With a teacher taining day at my daughters school, we decided to venture out with our National Trust passes and check out another local(ish) place.
Baddesley Clinton is not far from Solihull Town Centre and is the perfect escape if you fancy a nice walk in the fresh air around the estate (set within the picturesque Forest of Arden), to take in the beautiful autumnal colours and a bit of history within the moated house.
Baddesley Clinton was the home of the Ferrers family for over 500 years built mainly within the late 1500s. Persecuted Catholics were hidden from Priest Hunters, in secret hiding places in the 1590s (see picture below for one of them).
My girls were amazed to hear that men had to climb up and down a rope to get into the hiding spaces. They must have been a lot fitter than us!
The National Trust volunteers were all fantastic within the house. Although it was not a guided tour, there were many volunteers around the house who were happy to share stories and details about the different rooms.
The girls had been given an I-spy type of game to do as they walked around the house (on a leaflet). A great idea to keep little ones busy and interested, so parents can have a read and proper look around the rooms.
Although Baddesley Clinton opened at 9am, the house didn’t open until 11am, so if you plan to go on a muddy autumnal walk, it might be best to arrive shortly before 11 so you do not get muddy beforehand.
Me and the girls headed off to explore the grounds.
We headed on the trail to find the woodland play area. We had to follow the wooden woodland animals to get there. Jemima was quite taken by this one.
We were advised not to use the woodland playarea with it being so muddy and wet from the heavy downpours we have recently had, they didn’t (quite rightly) want us having any accidents. So we had a look at the bits where we couldn’t get hurt and decided we would come back another time to try the bits that require climbing or standing on wood.
It is a lovely area for children and we look forward to coming back to play on a less muddy/slippy day.
We loved walking around, squidging our boots in the mud and kicking leaves in the air.
Also in the grounds are toilets (disabled and baby changing available), a lovely restaurant serving delicious looking food options (we grabbed a drink as had come with our own picnic), a well stocked gift shop and a second hand bookstore,manned by a very friendly gentleman. Do take some cash if you go along as the bookstore cannot accept card.
My two had a book each. There are plenty of choices and the books are very reasonably priced.
Overall we had a lovely 4 hours at Baddesley Clinton and will be back again soon to see the house all decorated for Christmas.