Easter Egg trail at Cliveden National Trust
The sun was shining, chocolate was all but guaranteed – it was a perfect day to head off to the Cliveden Easter egg hunt, one of the National Trust’s Easter trails. The only drawback was that everyone else seemed to have the same idea.
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Throw in a dodgy direction from Google Maps when we were incredibly close to the front of the queue, sending us down a side road and into a 45 minute detour, and it was almost lunchtime before we made it into the grounds.
Fortunately there were plenty of strategically placed rabbits to find, and fortified by a sausage sandwich and slice of cake (although you needed to get there earlier than 12.30 for a chilled sandwich!), and we were off.
Cliveden is somewhere I’ve been intending to visit for ages, and there are still more play areas and woodland walks which I’d love to explore with Minnie. But hunting for clues was a great way to see around the grounds.
For more views of Cliveden on one of our return visits, check out this post
The trail took you from the information centre through the Long garden with its topiary birds, past fountains and the house itself, alongside the rose gardens and through endless daffodils, all as the sun shone above us.
In the day’s typical topsy-turvy fashion, we decided to start from our lunch spot, around halfway through, rather than lose any more time retracing our steps – which we quickly realised had made life slightly harder for ourselves as you’d spot the brightly coloured bunnies in the trees just before finding the answer to the clues.
But with the map and a sharp-eyed three-year-old, we soon tracked down the answers (in fact, quite a few were guessable if you did miss the eggs) – and for a preschooler, bunnies dangling from the branches was at least as much fun.
And despite the world and their kids turning out to hunt, it never seemed too packed once you were inside.
The grounds stretch out high above the Thames, with some fabulous views over the parterre’s formal garden towards the woods and you can even wander down to the river itself to spot the boats.
The house itself is now a luxury hotel and closed apart from a couple of guided tours each week, although you can easily fill the day in the grounds.
Dating back to the 17th century, home to an earl, two dukes, a prince and the Astor family, Cliveden has seen its share of scandal since the Duke of Buckingham built it for his mistress in 1668 – most famously its role in the Profumo Affair in the 60s.
Outside in the sunshine, everyone was focused on rather more innocent fun.
A fairly efficient trot around meant you could complete it in around 40 minutes, according to staff.
But it was far more fun to amble in relaxed fashion, enjoying the views, the unexpected statues dotted all over, the chance to play hide and seek behind the trees, get splashed by fountains and spy the heron standing so still by the water gardens that I was convinced it was a statue. Until it moved.
We even found time to wander through the maze, made from 1,000 yew trees… and completely failed to make it to the centre, although successfully got out without losing Minnie.
Then the prize. A chocolate rabbit from the huge hamper: Minnie had scoffed his ears before we walked more than 100ft.
Skipping the Storybook Play Den, the Cliveden play area with its carved wooden animals, there was one more treat in store for us: a real life Easter bunny.
Sitting calmly on the edge of one of the lawns, it was nibbling its way through as much grass as one tiny animal can munch, entirely overlooked by most of the people sauntering past. Uncharacteristically quiet and still as we watched, Minnie was thrilled.
There could be only one explanation, she announced. This was *the* Easter bunny, back to make sure there were enough chocolate eggs for the rest of the bank holiday weekend.
Need to know: Cliveden Easter egg hunt
The Cliveden Easter egg hunt is one of 271 at National Trust properties around the country. The hunt costs £3 per child and normal admission fees apply to the property, free to members.
Admission to the woodland and gardens costs from £19 for adults, from £9.50 for children over five, and from £28.50 for a family ticket. Opening hours are from 9.30am to 5.30pm, or dusk if earlier.
The entrance to the gardens is opposite The Feathers Inn or use postcode SL1 8NS – putting National Trust Cliveden into Google Maps may end up taking you to the hotel entrance down Bourne End Road (a minor detour on quiet days, a very bad decision on a busy bank holiday).
