Winter Time Fun at Newstead Abbey

Happy New Year everyone. I know, I know, we are already near the end of January, but these past few weeks I have been working hard and looking after my two children, so me and my laptop have been having a break.

We are back now though with some pictures from our winter visit to Newstead Abbey. We love exploring the old gardens of this wonderful estate and with many different plants and corners to visit it is always a great adventure.

If you are visiting Nottinghamshire, then this beautiful estate once home to Lord Byron is the perfect place to relax and explore.

Whether you are here in the summer, winter, autumn or spring there is always something to see and do, wrap up warm with a hot chocolate or relax with a picnic on the lawns.

Just up the road from us it is somewhere we visit a lot, with so much to explore it never gets boring.

Whilst we were there we did a little photo shoot for Trespass, my son took some really lovely photos and is becoming quite the little photographer.

We managed to get  nice photo of the three of us, our new and adapted little family of three.

What have you been up to so far this year? I certainly wish all of my readers a wonderful 2017.

Words and Poetry at Newstead Abbey

We've been to Newstead Abbey many times now, in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, each time it shows us something new, this time it was inside of the house, an important part of the Abbey that we have never seen before.

With either the sun shining or adventures to be had outside, the house has just never been on our radar. So when they had a day of fun, poetry and music with tours around the house, it sounded like a fantastic way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. With access to the house and gardens for just £10 per car this sort of event is the perfect opportunity to explore more of this wonderful piece of history.

We were taken on a tour by, Becky Cullen, the Abbey's poet in residence, she read out poems inspired by the house, written by staff and members of the public. We were also allowed to explore the house ourselves, which was a fantastic experience.

Although a lot of the original furniture had been sold off many years ago, it has been replaced by similar pieces from other collections, it gives you an idea of how it would of looked back in the day. There are many rooms to look at with many memories, deeply ingrained in the wood carvings and stone that sprawl about the house.

The impressive staircase as you walk in is truly a piece of art in itself and the wood that covers that great hall must have seen so much in its time.

It would be rude to visit Newstead Abbey and not find out about it's famous previous owner, and so, we visited the bedroom of Lord Byron, or the 6th Lord Byron as he was officially named, this housed a replica of his bed with it's domed roof and a pistol by his bedside, which he kept their due to unrest in Nottinghamshire at that time. Although these rooms are slightly different to how it would have been during his time here, it has been restored to be as original as possible.

The library housed his boxing gloves and a toothpick in the form of a tiny sword, as well as many of his other possessions, you can only begin to imagine what those things would say if they could talk. Walking through the library you are taken on a journey through Lord Byron's life, loves and friends you then move on through the house and learn about the families that lived in the house as the years went by, before it was handed over to the council for all to see.

The gardens looked wonderful, full of colour and for once there was water in the pond behind the Abbey, which meant you could see the house reflected in it. With the sun shining, we headed through the rose garden, had a quick go on the park then decided to head back to the car as the storm clouds were brewing, well, it was an English summer's day!

We headed home after a wonderful afternoon out, with a beautiful insight into the house and the people who would have lived there. To see those objects and understand what could of possibly inspired Lord Byron to pen the words he did was exciting, to see the gardens from the windows and to see why the occupants designed them the way they did added another dimension to one of our favourite places to visit.

"She walks in beauty, like the night 

Of cloudless climes and starry skies; 

And all that’s best of dark and bright 

Meet in her aspect and her eyes; 

Thus mellowed to that tender light 

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.....

- Lord Byron (George Gorden)

NB: We were given complimentary tickets to the event, all words and opinions are my own.

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.

Summer Exploring at Newstead Abbey

Sometimes we become too technology focussed, so for the next few weeks I have days out planned where we can get back to exploring and being silly!

This weekend, we took a picnic and headed in the rain to Newstead Abbey, when we got there it was spitting so we sat on the back of the car and ate our picnic, before donning our wellies, or jellies in my case and heading out down the lane to the abbey.

First of all we do as we always do and headed to the waterfall, you can walk behind it and the children always love to watch the water as it pours down over their heads. Then we headed down to the front of the abbey where there was a band playing, the kids really enjoyed watching and listening to them.

Then we went to explore, whilst we were playing tag we found a little baby froggy, the children both took it in turns to let the frog jump across their hands. It was really lovely to watch them both as they giggled and watched the frog jump.

We've been to Newstead Abbey many times, in the winter, spring and on a typically English day with rain and sunshine in equal quantities, it always looks so different with so many flowers and trees changing shape over the year. 

Over in the rose garden there are plenty of pretty flowers and corners to explore, my children always love peering down into the well.

After a minor incident with my daughter and the floor, we headed back to the car, the sun was shining and the house and lake looked beautiful against the sunlit sky.

Newstead Abbey is a really lovely place to visit, whether it is to explore the Japanese garden or tour the house, to have a picnic or eat in the cafe it is the perfect place to visit in the summer holidays.

Black & White Photo Project Week 34

I think this is my favourite picture from the last week, I adore the treasures we collected from our day out at Newstead Abbey.

Visiting Newstead Abbey in the Spring

The last few weeks have seen us decorating and sorting our house out ready for it to go on the market, it means that getting out of the house has been for just an hour at a time. So yesterday, now that everything is complete, we managed to get out of the house for longer.

We headed to Newstead Abbey for a walk around the beautiful gardens and to see the snowdrops, it's a magical place steeped in history and it's a short drive from Nottingham city centre.

Stood behind the waterfall, watching the water made us notice how relaxing and thought provoking it actually was, though it was pretty noisy! There was so much wildlife about, birds, ducks and these rather cheeky swans!

The Japanese gardens on the other hand are peaceful, beautiful and full of fabulous corners to sit and relax in, the waterfalls here are more about gentle running water and are so serene.

With moss covering the stones and the odd clump of snowdrops it wasn't as luscious as the rest of the year but I think that added to the atmosphere as we hopped across the many stepping stones.

We stopped to look bugs under logs, we only spotted a few millipedes, a woodlouse and a cobweb but it was still fun.

The gardens where full of winter plants and the hedges always look beautiful no matter what time of the year, we played in the park and ran around.

And finally our treasures of the day...

Newstead Abbey - History and Exploring

This last few weeks have seen illness in The Mummy Diary house so I haven't been up to writing much.

So with the sun shining and the family together (hubby has been away for a week) we decided to head out to the Car Boot followed by a trip to Newstead Abbey, we haven't been here with the kids before so it was a lovely place to take them.

I love the imposing facade of the Abbey (which wasn't actually ever an Abbey apparently) it was simply stunning against the blue skies.

First we walked down to the waterfall, you can walk behind it and it is a lovely experience for the children.

View out from behind the waterfall, I like to wonder who might have stood looking out from here.

Lots of space to run....and run!

The back of the house, beautiful with the blue backdrop.

Lots of lovely peacocks, loved this one walking up the stairs

The gorgeous walled garden, stunning blossoms and hedges

I love finding out brickwork and gates, so beautiful.

Looking into the pond, no fish just pond skaters...

The rose garden was beautiful...

Next, to the Japanese Gardens, these stunning gardens are all laid out presumably to make for wonderful features to paint, images to think and write about, you can see how this would have been  inspiration.

Next, to the rock garden, up and down the rockery

And finally into the woods to do a bit of exploring and bug finding...

We only found a few woodlice...

Finally a quick walk along the path ledge and off take part in the easter activities, my son decorated a cake and my daughter made an easter themed plate.

We had a wonderful few hours at Newstead, it is a wonderful place steeped in history and magnificent  decoration and architecture.

Linking up to Country Kids over on Coombe Mill