The Hidden Gardens at Plas Cadnant are not that well hidden – once you cross the bridges onto Anglesey, they’re quite well signposted. On arrival, you enter the formal walled garden, with topiary shrubs, lawns and a pond, but beyond there is a wooded area and a ravine with more informal planting. Here, the paths twist and turn, and so you’re never quite sure what you’ll see around the next bend. Our ten-year-old really liked this bit, and it felt a bit like a smaller version of Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire. A stream runs along the bottom of the ravine.
It’s a very peaceful place, that felt really lush just as the drought was starting to turn everywhere else a shade of brown. You can, apparently, see red squirrels in the trees, as grey squirrels were eradicated from Anglesey around 10 years ago, but we didn’t spot any.
We were mostly going at our ten-year-old’s pace and so spent just over an hour there, but it’s possible to spend longer – especially if you spend more time looking at the plants and flowers.
Accessibility
The formal garden at Plas Cadnant is mostly step-free, and there is a step-free route into the wooded area. However, there are steep slopes and steps down to the stream, so not all of the site is accessible to wheelchair users. Toilets are available; if you need a Changing Places toilet then there’s one that complies with older standards within a mile’s drive at Pili Palas Nature World (which we haven’t yet visited).
Car parking is on a grassy field next to the garden, which also doubles as sheep grazing. As such, there are no electric car charging facilities on site, but there is a rapid charger on Wood Street in the nearby town of Menai Bridge. The nearest railway station is at LlanfairÂpwllgwyngyllÂgogeryÂchwyrnÂdrobwllÂllanÂtysilioÂgogoÂgoch (no really) but it’s about an hour’s walk; the walk from Bangor station is only a little further and it gets a more frequent service. There are also bus services from Bangor to Menai Bridge from where it’s a short walk.
The castle sits on the edge of the Menai Strait (Caernarfon pretty much translates as ‘castle overlooking Anglesey), and, like Conwy, the town of Caernarfon has walls around it which adjoin the castle.
History of Caernarfon Castle
As per the other three castles that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the current castle at Caernarfon was commissioned by Edward I of England in the 13th Century. However, it was built on the site of an older, 11th Century motte and bailey castle. As Caernarfon was to be Edward’s administrative centre of North Wales, it was built on a much grander scale that the other castles and so is significantly bigger.
However, like Beaumaris, the money ran out before it was completely finished, with work ending in 1330, almost fifty years after it was commissioned. So, parts of Caernarfon castle were never fully completed, such as the King’s Gate which forms the modern day entrance to the castle. Apart from a brief period during the 1294 Welsh rebellion, Caernarfon remained in English hands, including during the Glyndŵr rising in the 15th Century. It played a role in the English Civil War in the 17th Century, but was then abandoned until the 19th Century when repairs began to be undertaken. These repairs were more extensive than to other castles such as Beaumaris, and saw parts of the castle reinstated rather than preserved as ruins.
In the 20th Century, the investiture of the Prince of Wales was conducted twice at Caernarfon. This ceremony was promoted by the local MP David Lloyd George, who later became Prime Minister. The first investiture was of Prince Edward in 1911, who later became King Edward III, and the second was in 1959 which saw Prince Charles (now current King Charles III) be invested by Queen Elizabeth II. This was broadcast on TV and recordings are available to view at the castle, as well as the throne used by Queen. Following Charles’ ascent to King in 2022, Prince William has become Prince of Wales, but I gather neither Charles, William or the Welsh Government have much desire to hold another ceremony.
Visiting Caernarfon Castle
We spent 3-4 hours at the castle, and managed to see most of it. You can walk along the outer walls, and go into most of the towers. Some of the towers have attractions inside them:
There’s a museum for the Royal Welch Fusiliers, who are best known for having a goat as their mascot – entry is included as part of your ticket for the whole castle and they have their own gift shop.
The North East Tower has a ‘800 years of history in 8 minutes’ looping video.
