A year and a half ago, around Halloween time, we visited Pensthorpe, a nature reserve in Norfolk, for a wander, a ponder and just to enjoy the wildlife and beautiful gardens. (I wrote about our day here.) Looking back at my photographs I can see that Florence was such a tiny tot but I’m sure she remembers aspects of the day because, despite the weather, we had such a lovely time!

Our last visit to Pensthorpe when she was nearly two, we had such a delightful day!

We’ve always been meaning to go back and had kind of planned to do it for Halloween last year but we never got round to it. We’d really loved how they had set out pumpkins along their trail and thought it would be fun to do it again but we decided we’d go back for another ‘event’ and perhaps we’d get some sunshine!

Well, it’s Easter, so it was entirely possible that the sun might come out but… Of course this is England and you never can bank on sun now can you! We decided Easter Sunday, as Pensthorpe are having their Easter Eggstravagansa, would be a great time to visit! The Eggstravagansa promised we would unearth some fun and fascinating facts about nature and Easter as we walked the trail and it would let us find out how the natural world ties in with nature.

As soon as we arrived Florence ran off ahead and said ‘I LOVE it here’. It immediately gives you a real feel for freedom and she adored walking round the windy pretty walk ways, looking at the maps and searching for bugs in the specially designed areas for them to nest. We chose to walk the same route we’d taken the last time we were there and it was apparent how much work has been done since then and now. New pathways have been designed, more art work is on display and everywhere generally feels a bit more looked after. As Florence said, she loved it and so did the rest of us. Just like last time, we took my Mum with us and we found it to be a great day out for everyone to enjoy. Fresh air and nature. Wildlife and walking. Good old-fashioned and healthy fun! Perhaps next time we might even go in the sunshine and enjoy a picnic in the gorgeous gardens.

Lots of things to immediately appeal to children. Interesting art work, information and things to walk on!

Plenty of rivers to play Pooh sticks, insects to find and Easter bunnies along the path!

I was really impressed with all the things for children to do on the way round. The climbing things and pond where you can have a dibble weren’t there when we visited before, they’re a welcome addition!

We enjoyed spotting Easter eggs high in the trees and the wildlife is so interesting!

 

So many interesting things in the trees including ladybirds and bees! Great when your children have Ladybird and Bumblebee for middle names!

We loved feeding the ducks!

Flamingos! Yes, we were that close!

The four of us!

We had a coffee and scone in the cafe before our walk and lunch in there afterwards. It was yummy, home cooked and well worth the money!

We don’t think this is the same tree as last time but we tried to re-create the picture… Florence probably should have been holding a hand this time too as a second later she fell off (only about 5 cm) and got tangled up in the long grass – she was miffed but not hurt thankfully!

Another beautiful day at Pensthorpe and we highly recommend for people of all ages. You might struggle to walk round the whole place if you have walking difficulties but the terrain is mostly not difficult and there are many, many aesthetically pleasing places to sit and relax. Not totally buggy friendly but they make it as easy as possible and even the trickiest of buggies would get round with a little maneuvering!

For more information about Pensthorpe please see their website www.pensthorpe.com.

I was not paid to write this post but I was sent complimentary tickets for the purpose of review.