Monday, June 2, 2014

Belton Gardens and Playground, England

Belton House features an amazing set of gardens and, more importantly to the kids, an amazing playground. They are so wonderful that we visited it on two different trips.

The Italian Garden has a lovely fountain that was refreshing on the hot summer day when we first visited.

Italian Garden

J and L wade in!

The Italian Garden also has the Orangery, a large green house where citrus could be grown even in the inhospitable English climate. The Orangery is now full of exotic plants and statues.

The Orangery

Packed with flora

Ancient statues and recent plants

Nearer the house is the Dutch Garden from the late 1800s.

Dutch Garden

Part of the house overlooking the Dutch Garden

Away from all the buildings and across a stream is the most interesting outdoor part, the adventure playground.

Fake ruins

Real stream

The playground has some amazing slides, tall enough to put terror in parents but not in children.

L on the long slide

J on the long slide

Long and twisty slide!

J survives

Many little and not so little play forts are scattered around the area.

Smaller, connected forts

J looks out

An even bigger wooden fort

Climbers kept J and L going up and down as well.

J on the red climber

L on the blue climber

Even more precarious are the walking ropes. J started on the easier one but soon went to the ropes with no arm holds.

Not too tricky

A lot tougher

A year later

Making it half way before falling off

L had the best idea, taking a rest before more adventures.

L in the tree chair

No comments:

Post a Comment