There are also exhibitions about Edward I’s wife, Eleanor of Castille, and a chess board showing the roles of various Welsh princes and how they unsuccessfully challenged Edward I.
When we visited, there were also wooden cannons that you could use to fire ping-pong balls, courtesy of Dan’s Cannons. Our ten-year-old loved these. The courtyard inside the castle is quite large and so events take place there from time to time.
Compared to Beaumaris and Conwy, there is a lot more to see at Caernarfon Castle and you can probably stretch it out to almost a full day.
Accessibility
Caernarfon Castle has undergone a relatively recent accessibility upgrade, and so there is now a lift in the King’s Gate to the battements. This offers step-free access to the top of the King’s Gate and some of the castle walls for the first time. However, much of the rest of the castle is only accessible by stairs, and in some cases, quite narrow spiral staircases. Indeed, the courtyard isn’t all flat and so the video room in the North East Tower is only reachable by steps, even though ramps could probably be installed.
There are disabled toilets on site, and whilst there isn’t a Changing Places toilet in the castle, the nearest one is only a short distance away at the station for the Welsh Highland Railway.
The castle is in the care of Cadw, so Cadw and English Heritage members get in free. I was also able to get free entry with my CSSC membership and some photo ID.
We parked at a long-stay pay-and-display car park next to the castle. This doesn’t offer any electric car charging facilities; the nearest car park with chargers is the Shell Car Park, to the north of the town near Morrisons (which also has two rapid chargers but time limited parking).
British Rail closed the railway line through Caernarfon in 1970 as one of the final Beeching closures. The Welsh Highland Railway runs narrow-gauge tourist trains from Porthmadog, but there are usually only a couple of trains each day. There are regular bus services to the town from Bangor which is the nearest surviving National Rail station.
Whilst me, our ten-year-old and my parents were happy to explore the castle, Christine wasn’t so keen and explored the town instead. By the castle is Cei Llechli, which is home to a number of shops and artist studios. There are, of course, the walls around the town, but you can only walk along short sections.
As National Trust members, it’s inevitable that we would end up at a National Trust property in Wales. We didn’t manage to squeeze in Pehrhyn Castle on last year’s holiday, but we made an afternoon visit this year.
If you approach Bangor going west on the A55 North Wales Expressway, you get a decent view of Penrhyn Castle on your right. Unlike the other castles in North Wales that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Penrhyn Castle isn’t a fortified castle and mostly dates from the early 19th Century.
History of Penrhyn Castle
There has been a country house on the site of Penrhyn Castle at least since the 15th Century, built by Gwilym ap Griffith who assisted Owain Glyndŵr in the Glyndŵr rebellion. By the 18th Century, the estate had come into the ownership of the Pennant family, and Richard Pennant commissioned an architect to remodel the house as a Gothic villa.
In the early 19th Century, Richard’s heir George Hay Dawkins-Pennant went further and commissioned the castle we see today. On the outside, it resembles the aforementioned fortified castles, but inside it is a very opulent country house with intricately carved stonework, plasterwork and wood carvings. At the time, this cost £123,000, which is equivalent to over £100 million today, and it shows.
The Pennant family earned their vast fortunes primarily via two means: slate, and slavery. The slate came from the nearby Penrhyn Quarry, now also a Zip World attraction like the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It, and almost all the surrounding land viewable from the castle, were owned by the Pennant family, many of whom spent time as representatives in the Houses of Parliament as either MPs or Lords.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, the Pennant family owned multiple slave plantations in Jamaica. Slavery was abolished in 1834, against the Pennants’ wishes who were outspoken against abolition. Compensation was paid to the slave owners (not the now-freed slaves themselves); the Pennants owned 764 slaves, and received £14,683 compensation (around £18 million today). In 1951, ownership of Penrhyn Castle passed to the National Trust, so it has been in their care for 75 years.
A visit to the castle itself starts off in the Great Hall, which is huge and resembles a church, thanks to its stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings and stone carving. It’s very much a show of wealth and power, and indicative of the sorts of guests that the Pennant family sought to entertain. Queen Victoria stayed there in 1832, before the castle was completely finished, and in later years, William Gladstone visited.
