Attingham Park {National Trust}
On our way back from Wales at Easter we needed somewhere to stop off to break up the journey. Attingham Park looked like just the place and as it’s a National Trust site it meant that we got free entry and free parking with out National Trust membership.
What is Attingham Park?
Attingham Park is Regency Mansion and 18th-century estate with 200 acres of parkland near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. From the minute you arrive you are greeted by a winding driveway, giving you fantastic views of the parkland and grounds. We knew we were in for a treat!
A visit to Attingham Park starts with the visitor centre where your membership cards before you start exploring the estate. a short stroll along from the visitor centre is a courtyard surrounded by stable blocks that is now home to a fantastic National Trust bookshop, cafe, toilets and shop.
Although we’re used to National Trust sites having shops and cafes, the ones at Attingham Park are beautiful – and the staff are wonderful too. The bookshop is vast, run by knowledgable, friendly staff and the toilets are built into the old stable blocks, complete with stalls. It’s really well done.
Exploring Attingham Park
After grabbing hot drinks we went to explore the Attingham Park grounds. Covering 200 acres, it’s a vast site with miles of walks, so much parkland and gorgeous walled gardens where we stopped to have our lunch.
The walled garden is where much of the kitchen produce is grown and it is a real haven for wildlife too. There was so much growing and it was lovely to explore with the children, getting them to guess what each vegetable was that was growing in front of them.
There were tulips everywhere and even a friendly cat – plus some houses on site that dated back to the same era as the Attingham Park mansion, occupied by staff or National Trust rentals. It struck me as such an idyllic place to live.
The Attingham Park Mansion
The Attingham Park Mansion is an incredible house to explore, and is just like stepping back in time. We were able to walk around bedrooms, dining rooms, libraries and galleries before heading downstairs to the servants quarters.
We saw the kitchens, living quarters for the servants and staff, and even the vault where the silver is kept! Attingham Park is one of the best National Trust sutes we have been to in a long time and the attention to detail is fantastic – we even got to see luggage ready to be whisked away.
The staff at every point were lovely, full of information, friendly and knowledgable – as well as being dressed in costume of the time period too. They were keen for us all to ask as many questions as we liked and helped the children find things on their trail sheets in each room. The staff were all a real credit to Attingham Park.
We only spent a couple of hours at Attingham Park but absolutely loved it. We wish that we lived closer so we could visit more often but we’ll definitely be back in the future. I feel like we only really scratched the surface of Attingham Park and have so much more to explore.
You can find out more about Attingham Park over on the National Trust website and for reference the address is: Atcham, Shrewsbury SY4 4TP