PIN FOR LATER: CLIVEDEN EASTER EGG HUNT
Disclosure: Our entry to Cliveden and to the Easter Egg Hunt was courtesy of the National Trust. All opinions and decisions to blindly believe Google Maps are my own. This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission
Images copyright MummyTravels
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What a marvelous property. We did the National Trust hunt locally last year and we enjoyed it so much that my husband remembered and took a couple of my boys back again this year when I wasn’t home.
Happy Easter.
I’d love to go back there again too – it’s our first egg hunt and loved it.
this looks fun! #monday escapes
Definitely!
Looks like you had such a gorgeous day though shame about the queue and the late entry. We went to one at Belton House which is so beautiful and luckily we got there early enough to avoid the queue but my brother got stuck in it! gorgeous shots cx
It was a lovely day – I couldn’t believe after the queues that it didn’t seem that busy inside. Just such huge grounds to wander around. I need to remember for the next sunny bank holiday though!
Cliveden is one of my favourite NT’s and a great place for an easter egg hunt – you did well to get there after your detour and the other shenanigans! We loved the maze too! We panicked because even though we found the centre, it was tougher getting out! Thanks for linking up with #MondayEscapes
I loved reading your post about it – we didn’t get to do half the things you did, although I’d love to go back. And I do feel a bit more panicky about mazes with a three-year-old who doesn’t get the idea that you can’t just leave if you get bored…
This sounds like such a great day! I’ve never been to Cliveden – will have to try and get there at some point! x #bloggerclubuk
It’s beautiful – I’d really like to go back another day and explore further too.
Never been for the egg hunt but you can’t beat Cliveden in the sunshine. We were down the road at odds farm on Good Friday enjoying the only dry day of the weekend. Happy school holidays! #BloggerClubUK
I saw the signs for Odds Farm – somewhere else I haven’t been but would love to go. Was such a gorgeously sunny day!
It looks like a lovely place to visit – have saved this for next time we are up that way! The National Trust really do have some lovely places to go and see!
They really do – Cliveden is pretty special though.
That looks like such a wonderful place to visit, with so much to do. Looks like a really good Easter egg hunt too 🙂 #countrykids
It was very fun – and such a lovely place.
What a great Easter Egg hunt for you all to take part in, even if you were later than planned and did it in a funny order you all look like you’re still having a great time. Cliveden always looks like a beautiful place to explore with such gorgeous views and so much open space to explore. It’s sweet that Minnie thought the real Easter Bunny had come to say hello for the Easter Weekend. Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
Absolutely – scampering around in the sunshine with the promise of chocolate is basically all my daughter wanted from a day out, and it was a lovely day, even if we were going against the flow half the time.
It’s so wonderful there isn’t it #CountryKids
It is – I’d love to go back and explore more.
What a beautiful place- loving the views to visit and must be a funEaster egg hunt for you all. x
It was a very fun day – and such a gorgeous place
The place looks amazing! Its just breathtaking to see its features. This is the reason why we want to be a member of NT cuz every property is awesome. I wish we can be a member soon!
#countrykids
I do love the National Trust – always so many places to discover!
This is soooo cool! What an amazing and fun place to search for Easter eggs!!
Minnie definitely have loved it, especially after seeing ‘the’ Easter bunny 😀 way too cute!!
Happy to have you on #MondayEscapes.
By the way, I love your new design 😀
It was so fun to spot him at the end – a real happy piece of luck. And thank you!
Don’t get me started on Google maps! Once we followed directions to a hospital we had never been to. It brought us to a housing development on the opposite side of a highway from the hospital. It claimed we had reached our destination. We could see it, but couldn’t get to it! Agrh! I’m glad that once you got there it was good fun. The grounds look amazing & your video is lovely, I felt like I was there with you. Thanks so much for joining us at #bloggerclubuk
I am still kicking myself a bit for that! But such a lovely day once we were in – and thank you!
What a amazing place to do an egg hunt – and such a beautiful day! The real-life rabbit would have gone down well with Mrs T too. #mondayescapes
We really were in luck to see him hopping past.