You also get to see the library, with its carved wooden ceilings as an entertaining space primarily for male guests. There’s a huge dining room, and an opportunity to see many of the bedrooms.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that the castle became Grade I listed in 1966.
The castle also used to house a small museum about narrow gauge railways, which are common in Wales. That has now closed, but one of the steam locomotives remains, and the space is due to be redeveloped into a museum that has a wider focus on North Wales’ industrial past.
The Gardens
I would love to tell you about the gardens at Penrhyn Castle, but our visit was just in the afternoon and so we didn’t have time to see them. After we had been around the house, and given our ten-year-old time to burn off energy in the adventure playground, there wasn’t time.
Penrhyn Castle is mostly on flat ground, and there is step free access to the ground floor of the castle and the rest of the grounds – presumably including the gardens. The upper floors of the castle are only accessible by climbing stairs; visitors unable to manage these can instead watch a video tour. Standard disabled toilets are available; the nearest Changing Places toilet is a short distance away at Bangor University.
There’s a large, free car park on site, which includes four Standard-Plus AC chargers for electric vehicles, on the RAW Power network. The half-hourly number 5 bus from Llandudno to Bangor calls at the end of the driveway, from which it’s a mostly flat one mile walk to the main entrance. The nearest railway station is in Bangor, which to the south of the city centre and is around 500 metres from the bus station.
Being one of the National Trust’s upper tier properties, entry prices are a little higher than some (currently £18 per adult) but National Trust members get in free. If you’re not a member, it’s worth keeping an eye on Money Saving Expert’s Deals Page, as you can sometimes get free or discounted day passes, and Octopus Energy often give away discounted passes to their customers through their Octoplus Rewards programme.
Despite the name, the Welsh Mountain Zoo isn’t atop a mountain; it’s actually on a hill that’s only around 100 metres above sea level. But, as it’s right by the sea, it feels like it’s atop a mountain. You certainly get some nice views across Colwyn Bay, and to the west towards Conwy.
The Welsh Mountain Zoo is actually the national zoo for Wales, and is run by the Zoological Society of Wales. I would have expected the Welsh national zoo to be on the south coast closer to Cardiff, but no, it’s on the north coast. It’s a medium-sized zoo, and similar to Dudley Zoo (which we visited in 2024) in size and layout as they’re both on hills. That means there’s no really big animals like elephants and giraffes, but you can see some big cats, great apes and larger mammals.
Animal highlights at the Welsh Mountain Zoo
In 2021, the Welsh Mountain Zoo became home to some snow leopards, which are classed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list. When we visited, the snow leopards were asleep, but had the good manners to be asleep next to a window where visitors can see them.
There are also red pandas, pretty much next to the snow leopards, and Asian small-clawed otters next to them as well. That’s two of my favourite species of animal next to each other.
In terms of aquatic animals, there are sea-lions and Humboldt penguins. When we visited, the penguins were going through a catastrophic moult where they lose all of their feathers very quickly. It’s natural and happens annually, but means they’re nor waterproof until their feathers regrow after a couple of weeks. Consequently, most were sunbathing on land, rather than swimming.
There’s also a large Eurasian Brown Bear, which was awake when we visited. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that species of bear in a zoo. New this year is a small butterfly house, the Papilio Forest, which also includes a new habitat for the ring-tailed lemurs.
Shows and talks
Like most zoos, there are shows and talks throughout the day. We only attended one: the birds of prey demonstration, which takes place in a grassy area in the middle of the zoo next to the penguins. I’ll be honest, I was slightly disappointed as there were only two birds on display, which were a Kookaburra and a Barn Owl, and where we were sat, we couldn’t hear the commentary very well. By comparison, Knowsley Safari Park (most recently visited last year) has a better birds of prey show.
