Wrest Park has been on my wish list for a visit for ages, but it’s that little bit too far from us to make it an easy trip. Plus it’s English Heritage and we don’t have membership, which makes it a somewhat pricey day out. But we’ve recently got a new car and we’re no longer limited by mileage like we were in our previous lease car, so last weekend we headed off to Wrest Park to see what it had to offer.

 

 

Wrest Park is a Grade I listed House located in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, surrounded by acres of beautiful grounds. Most of the house was closed to the public during our visit, as there was a wedding fair on, but the houses are never the biggest draw of these places for me - we much prefer exploring the gardens. But I did love the conservatory which was small but beautifully formed. Max loved writing in the condensation on the window.

 

 

 

We wandered through the rose garden (amazingly still in bloom in early October!), towards the Orangery, which we found all set up for a wedding, looking beautiful.

 

 

The grounds were beautifully landscaped, with avenues of trees leading you down pathways. At every hidden turn we found something new to admire at the end of it, but nothing more spectacular than the Garden Pavilion at the end of the long canal.

 

 

Max loved running down the banks which lined either side, and heading up the very narrow stairs inside the pavilion. He tried to persuade me to go up as well, but after making it halfway up I lost my nerve - I hate enclosed spaces!

 

 

The autumn leaves were just starting to turn all those beautiful red and oranges and it was the perfect autumn day. We played in the leaves and laughed, and despite the moaning about tired feet, we all had smiles on our faces for the majority of the day. We managed to keep Max walking with the promise of a trip to the children’s playground back at the entrance. Hats off to whoever designed the playground, because it was such a hit with Max - we had to pretty much drag him away

 

 

Seriously contemplating adding English Heritage membership to our list of memberships. Is National Trust, RHS, Kew Gardens, Painshill Park, Legoland, and English Heritage too much?