It’s official, we’re stopping in Tier 3 for the foreseeable so this is perfect timing for you.
However you feel about this continued status, I can feel you’re ready for some fresh air!
That’s why I was thrilled to be invited by Burton Agnes to review their Christmas Trail with my family.
Burton Agnes is one of our favourite places to visit, especially at the moment. I have such a need for wide-open spaces so the kids can run wild but also, I’m keen to find any opportunity to help them feel festive too.
Tickets
Burton Agnes Hall is actually a charity. A day ticket includes a 10% voluntary donation, which supports the upkeep and restoration of burton Agnes Hall.
Here’s the prices:
- Adult £7.27
- Concession £6.81
- Child £5.00
- Child under 4 FREE
- Family (2 adults) £20.45
- Family (1 adult) £13.18
- Carer FREE
- Historic Houses member FREE with pass
- Yorkshire’s Great Houses, Castles & Gardens pass FREE with pass
You can buy tickets here.
Burton Agnes is open from 11am daily ‘til 23rd December. Last admissions 4pm; they close up at 5pm.
At only half an hour from Hull and still located within the Hull and East Riding Tier region, Burton Agnes is a great place to escape your four walls to enjoy some fresh air.
On arrival, we met a lady in a ticket booth based in a fairy-lit horsebox. I could see instantly, everything in the courtyard was beautifully adorned with fairy lights. It has a very classy Christmassy feel everywhere you look.
We got there at lunchtime so headed across the courtyard to see what food we could choose from.
The catering
In addition to the hot and cold drinks and snacks there was a fabulous wood-fired pizza menu and of course, plenty of places for hand cleansing too.
It was great to be able to see the pizzas being made. Not only was this reassuring of how clean everything was but the boys enjoyed watching the flames lick around the pizza! We all found it mesmerising!
As you can see in all my pictures, there are classy Christmas decorations everywhere. It’s subtle, tasteful and festive.
We parked ourselves at one of the many outdoor picnic benches to devour our pepperoni pizzas. Being outside made me less worried about any tomato drips from the boys!
Of course, we could have opted to save even more money and bring a picnic but I was happy to spend on this treat day out for the kids.
After finishing our food we began the Christmas Candy Cane Trail through the woods. There’s 24 to spot all with different patterns on (it was harder than you can imagine because of the patters!)
The lady at the horsebox had given the boys a booklet each and a wooden pencil to mark down their finds. And so the exploring began….
The Candy Cane Trail
All the candy canes are hung throughout the trees at a height that they can be spotted but not taken down and hidden by anyone which has ensured fun for everyone.
Some are more camouflaged than others but the boys go the hang of not running too far ahead and missing ones hung in more leafy trees.
Although this is normally meant to be an accessible trail for all, it had rained a lot the week we went which had made it really very muddy. So if that’s the case when you go, I would recommend a baby carrier rather than a pram if that’s something that would impact you.
Likewise, I think a manual wheelchair would have struggled on the day we went. I made the mistake of not wearing wellies and had to live with that regret for the rest of the day!
Fairy doors
Through the woods, there are lots of trees with fairies living in them and you can spot them from their lovely little doors and windows.
Now that the days are shorter and it is the festive season, the fairies have decorated their trees with fairylights too.
The playground
This takes us to the new adventure playground and I can’t tell you how impressed I am! Did you even know there was a Gruffalo at Burton Agnes?? I thought I needed to go as far as Dalby Forest to see him! We loved spotting him with tinsel round his neck!
The park is a wooden adventure playground filled with loads of different apparatus. All really solid and sturdy items to play on.
There seemed to be something for everyone. James isn’t keen on a helter-skelter style slides – he prefers to be able to see where he’s going but ted doesn’t care and is a much bigger risk taker!
Everything was big and strong enough for adults too which made a great change. Being able to join in with them was really great fun.
I really like that there’s a smaller version of everything else for toddlers and considering kids under 4 are FREE at Burton Agnes, this is just truly lovely and thoughtful.
There’s even toilets/baby changing in the park so you don’t have to run back to the courtyard loos.
The House
Sadly access to the house this Christmas isn’t permitted but you can still catch a glimpse of the Christmas decorations through the windows.
The owners Simon and Olivia Cunliffe-Lister, their five children plus local helpers have decorated the rooms around Burton Agnes Hall to create magical glimpses inside.
There is a real focus on local, sustainable crafts throughout the decorations.
Even more fairy lights are lighting up each nook for you to peer in.
And with shorter days, it is likely that you’ll be around for some of the most spectacular sunsets.
Golden hour before leaving Burton Agnes was stunning. It lit up the entire house and gardens in the most beautiful light for the kids to play hide and seek in.
The Gardens
We were so pleased to see that despite being in Tier 3, the garden games were still open to play in with hand sanitiser reassuringly located at the entrance.
The boys were fascinated watching some older children play chess.
Then I taught them how to play Tic-Tac-Toe, although they insisted they needed to stand on top of the pieces!
The gift shop
Thankfully due to Tier 3 rules, the courtyard shop at Burton Agnes is open.
It’s filled floor to ceiling with Christmas decorations, homeware and beautiful wooden children’s toys and games. Perfect for any last-minute Christmas shopping. There’s also lots of plants for sale in the courtyard too.
Other stuff
Toilets: The toilets are open and spacious with plenty of room even for the largest of double prams in the disabled toilets with baby changing facilities.
Parking: Parking is free.
Dogs: Doggos are welcomed on leads 🙂
I really do recommend a visit to Burton Agnes this Christmas. Whilst the “christmassiness” is subtle, grabbing a hot chocolate from the courtyard, searching for fairies in the woods and hunting for candy canes was still 100% magical.
We spent five hours there!!!! This meant it was extremely good value, especially as Ted is under 4 for a few more months too.
The children had exhausted themselves in the park and we had a fabulous drive back to Hull once the sun had finally set.