The programme of talks changes throughout the year, but in peak season, some of the talks such as the sea-lion demonstration are repeated. The talks also often coincide with the animals being fed, so it’s a good opportunity to see the sleepier animals.
Breeding to release
One recurring criticism of zoos is that the animals should really be back in the wild where they belong. However, zoos have an important role in ensuring the survival of endangered species, especially those already extinct in the wild. If every zoo in the world was closed down and all the animals released into their native habitats, we would probably see several more species go extinct very quickly.
That being said, at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, there are a couple of species of animal which are bred there specifically for release into the wild in the UK: red squirrels and pine martens.
I’ve never seen a pine marten before, but there were four at the Welsh Mountain Zoo and they were very active when we saw them. They’re mustelids, so related to ferrets, stoats and otters, and are about the same size as ferrets. They were very endearing and we’re glad we went to see them in their quieter corner of the zoo.
We didn’t get to see the red squirrels, but these are released in Ynys Môn (Anglesey) where grey squirrels were eradicated about ten years ago.
Accessibility
As mentioned, the Welsh Mountain Zoo is atop a hill, and so there are slopes involved. Some paths have steps, but there should be step-free routes to see most (if not all) the animals, albeit with some steeper slopes in some cases. The main car park is a little walk from the entrance, so if you have a blue badge, follow the directions to the smaller car park next to the entrance. There are no electric car chargers nearby; there are some Standard AC chargers in Rhos-on-Sea and the nearest rapid chargers are in Llandudno Junction.
The Welsh Mountain Zoo isn’t particularly well-served by public transport either. There are regular bus and train services to Colwyn Bay and the railway station is about 1.5 miles away, but it’s a steep climb to the zoo entrance. Even though our accommodation in Conwy was only a 12 minute drive away, it would take almost two hours to walk there.
Standard disabled toilets are available on-site, but you’ll need to head back down the hill into Colwyn Bay for the nearest Changing Places toilet, which is at the local council offices and is open during office hours on weekdays.
Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the Welsh Mountain Zoo. Being smaller and a little more spread out meant that it was relatively quiet and peaceful, and there’s a good mix of animals. Some bits of the zoo looked a little run down, and I did note in my post visit survey that they should consider taller fencing to hide the closed off areas of the zoo. The tickets felt like good value for what was almost a full day out.
If you’re interested, the Welsh word for zoo is ‘sŵ‘ – the letter ‘w’ is a vowel in Welsh, pronounced like ‘oo’ in English, and the Welsh alphabet doesn’t have the letter ‘z’.
If you work for the Civil Service, armed forces, or a whole range of public sector organisations, then you may be able to join the CSSC, and get access to discounted sports and leisure activities.
I joined the CSSC last month, primarily because one of its perks is free entry to all Cadw properties which would come in useful in Wales. Free entry is also available to properties run by English Heritage, Historic Scotland, National Trust for Scotland and Kew Gardens. And, in many cases, the free entry doesn’t just apply to you, but any kids as well and sometimes even an accompanying adult.
Trips and shows
However, it’s worth digging further into the CSSC’s membership offering, as there are other discounts available. I’m guessing the CSSC books group tickets for various shows and trips to then sell onto its members at a discount. For example, there were tickets for Operation Mincemeat (which we saw in Bradford in April) at the Leeds Grand Theatre for around £30 for members, compared to over £50 at the regular price. As well as saving money, you get to sit on a row with other public sector and civil service workers in your area, so it’s a good way of networking across organisations and industries.
Other trips include a ‘mini-cruise’ to Amsterdam or Rotterdam (like the ‘mini-cruise’ we took to Bruges in 2014) where 80 places were pre-booked for members of CSSC and offered at a big discount. However, it’s worth noting that these all sold out months in advance, and so it’s worth checking regularly to see what comes up. You can sign up for updates on new offers in your region – being as we are in the Pennines, I’ve signed up for both the Yorkshire & North East region, and the North West.
For other leisure activities and days out, CSSC can offer discount codes when booking online – you don’t always need to book to be part of a group.
