Exploring More of Newstead Abbey

Last weekend we visited one of our favourite places in Nottinghamshire, Newstead Abbey. We have been so many times now and each time, we usually walk around the same bits. This time though, we spotted the old cannon fort on the other side of the lake and decided to take the muddy walk over to see the abbey from a different perspective, as well as seeing this wonderful old piece of history.

When you hear about a cannon fort, you probably wonder how much navel defence was required in landlocked nottinghamshire, but the real purpose of the fort was as a play thing for the 5th Lord Byron, along with his fleet of miniature vessels. The lord would fire real cannonballs at the ships. which were crewed by his unlucky servants. According to the staff, none of the servants were hurt but I can imagine it still being a frightening experience.

I only slipped over once as we headed through the muddy forest, much to my husbands amusement. Along the way, my daughter picked up twigs, trees and plants for her nature project which she happily carried in her jelly bag. 

It was fun to explore a piece of the abbey we hadn't seen before, and it would be good to go back, maybe on a less muddy day next time. When we got to the cannon fort though it was well worth the wobbly trek over, you can only begin to imagine what this would have looked like back in its time.

The view from the other side of the lake was amazing and one we've never seen before and possibly very few people who visit do, I absolutely love the idea of this eccentric Lord playing real life battleships here.

Each part of Newstead feels as though it has been made with the view in mind and it is always a pleasure to take pictures there.

Afterwards, we headed to the rose garden to eat our picnic, the children had a quick game of hide and seek and then played on the park, before we moved onto our favourite spot, the Japanese Water Gardens. We love this place, the sound of running water, the shapes of the trees and stone decorations and there is always time for the children to role play some ice cream selling from the wooden hut.

It was great to find something new in one of our favourite places to visit, hopefully this post might inspire other visitors to go in search of the magical cannon fort too.