladies at the door, we headed off to find a little spot for our picnic. As it was bank holiday Monday, there weren’t many tables left, so we just plonked ourselves on the bench just outside the cafe and had a quick munch.
We’d picked a great day to go, as the Magical Fairy Kingdom was still on, so we had the added bonus of being able to go on fairy hunts and catch a glimps of some magical things.
Boe had his own agenda though and wanted to go off the map and do his own thing. We did manage to find a couple of fairy houses in the trees though, which were really cute ? Boe had a great time making some noises with the windchimes and having a peek at the cutest little fairy garden, complete with toadstools and pretty purple flowers.
Once Boe had a little run around the picnic area and the garden maze we eventually managed to get him to go on a ramble down the Giant Childe of Hale play trail.
Oh my gosh, this area is just amazing…..it leads you down to the wooded area, with a trail of massive giant wooden books with tasks on – one was to find the giants bows and buttons hidden in the trees, another was to find a face and there was even an amazing area with gigantic wooden instruments which the kids (and adults) can play on. One was a big pumpkin-shaped drum, some wooden carrots that you can hit, and a very large wooden xylophone :O
The other children were having a great time in this area, making music and running through the tree tunnels looking for more fairies.
After we’d had a giggle chasing each other and weaving inbetween the trees, we moved on to the big wooded area, which was even more fun than the last! There was a wobbly bridge (who doesn’t love a wobbly bridge?!) a zipwire, logs to climb along, dens made from sticks and twigs, and more….. Boe is loving his dens at the moment, so he was in his element. Even though it was really busy, the wooded area was so huge and full of so many things to do that it was easy for everyone to play around. Boe even had his own den for ages, which he fully enjoyed!
I think this was our most favourite place to hang out in out of all the areas as Boe had space to run around with the rustic outdoors and make use of the open ended playing delights of sticks and twigs ? it certainly made it hard to get him to move on to the next zone ? eventually he let us head back into the gardens, where he made another den in a flowerbed full of trees and hydrangeas lol
We managed to have a quick look around the rose gardens and vegetable patches on our way back round to the exit where we had to sneak in a little large ice cream cone each, which topped off Boe’s day perfectly – he didn’t waste one drop :O (We highly reccomend the Mint Choc Chip, Honeycombe & Raspberry Ripple flavours ?
It was easily one of the best days Boe has had in a long time, and after running around for 4 hours, he was fast asleep in his car seat within 10 minutes of leaving!
If you’ve not paid Speke Hall a visit, I highly recommend it… you can find out more about the place here.
Are you a member of the National Trust? We’ve been thinking of joining for a while now, but we never know if we’ll go to any places enough to make it worth the money. Where’s your favourite NT place to visit?
Plinky and Boe xx