Sport, Health and Wellbeing
CSSC tends not to use its full name anymore, but sports are a large part of their offering. All members get access to an app called CSSC Life that is supposed to help with your wellbeing – I haven’t tried it as yet as I’m currently using Fitbit and Google Health already. And the whole recovering from two broken arms and seizures thing.
CSSC also offers discounted rates on membership for several gym brands, such as Everlast, Puregym and Better. There are also various sports events that you can sign up for.
Everyday savings
CSSC offers discounted gift cards, for use at a wide range of shops including the major supermarkets. You pay the standard price for the gift card, but then a percentage is held back (typically 3-4%) which you can put towards future gift card purchases, or can withdraw into your bank account. I already get a similar perk through work, so I haven’t tried this myself.
There are also regular competitions and giveaways that you can enter.
Membership of CSSC costs £6 per month (so £72 per year), and they reckon that members can save up to £300 per year. Everything is done through the web site or CSSC’s apps, so there’s no physical membership card – instead, you get a barcode that you can add to Apple or Google Wallet. Indeed, I haven’t had anything through the post – everything has been by email. Based on our recent trip to Wales, I’, pretty sure I’ll get a good return on investment, but we’ll see. If you work in the civil service, public sector (including the NHS) or armed forces, or are retired from an occupation in those sectors, then joining CSSC may well be worth your while.
In the 19th century, a deep mine was dug at the Llechwedd slate quarry, to access slate deep underground. The mine expanded significantly over the years, and eventually reached 25 miles of tunnels with caverns hundreds of metres below the surface. By the 1970s, demand for Welsh slate was falling, and so it was converted into a tourist attraction.
To improve access to the deep mine, now known as the Llechwedd Slate Caverns, a cable-hauled narrow-gauge railway was built, on a 30º incline.
I last visited with my parents in 1999, when we stayed for a week in the area. Back then, the slate caverns were the only attraction at the Llechwedd site, but in recent years it has expanded. There are now two zip lines – one below ground, one above ground – the ‘Bounce Below’ which is an underground trampoline park, and an underground mini-golf course. We just went for the slate cavern tour; Christine had also been before but it was our ten-year-old’s first time.
Down the mine
Some tours include a train ride up and down (and this is also how you access the mini-golf course); on our tour, we walked down and got the train back up at the end. Which, considering it’s a 150 metre (500 feet) climb back up, is very welcome. Your tour guide talks you through the history of the site, how slate was mined, and how the pieces of slate were broken up and shaped into roof tiles to be sold on. There are some audio-visual bits, and a demonstration of what it might have looked like when gunpowder was detonated to break the rocks apart.
A highlight is a cavern with an underwater lake, which is illuminated and looks amazing. It’s quite a different tour from what I remember from when I was 15, and is a good balance of history, education and entertainment. Whilst our guide wasn’t a miner himself, his ancestors worked in the mine, and he was able to tell us some of the stories.
The mine is located near Blaenau Ffestiniog, home to the northern terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway. This was partly built to transport the finished slate products to Porthmadog, for onward distribution by boat.
Accessibility
As you would expect from a 19th century mine, accessibility is restricted to people able to walk and handle low ceilings. And even on a warm July day like when we visited, the mine is cold so bring warm clothing. When you book, you’ll be asked to sign a waiver, and it highlights any medical conditions that would preclude you from entering, or that you need to make staff aware of. Some of the walking surfaces can be slippery and there are uneven steps in places.
There are disabled toilets, but no Changing Places toilet. In fact, the nearest Changing Places toilet is in Caernafon which is over 17 miles away. I suppose if you require a Changing Places toilet, then you’re not going to get much out of the activities at Zip World, but I was surprised that there wasn’t anywhere closer.
Car parking is available on site, at a cost of £3 per car – if you book in advance, you can pre-pay, or use the RingGo app on arrival. There aren’t any electric car chargers in the Zip World car parks, but there is an InstaVolt Rapid charger nearby with two CCS2 and one CHAdeMO plugs, just on the way in.
