Family Fun @ Alnwick Gardens - Easter 2016

Alnwick Gardens is one of my favourite places in the North East, sadly without a car it isn't possible to go that often, but when we do it is extra special. One of the perks of Paul's job is access to free tickets to Alnwick Gardens, so when we knew we had family visiting on Easter weekend we booked tickets for Bank Holiday Monday.

I was obsessively checking the weather the week before, and even up until Sunday night it was telling me it would pour with rain all day long. I packed waterproofs and wellies and hoped for the best. Thankfully the weather gods were on our side and it was actually really nice! Still a bit chilly, but no rain!

For the Easter Holidays Alnwick Gardens had a Lindt Bunny hunt (there are a few events happening all over the country, check them out here) which was really fun! There was a series of questions which took you around the whole garden, and at the end you handed in your answers for a gold bunny. Although, I went to claim our prize, not realising that if we all went we each got a bunny, so we ended up with a tiny bunny between 5 adults and a toddler. Whoops.

Zoe loved the fountains in the Serpent Garden, thankfully this fully enclosed one was the favourite, so she didn't get wet! There were quite a few soggy children about though, so definitely pack a change of clothes if you're planning a visit!

Zoe loved walking about in the gardens, as there is lots of little places to hide and interesting things to touch and explore. Although with all the hills and distances between each area her little legs did get tired. Luckily there were 5 adults to carry her, and I had stashed the Connecta Carrier in a bag.

Alongside the Easter Bunny hunt there was the Garden of Fairy Tales activity going on, which we also took part in. It was actually a lot harder than we thought it would be! Zoe had fallen asleep and we were dashing about trying to find clues! It was really fun and once again had us exploring the whole garden. At the end of the hunt we went to the Crafting Cottage to collect our prize (a wristband) and there was lots of crafty things for kids to make and do. Zoe was a little young to partake, so we opted to head to the cafe for a coffee and loo break instead.

Although, I do have one minor grumble. Zoe decided to hugely fill her nappy so we trotted off to the toilets for a change. There was only one baby change within the gardens and the queue was 3 people deep, on a not very busy day! I would have thought such a big kid-friendly place would at least have a fold down table in the ladies too? By the time we finally got into the baby change, got sorted and out again my coffee had gone cold. *plays tiny violin*

So yes, more baby change please!

All in all we had a fantastic day, I clocked over 15,000 steps on my fitbit and we all slept soundly.

We will definitely be heading back over the summer, we really want to check out the Castle next time too.