Dunham Massey – National Trust

We recently joined the National Trust and I have been busy looking for places we can get to. There are a fair few places locally so the children have been looking in the handbook and telling me which they would like to get to.

First on their list was Dunham Massey. Dunham Massey is a lovely space to visit, and the children really enjoyed seeing the deer and getting relatively close to them. We didn’t explore the Deer Park too much on this visit as the weather was a bit changeable and we didn’t want to end up too wet on this particular visit.

The Gardens

We headed for a walk around the gardens, and whilst we were there there was a Percy the Park Keeper trail where the children used a map to find six stamps. They really enjoyed doing this and it was a nice way to encourage them to walk a little!

There are lots of spaces to explore in the gardens and plenty of trees to clamber over and up which the children enjoyed. It’s a really lovely space to stroll around and there are lots of really beautiful flowers and lots of sun-soaked spots to picnic in. It would be quite easy to spend a long afternoon here passing the time.

The Deer Park

The deer park is fabulous and it’s really special to see the herd of fallow deer. There’s a large area to explore and spot the deer in, and of course, there is the mill to take a look at too. When we visited there were some of the Rangers on-site showing visitors the antlers of the deer and explaining the difference between Red and Fallow Deer. We plan to head back next month for a talk with the Rangers about the deer.

Refreshments

We stopped in the cafe for ice cream before heading back home, but not before climbing into the tractors and pretending to drive those. We had a chat with the Rangers about the work they do and then headed back home again. The children really enjoyed their trip and were asking when we can go back again as we pulled away out of the car park.