We’re always looking for new National Trust places to visit, and I didn’t realise that Waddesdon House was within reach of us for a day out. You can find Waddesdon House in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
During December they had a light trail on, which looked amazing. Its really popular and even for National Trust members, you have to book tickets, even though there is no additional cost for National Trust Members, unless you want to visit the house. We were really pleased they had availability on New Years Eve and thought that it would be a lovely thing to do with the girls.
We arrived at 3pm and even though the car park was busy, we easily found a space. The kiosk to show your passes or buy tickets is at the car park, and then you can either take the shuttle bus or walk to the grounds. We decided to walk and it took us about 20 minutes. The walk way was well lit.
The house looked beautiful and the grounds were massive. We walked all the away around the outside of the house and at the front of the house were lots of market stalls from the Christmas market. This had finished now, but I would love to come back when the market is on, as it looked like it would have a lot to look around.
We had booked a time slot to visit the house online before we came and we headed inside. They had a fun trail for the children, and were given a booklet and some stickers. They had to look for the biscuits around the house and piece together the sticker jigsaw in their booklet. I love these trails, the girls have great fun doing them and it encourages them to look around the house.
Because it was Christmas the house was decorated beautifully we so many Christmas trees.
They had different themes for the trees and the rooms.
The house was big and there was a lot of cool things to see, like a record walkway and all these records were hanging of the ceilings. There was a light walkway, which the girls loved.
Alice is really interested in history and loves reading all about it.
When we came outside it was nice and dark ready for us to do the light trail. Alice loved that there was a Miss Alice’s drive!
The light trail was really lovely, and each light area had been made by schools, brownies, cubs etc and it was beautiful. The girls absolutely loved it.
As part of the light trail, there were posters which different schools had done around themes of Christmas.
We arrived at the stables and there was a couple of giant lit up Christmas Bauble which you could walk through.
There was lots of different places you could get something to eat and drink. We stopped for a hot chocolate and there was a place to sit, which had blankets and heaters to keep warm. Holly doesn’t like hot chocolate and she had ice cream. Yes, she loves it no matter what the weather.
Inside the stables there was a lantern light show, which was set to music. The balls lit up different colours and bounced up and down to the music. It was amazing.
At various places around the grounds there was places to get food and drink. We came across a teepee where you could get a drink and sit inside. There were trees that lit up, which you could control by pressing a panel.
There was an adventure playground, which we didn’t go to as it was too dark. But we can’t wait to go back again and see it more in the daytime.
We loved Waddesdon House, it was a great way to spend New Years Eve with the girls. They had a great time and there was plenty to do.
