Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : Days Out With Kids

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review

Yesterday we enjoyed our annual Easter Egg hunt at a National Trust property. Since we’re lucky to have a few great NT places to visit in our local area, we try and vary it every year. Last year we went to Dunham Massey and this time we decided to pay a visit to Rufford Old Hall.

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : Location

Rufford Old Hall is a lovely Tudor building and gardens near Ormskirk in Lancashire. It’s very close to Wigan and Chorley and it’s pretty easy to get to via public transport. We drove, and it was a relatively straight forward journey from the M6. Rufford has its own train station just half a mile away from the property.

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : House and Gardens

The house itself, whilst not huge, is definitely worth a visit. The Tudor hall is impressive complete with armour and decorative beams. It’s thought that Shakespeare himself was a visitor – if it’s good enough for Old Will, it’s good enough for us!

Inevitably we didn’t spend long inside the actual house. A Tudor residence isn’t high on our three year old’s priority list but luckily we had the gardens to enjoy! The gardens are beautifully maintained, including the shaped topiary which had my kids arguing whether it was a frog or a squirrel.

There isn’t a traditional kids play area but there is the opportunity to build dens and explore the woodlands. Our kids are happy just to be able to run around. Our toddler has developed an obsession with sticks so any walk takes a very long time while she stops to inspect which twig she likes best!

There is a tearoom on site which we didn’t try since we were there quite early but it did smell lovely! They also have a small shop, which offered samples of the local produce as well as the traditional National Trust items you get at most NT properties.

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : Cadbury Easter Egg Trail

We went specifically for the Easter Egg Trail. We’ve done many of these over the years and found that some have been better than others. This one was one of the better ones! The volunteers had arranged little work sheets for the kids to complete, which actually taught them about the gardens and woodlands, rather than solely being a chocolate based hunt!

The quest took us into the gardens where the kids were asked to find out various facts about trees and were encouraged to seek out a variety of nature themed discoveries. They did bark rubbings and learnt about clouds and wind direction.

The trail didn’t seem to run in a logical order and we found tree number 6, before tree number 5!  That may just be us going in a strange direction though!

The boys loved filling in their little trail sheets, whilst our three year old was content stomping over the bridges.

After completing the trail we were met by friendly volunteers who chatted to the kids before awarding them with their Easter Eggs. There was also a volunteer offering basic face painting which my son will never say no to!

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : Prices

The trail was £3 per child which we felt was reasonable. When you consider the work that had gone in, and the cost of the egg itself, it’s a fair price. As NT members we gained free access to the building but if you’re not members you’re looking at around £23 for a family.

Rufford Old Hall National Trust Review : Summary

National Trust just can’t be beaten when it comes to days out with kids. Rufford Old Hall is a gorgeous place to visit any time of year but the Easter egg hunt was the icing on the cake.

Did you take part in any National Trust egg hunts this year? Let us know in the comments!