Last weekend we decided to leave the kids at home in bed for a cheeky Sunday morning lie in and head to Wynyard Hall Gardens to have a look around as we keep hearing about how they’re a lovely place to spend a few hours.
I had a look on the website before we set off and found that there’s lots to do there – there’s a Walled Garden, a Marquee Garden, an Edible Garden, a Victorian-inspired Glasshouse, a little Farm Shop and a Café serving yummy looking homemade cake. I think it was the cake that swung it for Mr Frugal as he’s not really a wander around a garden kind of guy – he says it wasn’t the cake that persuaded him, it was knowing that I wanted to go as he was going to the football later in the day. I’m convinced it was the promise of cake though!
Anyway, we got there and found out that the only one of the garden areas that was actually open was the main walled garden which is presumably why we didn’t have to pay the advertised entrance fee. The lady at the desk just told us there was no charge today and waved us through which was great as it saved us money but I would have rather been able to see the other gardens and paid to get it to be honest.
The walled garden itself isn’t huge but it is very pretty and even at this time of year when most of the flowers aren’t in bloom yet, it’s still a lovely little walk around.
You can see from the photos that the garden is very green at the moment but in the next couple of weeks I’d expect it to change completely as the flowers start to bloom – we were just a little too early in the year for the colour I think.
We spent about half an hour in the walled garden and I’m pleased we didn’t take the kids as the garden itself wouldn’t have held their interest even for that long and there was nowhere for them to climb/run/play which is what the like to do when we go places like this – they’re not ones for a calming walk around a garden. 😉
After we’d spent as much time as we could in the garden we headed in to the cafe for a treat but the cakes were soooo expensive for such small slices so even though we’d planned to have a cheeky slice of cake each and they did look really tasty, we decided not to spend the £3.50 to £4.50 each for a slice of cake that would be gone in a few bites.
The little shop was amazing but again, really expensive and as much as I know that that the food there was all locally produced and organic, I really couldn’t justify the prices which were so much more expensive than I could have bought them for elsewhere which is a real shame as I would have loved to have supported local businesses a little more. I wouldn’t let the prices in the shop and the cafe stop me from going again though as I can’t wait to see the gardens in the Summer.
It’s funny how much I enjoyed just wandering around the gardens taking photos – I can’t decide if that means that I’m getting old or just feeling inspired about taking photos!
Just in case you’re planning a visit, the usual price is £5.50 for an adult and £15 for a family. Just make sure you take plenty of extra spends if you’re planning to enjoy a cuppa and a slice of cake!
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