We were really pleased to get a free day out to a National Trust location this half term with their ‘Escape into Autumn’ scheme. It was easy to sign up on the website. We used it as a place to stop and break up the journey home from visiting family in the West Midlands and a good opportunity to try a National Trust that we haven’t been to before. We picked the Children’s Country House in Sudbury as it looked like a great one for children as it has a museum of children’s toys and said it had plenty of interactive things for children. Unfortunately, our littlest one was feeling under the weather with a cold so we didn’t have a particularly relaxing lunch but he perked up later on! There was a nice outdoor area to eat lunch with covered tables and a nice view of the lake. We’ve never seen so many ducks!

We spent the rest of the time in the Children’s Museum which was great. The children all liked it. There was a lot to look at and things to do/touch too. It was interesting to see things in there which we had played with as kids so did make us feel a bit old! The big ones went up the ‘chimney’ to see what it would have been like to be a chimney sweep as there was information about the history of child labour laws, and children working in mines and as chimney sweeps. As usual with a toddler it was hard to thoroughly look around and read everything but we did our best. My eldest really enjoyed completing a tricky puzzle on the top floor.

On the middle floor, there was a space themed room. This was a massive hit with our toddler who spent a lot of time in here. It had toys to play with and there was a sign saying feel free to eat and drink in here and that it was designed to be a quiet space. They had a projection on the wall of the view from a spaceship and a place to sit with controls to play with and space helmets to put on. They were such good fun for all children who came in. As we still had a fair journey to make and we weren’t all 100%, we left after this. If we’d had more time there was also the hall to look around. Additionally, there seemed to be craft activities available which I think were an extra cost. I would recommend this National Trust, especially for those with children.