Sunday 17 August 2014

Family visit to Kingston Lacy, National Trust (Dorset)

Whilst holidaying in Dorset we decided to use our National Trust membership and go to visit Kingston Lacy and boy were we glad we did, what a great place!

It is really set up for accommodating the kids in the holiday periods, my younger two did a 'spot the teddy bear' hunt and JJ did a classic treasure hunt around the inside of the house with fairly tough clues. They all enjoyed it and got a badge each at the end. There was a cost of £1 each but as I have a membership, this was all I paid out that day and of course, I did not mind.

The house itself is in wonderful condition and is very large, it was a pleasure to look round and it is always good to get to chat to the kids about how things were in years gone by.

Kingston Lacy family images

Outside the house, there is so much space that even on a busy day you have loads of room to run free and for the children to have fun. There are tons of walks and trails across the 8,500-acre property and this includes working farmland, woodland, formal gardens, a south lawn, Japanese water garden and even a community gardening project where there are a few animals that the children can feed. It is wonderful and diverse, just look -

Kingston lacy grounds

There are a number of places across the site where you can buy homegrown produce and flowers for a donation and it is lovely to take some home dahlias or gladioli that have been grown there. There are also some amazing flowers on-site and if like me you enjoy photography, you will be right at home here -

Flowers at Kingston Lacy

Probably my children's favourite part of the day was the living history.  Before we set off in the morning my 10-year-old JJ groaned that we were off to an 'old house' and then after his time with the laundry maids learning hands-on how to use a washboard and mangle and then going through all the pieces in the study suite he declared it was an awesome day and he had no idea why he did not want to come here. I had to laugh!


We broke our day up with a visit to the restaurant and there was the option of an assisted service restaurant or a more casual coffee shop. We sat outside in a beautiful courtyard and enjoyed sandwiches and soup. It is not cheap but it is tasty and the homemade soup was excellent, as was the cream tea. There are also some beautiful picnic areas on site which you can use.

In the 6 hours we were at Kingston Lacy, I think we only saw a small part of it, we found one kiddie tractor ride area but did not make it to the two other children's play areas that were advertised. We would definitely visit again and it was a great day out for all our family.

We are happy to recommend a visit to Kingston Lacy with the family.

Why not pin this post for later?

Kingston Lacy pin

Check out all our other National Trust reviews over here. 

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