It’s a two mile uphill walk from Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station, which has trains every two hours from Llandudno Junction, or narrow-gauge heritage trains from Porthmadog. You can also get to Blaenau Ffestiniog on the T22 Transcymru bus service, but you’ll have the same two mile uphill walk.
On Sunday, we took advantage of the lovely weather to visit the RHS Garden at Harlow Carr, near Harrogate. This was my first day out following last month’s fall, and was a family occasion as we met up with my parents there.
We’ve been to Harlow Carr before – we had membership of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in 2023 and made a brief visit that June, and we’d also been in September 2012. We didn’t cover the whole garden this time and instead focussed on the areas that had changed since our last visit.
History of Harlow Carr
The RHS web site has a more detailed history, but it has been open as a visitor attraction since the 19th Century. Back then, it was a spa resort – Harrogate was well-known as a spa town and its history is detailed in the Royal Pump House Museum in the town centre. We visited in 2013. However, as Harlow Carr is about a mile and a half out of Harrogate town centre, it wasn’t as popular as other spas in the town and closed in the early 20th Century. However, its bath house remains and is now Grade II listed.
During the 1940s, the site was taken over by the Northern Horticultural Society, and re-opened to the public in 1950. This organisation merged with the RHS in 2001, and is now one of the five gardens operated by the RHS across England.
The Gardens
Compared to the flagship RHS garden in Wisley (which we visited in 2023), Harlow Carr is significantly smaller. You can probably spend slightly more than half a day here though.
The garden is split into several areas. On arrival, you enter the Main Borders, which are one of the garden’s original features, before dropping down to the stream at the bottom of the valley where more aquatic-friendly plants grow. A woodland area sits on the other side of the valley, and this includes a play area for kids.
In an area that wasn’t open when we first visited in 2013 is a kitchen garden, with edible plants, and there is a newer sub-tropical garden too. At the top is the Alpine House – an unheated greenhouse which is home to hardy plants that typically live above the tree line.
There’s certainly lots to see, and almost every plant is labelled should you wish to get ideas for your own garden.
Accessibility
As mentioned, Harlow Carr sits in a valley, so there are slopes. Whilst there are steps, there are usually alternative sloping routes, but not all paths are paved. Wheelchairs and mobility scooters are available to hire. There are accessible toilets, and one of the car parks features a Changing Places toilet.
There are three car parks; when we arrived at about half 10 on Sunday, one of these was already full and the second almost full. Two of these car parks offer electric car charging on the RAW charging network, and these are a mixture of ‘standard plus’ Type 2 AC chargers and rapid CCS2 DC chargers with plenty of chargers available.
If you’re able to arrive at Harlow Carr without a car, then there’s a 30% discount available on entry. The number 6 bus runs every 20 minutes from Harrogate bus station (hourly on Sundays), which is next to the railway station. Alternatively, there’s a mapped walk from Harrogate station to Harlow Carr which passes through the valley gardens and woodlands – it’s about 1.5 miles. Trains to Harrogate are normally half-hourly from Leeds and hourly from York, with an LNER service from London King’s Cross every two hours.
As the crow flies, Hornbeam Park station is closer, but it actually takes longer to walk from there to the garden so you’re better going to Harrogate.
Entry is free for RHS members, and there are a limited number of £1 tickets for those on certain benefits if booked in advance. We decided to re-join the RHS, for which you can use Tesco Clubcard points to part-pay. Tickets are cheaper mid-week, and in the winter, and are cheaper when booked online in advance.
Nearby
The main entrance to Harlow Carr is home to a branch of Betty’s, which is where we had lunch. Weetons Food Hall is about a 10 minute drive away, and has a good butchers and deli counter as well as plenty of nice foodie things to buy.
Last month, we had a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon strolling around Cromwell Bottom nature reserve. We’ve been a few times as it’s not far from us, and indeed it was one of the few places we could get out to during lockdown. However, it appears that this is the first time I have blogged about it.
