Knights, Dragons and Teacups


I always feel very lucky to live in Yorkshire as there is so much to do right on the doorstep. As a family we love exploring the outdoors and getting the girls involved in activities. I personally love that there are lots of National Trust sites close by, one of which is under 10 miles away, giving us plenty of activities to do.

I often check the National Trust website to find out local events on at the different Trust sites and when I discovered the Night before Christmas adventure at Nostell Priory, I could not wait to take the girls. The event ran over 3 days and was free to enter. On Saturday there was a special interactive Christmas show called Come as Yourself, Leave as an Elf and the Sunday offered a more exciting event to my eldest 'The Knight before Christmas' a chance to meet Mike the Knight and a guest appearance from Derek the Dragon from Alnwick Castle. My eldest loves watching Mike the Knight and so was incredibly excited when I asked if she wanted to go see him.

All I can say is what an exciting day for the girls. As mentioned in a previous post, my eldest absolutely loves horses. When she saw this as we approached the entrance she was just in awe.

HorseChristmas horse






Two beautiful white horses all dressed up for Christmas. She could not believe her eyes, so much for her to look at.

Next for her was the reindeer and Christmas tree

bouncy reindeer

and we saw some real reindeer too!

reindeer

She was loving every second signing the different Christmas things she saw. We went to book our tickets to see Mike the Knight, a 2pm showing, so had plenty of time to explore. We decided not to book to see Santa, as the girls have a Santa experience booked for next week, and instead to see what else Nostell Priory had to offer.

She enjoyed the stable block exhibition as it gave her the opportunity to see where horses live. They have a wooden horse for you to brush its hair and she had fun doing this.

stable

We decided to give the girls some run around time in the gardens at the side of the house. The gardens are beautiful and although winter they were stunning. Hidden in the garden is an adventure playground. One of those lovely wooden ones that make you wish you were a kid again just to have a go. Our eldest managed to find a horse to play on and happily rocked it back and forth. The girls had a cuddle on a big bucket swing before our eldest decided to go off and explore some more and even managed to find a small puddle to splash in.

NT playground


After stopping for a bite to eat we decided to have a play on the fairground. It is the first time for both girls to visit a fairground and so we were unsure what they would make of it. We need not have worried for they absolutely loved it. Our eldest rode the swings, all by herself, a very big girl and then we rode the teacups. When it finished she said again please, teacup fun, so we went round again, well the look of enjoyment on her face was too much to say no to.

Fairground


The large clock tower signalled it was time for us to catch our show and so we went to the courtyard. 

Clock tower


The show was great and both girls really enjoyed it, watching the knights and the juggler. We stopped to make Christmas decorations before Mike the Knight came to say hello and she waved at him. Her favourite by far though was Derek the Dragon. She absolutely loved him. He talked to her and said she was very pretty, which made her smile and that he liked her jumper. Since coming home she has been asking for the dragon and that she wants to see Mike the Knight to give him a cuddle.

Knights and dragons

It really has been a truly wonderful day and as our daughter hasn't stopped talking about all the things she has done definitely one of the best days out for her. I will be checking the National Trust website again to find another event, because where else can you have this much fun in such a beautiful setting?

reindeer house

This day I love Knights, Dragons and Teacups

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16 comments

  1. Ah this is where the Silent Sunday pics came from! Please do join in with my Country Kids linky, this is a lovely post. Well done to the National Trust, they are becoming a real family day out.

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    1. Yes, Silent Sunday pic had to be that though, its my fav image from the week. I do love National Trust they have such a variety of things to do and so accessible to everyone too, close to all. They have so much to do for all ages. I shall head over to your linky now.

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    2. Thanks for linking up and taking my badge too! New linky is every Saturday.

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  2. What an amazing day! i'm so jealous u seem to get out and do so many great things! I need an activity to do in Yorkshire next thurs with my mum & kids so if u hear of anything give me a shout! X

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    1. Nothing specific, but I think H would really enjoy either Little Jesters inside the royal armouries in Leeds or The butterfly house at Tropical House in Sheffield. Loads of great places round here too.

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  3. looks like you guys had a blast!
    Love all the pictures!
    Thank you fro stopping by and for following along. I am a new follower of your lovely blog as well. ;)

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    1. Thank you and you are welcome. We had a great day a real family fun day out

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  4. Wow, looks like so amazing! So much for the children to do and in a great setting. Lovely photos too :)

    Over from Country Kids

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  5. Wow, this looks amazing! Looks like there was so much to do and in a fantastic setting. Lovely photos too :)

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    1. Thank you, it really was an amazing day. we all really enjoyed it

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  6. Oh my youngest son would go mad for this place...he loves Mike the Knight. If only we didn't live right down South :-( We do have some lovely National Trust places near us, and I agree they are fabulous for young children.

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    1. There are so many lovely National Trust places that are so close to most people and there are some wonderful events on. It was a great day. My daughter loves Charley bear and I would love to take her to the show in London but its just too far.

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  7. Hello Leyla,

    I work for LCA Events the company that organised the Night Before Christmas Adventure at Nostell this weekend. Thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely post about it! We're really glad you and your children had such a great time.

    Would it be okay to link to this post from our site?

    Thanks again. :)

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    1. Yes please do. You are ,ore than welcome to link to this post. If you want to tweet link or Facebook you more than welcome too. We really had a lovely day both girls really enjoyed themselves, thank you for organising such a wonderful event

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    2. Thanks! It really was a great weekend. We have at least two similar events in the pipeline for next year that we're going to start work on as soon as we're recovered from this one. :)

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    3. Please keep me up to date with future events, we would love to go to another!

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