This week, we've been taking part in something rather eggs-citing - we were asked by Devons Top Attractions to take part in a very special #DevonEggHunt by visiting some of the county's most exciting & intriguing destinations to see what #EasterinDevon has to offer.
The first stop was Killerton House and I have to say, I was very pleased about this as it was somewhere that's been on my Must-See List for a while now but for various reasons I had never got around to actually visiting.
Killerton House covers 6,400 acres in total and is one of the biggest estates looked after by the National Trust. It includes farms, woodland and stunningly beautiful landscaped gardens.
There's quite a decent amount of parking, and everything is well sign posted from your arrival (we appreciated that toilets were located right at the car park too, after a long drive!
On entering we were greeted by a volunteer who told Tyne that the house had been invaded by mice and he needed to help them find them! He was asked to fill in a worksheet showing which mouse was in which room, and at the end he was rewarded with a sticker which he thought was the best thing ever!
The house was beautiful and we loved that we were encouraged to sit on the furniture, Tyne was even allowed to touch the piano which he loved.
Unfortunately the house is currently undergoing repair work on its roof, so it's covered in scaffolding which perhaps doesn't look as grand as it usually would but this work is of course vital to the preservation of the property.
The upstairs is currently closed to visitors which was a shame, but we did enjoy exploring the old laundry room which had some Victorian dress up for children to try on - Tyne really loved this!
Whilst at Killerton House, we took part in the Cadbury Easter Trail around the Killerton gardens - we picked up our little guide from the shop and set about to follow the clues.
We followed the trail with arrows pointing our way and little signs with interesting facts about the grounds and the plants and animals we came across, whilst looking out for the clues we needed which hung in the trees and could be unscrambled at the end of the trail to reveal the name of a Killerton character.
The trail was admittedly a little longer than we thought it would be, and our sons little legs did get quite tired half way through but thankfully the second half of the trail was mostly down hill which he found much more manageable - I would take a pushchair or baby carrier if you're taking children under 3 though.
We stopped in at the chapel for a break during our trail as the signs suggested and this really made a lovely little rest stop, it was quite simply stunning and so very peaceful. A perfect place to sit and gather your thoughts.
The grounds themselves were just beautiful, particularly in spring with the daffodils and so many other beautiful flowers popping up all around - and the view is really something to behold too.
Our trail took around 40 minutes to complete (with a rather slow toddler, and a 10 minute stop along the way) and he was delighted to reach the end, hand over his completed egg hunt sheet and retrieve his prize of a chocolate bunny after a lovely day of exploring.
To find out more about Killerton House please visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/killerton - The Cadbury Egg Hunt costs £2.50 per child in addition to the usual entry fee, and is running until 23rd April.
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