History of Cromwell Bottom
There’s not much history online, but what is now the nature reserve was originally a quarry. Later, fly ash from Elland power station was dumped here, and then more recently it was used as a landfill site. In 2000, it was allowed to return to nature.
It’s a comparatively isolated site, being as it is squeezed in between the River Calder, the Calder and Hebble Navigation, and the lower section of the Calder Valley railway. As such, it has lent itself well to becoming a nature reserve, and is easily accessed from the canal towpath.
Different habitats
Different parts of Cromwell Bottom offer different habitats. There’s a large wooded area, mostly full of silver birch trees, but there’s also a meadow and some marshy wetland areas. As such, it’s possible to see quite a wide variety of wildlife.
Whilst Calderdale Council, the local authority, own and manage the nature reserve, there is an active volunteer organisation called Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group. In particular, they look after an area of bird feeders, with a bird hide. We stopped there for around 20 minutes, and saw a number of different bird species. The largest was a hen pheasant, but we also saw chaffinches, robins, blue tits, coal tits, great tits and pigeons. On a previous visit, I also saw a nuthatch, and we heard a buzzard, confirmed by Merlin Bird ID.
Out on the river, I saw a heron and a goosander, the latter of which I don’t think I’ve previously seen before.
The Wildlife Group also publish several leaflets, with suggested walking routes around the site. You can download these as PDFs.
Accessibility
Most of the paths around the site are step-free, but there are some steep slopes. They are not paved and the ground can be uneven in places. There are gates on some of the paths which require a radar key to open for wheelchair access.
The Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group runs a visitor centre, at the western end of the site just off the canal, and this includes disabled toilets. However, it’s operated by volunteers, and is only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays between 10am and 4pm. The nearest Changing Places toilet is in Tesco in Brighouse.
Limited parking is available near the visitor centre. It’s on rough ground and often fills up. Buses stop on the main road – the E4 bus runs hourly between Elland and Brighouse on weekdays and every two hours on Saturdays. There’s no Sunday service, so if you need to get there by bus and may need the toilet, visit on a Tuesday or a Thursday.
If you’re reading this in 2029, then Elland railway station may be the closest, but as construction hasn’t started yet, Brighouse railway station is the closest. It’s then a sedate 45 minute walk along the canal towpath.
On Easter Monday, we took advantage of the nice weather on Easter Monday to visit Nunnington Hall. Yes, I am aware it has taken me a month to get this published. I’ve been to Nunnington Hall before, but it was many, many years ago. Such that I don’t really remember it, and certainly didn’t have any photos of it.
History of Nunnington Hall
Nunnington Hall gets its name from the village of Nunnington, itself named after a nunnery that once stood in the village. There has been a hall in Nunnington since the 13th Century and in the 14th Century, it passed to the Grene family. In 1499, Maud Grene, the lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth of York (wife to King Henry VII) married Sir Thomas Parr, and so the property passed to him. He had a daughter, Catherine Parr, who followed in her mother’s footsteps by marrying Henry VII’s son, King Henry VIII. Catherine Parr was famously the last of Henry VIII’s six wives and outlived him.
In the 16th Century, the property passed to Catherine Parr’s brother, William, Marquess of Northampton. He started a trend of choosing the wrong side in royal conflicts, by favouring the succession of Lady Jane Grey over Mary Tudor. As such, he forfeited Nunnington Hall to the crown.
About a hundred years later, Ranald Graham bought Nunnington Hall for £9500 – around £2.5million in today’s money. He made many changes to the hall, which resulted in many of the historical features still seen today. Another member of the Graham family, Sir Richard Graham, was the second to get a bit of pickle with royalty, being a supporter of Catholic King James II when the Protestant William and Mary ascended to the throne. He was arrested, imprisoned, and only avoided the death penalty for high treason by being an informant for his accomplices. He was stripped of his land and titles and quietly retired to Nunnington Hall. The Graham family sold Nunnington Hall in 1839.
