Ffrees Family Finance challenged us to find an Easter family day out for the whole family for under £20. Today we visited The Vyne in Hampshire, a National Trust property with lots of activities for children of all ages, and some beautiful grounds, great for exploring.
Ffrees is an online bank that encourages its customers to save money through its JamJar saving and cashback schemes and they are on the lookout for great family days out that don't have to drain your savings - just my kind of day out! We had been umming and aahing about whether or not to renew our National Trust membership (it is the first year that we have had to pay for Lara to enter NT properties) so we decided to try a day out at a local National Trust property to remind us why NT properties work so well for families. A family ticket to the grounds of The Vyne costs £19.80 and this includes entry to the gardens, playground, tea room, walled garden and a vast area of woodlands full of walks and outdoor activities.
One of the reasons why we enjoy visiting The Vyne is that we can start our visit there with a visit to the walled garden where the girls are intruiged to see all of the fruit and vegetables growing and quickly move on to play on the lawn with the outdoor toys, laid on specially for pre-school children. Afterwards we are able to convince the girls to join us on a longer walk into the woods on the other side of the river.
The woods are packed full of dens for you to build or hide in, trees to climb on, leaves to kick and hills to run down. Alongside the water there is also a trail of wooden climbing toys which the girls love to play on. Today it was looking particularly gorgeous with lots of yellow daffodils, cowslips and primroses - very spring-like indeed.
At the end of the walk there is the reward of a play on the green-spaces playground or a snack from the tea-room. There is also a wide open lawn in front of the house where, on warmer days, you can sit and enjoy a family picnic, a big money saving tip! There is plenty of room for the girls to run around and wear themselves out!
You can also visit inside the house for an extra charge but it isn't high on my list of thrilling NT properties and Lara and Holly have so much fun outside that we don't feel the need to go inside.
The Vyne in Hampshire is between Basingstoke and Reading. Grounds open at 10am. This weekend they are hosting Easter Egg Trails.
