I absolutely adore Autumn. It is a glorious time of year; full of colours and treasures, walks through crunchy leaves while listening for bouncing squirrels overheard. It's also the time of year that we start exploring new National Trust places, arboretums in the grounds of stately homes are glorious in Autumn.
Last weekend we visited Dyrham Park for the first time, and we soon realised that it was going to be first of many visits.
From the car park to the property there is a long driveway and a walk of half a mile or so which meanders down into the valley through the woodland. The woodland is awash with the deer of Dyrham Park, the tamest deer I've ever seen. There are fallen trees, climbing trees, trees with echoes, trees with deer, trees with conkers, trees full of fun!
We've been to a few National Trust places over the past year and a half and, while they are all beautiful, there are some that really stick in my mind. Dyffryn Gardens is our local NT place and it's beautiful; we're very luck to have it on our doorstep. Dyrham Park is like something out of a Jane Austen novel, Mr. TheBoyandMe even offered to try and find a nearby pond to dive into!
Unfortunately by the time we'd explored the woods and watched deer, sat in the courtyard and enjoyed a scrumptious cream tea, and sauntered around to the house entrance, we were twenty minutes too late to examine the inside of the stately home and the history of the property. It wasn't particularly a problem though as we'd already decided we will be going back many times.
The cultivated gardens in front of Dyrham House are a contrast to the wild woodland behind it, and are just as beautiful. We found a really friendly gardener who explained to us all about the perry pears and bee-keeping which goes on in the orchard, before we headed up the tunnel of trees back to the entrance.
There is a shuttlebus which operates between the car park and the house, I wouldn't recommend taking it down as that involves missing the beautiful woodland and deer, but it's an idea to catch it on the way back up as it's quite a steep walk.
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I love Dyrham Park – I used to go quite regularly as a child and we had a blast taking the girls there last year. To me it's always the house in Remains of the Day, I quite expect to see Antony Hopkins and Emma Thompson appear around a corner!
I love Dyrham Park – has to be one of my very favourite NT estates. Realised whilst reading your post though that despite lots of visits over the years I have never had a cream tea there! What have I been thinking! Looks like you had loads of fun and your photos are fantastic. Love the different insight they give and what a great model you have!
This sounds like another amazing national trust property to visit 🙂 Your photos are fantastic, they really capture the beauty of the place and the nature surrounding it. xx #countrykids
Fabulous, another beautiful property. It's gardens like these that I really miss here in the US, and although the wild countryside is stunning, I haven't found anything to compare with NT properties. I just need to keep looking 🙂 Stunning photos, as always x #CountryKids
It looks absolutely spectacular!
What a gorgeous looking place, absolutely stunning, I think you will enjoy a day separately to explore inside, Stunning photos of the grounds and The Boy clearly enjoying the day, the expressions you capture and composition are always spot on. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids
Looks like a great place to visit. Beautiful photo's x
What a really beautiful looking place. The photos really paint a great story. It looks so peaceful there…are you sure it's not your estate?
Have you tried the Toddler Trail at Dyrham Park on a Tuesday morning? Great fun for the kids including stories, crafts, singing, different outdoor activities each week led by some fab people.
Unfortunately not as we live in Cardiff so it's not somewhere we can just pop to, but that sounds wonderful.
This looks a really beautiful place to visit and really does look very Jane Austen-y. The Boy has had a real growth spurt, he looks so tall!
As you know I love Dyrham! Remains of the Day was filmed there many years ago and has a lovely shot going down to the house. Next time you go give me a shout first! 🙂