The buyers were the Rutson family, with whom it remained until 1952 when it was left to the National Trust. However, whilst the National Trust took ownership, family members remained living there as tenants until 1978, after which more rooms could be opened to the public.
The hall
Whilst much of the hall dates from Tudor times, it has been renovated several times over the years. Inside, it mostly appears as renovated in the 1920s in the Arts and Crafts style. This included the addition of indoor plumbing. Most of the hall is open to the public, including the main entertaining rooms and the bedrooms. The servants would have lived in the attic, and this has been opened up as an exhibition space. At present, it’s a series of nature pieces by a collective called Diverse Threads 2; later this month, you’ll be able to see entries from the British Wildlife Photography Awards.
Nunnington Hall is also home to the Carlisle Collection of miniature rooms. These are essentially small rooms, like those in a doll house, but not part of an overall house. Some are very intricate – there’s one of a music shop, where each miniature instrument can be played.
The gardens
Nunnington Hall’s gardens are modest; you can walk around the entirety in about half an hour. The National Trust switched to organic gardening at Nunnington Hall in 2002.
They are laid out mostly as they would have been in the 17th Century, with some nods to its 20th Century heyday. This includes a kitchen garden, and a new iris garden that was added last year. There is also a children’s play area, hidden away in the trees.
The house sits next to the River Rye, which gives its name to Ryedale which was the former name of the district council until it was abolished in 2023. Apparently, wild otters have been spotted on the river, but we didn’t see any.
Accessibility
As alluded to above, Nunnington Hall has been altered significantly over the years. And whilst it’s not as higgledy-piggledy as, for example, Little Moreton Hall or Bolling Hall, there is almost no step-free access inside the hall beyond the ground floor. The grounds are largely step-free, but not always on hard surfaces. A disabled toilet is available, but the nearest Changing Places toilets as several miles away in either Pickering or Malton.
Nunnington Hall is a mid-tier National Trust property, so entry prices are currently around £13 for adults. National Trust members get in free, as do RHS members and National Art Pass Holders.
There is a car park on the other side of the River Rye from the hall, linked by a footbridge, and this includes electric vehicle charging. There are four Standard (7kW AC, Type 2) chargers, although two were out of order when we visited. A £5 donation is requested if using the chargers. Additional charging is available in Nunnington village.
The name Making Waves comes from the painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, which is one of the most recognisable paintings from this method. There is one of the 111 surviving original prints of this on show in Making Waves, on loan from the Maidstone Museum.
Now I keep saying that I’m not really into art, despite visiting a Banksy exhibition and the V&A last month, and now this. I stand by this, and I found the information about how the prints are made more interesting than the prints themselves.
Making Waves starts with an explanation of the process; there’s a video as well as a step-by-step guide. It’s notable that the process generally results in the original painting being destroyed, and so there is usually no surviving ‘original’, just the first print run. I particularly appreciated the display of a modern print, made using the traditional method, on show with some of the wooden blocks that were used to make it.
You then proceed around the exhibition largely in chronological order. The exhibition ends in the modern day, with some newer commissions of block printed art featuring characters from Japanese video games. Also, in the final room, you can use a series of rubber stamps to create your own block print, which is a nice touch.
Japanese Zen Garden
Around the back of the art gallery is a small Zen Garden that has been created for the exhibition. This is connected to the Museum Gardens and leads around the back to the nearby Yorkshire Museum.
We visited York Art Gallery a couple of years ago, and so we didn’t go upstairs to the rest of the galleries this time. The Making Waves exhibition is open until the 30th August this year.
Accessibility
York Art Gallery offers step free access throughout the building, with lift access to the upper floors. Accessible toilets are available, and there is a Changing Places toilet around the corner at York Central Library when that is open.
Parking your car in York city centre is unwise, and many buses stop right outside the art gallery, including Park & Ride services from Rawcliffe Bar. York railway station is a short walk away.
Admission is currently £9 per adult, but there are many discounts available, including free entry for Art Pass and Max Card holders, and York residents aged 16 and under.
