National Trust - The Children's Country House at Sudbury — Attraction in Derbyshire Dales

Sudbury Hall is a country house in Sudbury, Derbyshire, England. One of the country's finest Restoration mansions, it has Grade I listed building status. The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the 19th-century servants' wing of Sudbury Hall. It should not be confused with the V&A Museum of Childhood, which is in London. Or the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh.

The Vernon family came to Sudbury as a result of the 16th-century marriage of Sir John Vernon to Ellen Montgomery the Sudbury heiress. The house was built between 1660 and 1680 by George Vernon, grandfather of George Venables-Vernon the 1st Baron Vernon and is notable for its superb Great Staircase, fine Long Gallery, and portraits by John Michael Wright, and of Charles II's mistresses. Inside there is a mixture of architectural styles with carvings by Grinling Gibbons and Edward Pearce, murals by Louis Laguerre and elaborate plasterwork by Samuel Mansfield, James Pettifer and Robert Bradbury. The carvings above the main entrance porch were sculpted by William Wilson. There are formal gardens with a tree-fringed lake. Cherry Ann Knott has suggested that the design of the hall was based on Crewe Hall in Cheshire, which stands around 1.5 miles from Haslington Hall, where George Vernon was born. The property was leased for three years from 1840 by Queen Adelaide, the widow of William IV of the United Kingdom. The east wing was added by George Devey in 1876–83.The building is now owned and maintained by the National Trust.to whom it was gifted by the Vernon family in 1967. The house was also used for the internal Pemberley scenes in the BBC dramatisation (1995) of Jane Austen's Pride...

We visited the Museum of Childhood with our Granddaughter aged 5. She was really interested in the display cabinets and more importantly there were lots of things to do and touch. She enjoyed being a pupil in the School Room and going up the chimney. There needs to be better information displayed about the times of the lessons, as it's really popular so Parents/Carers can join the queue. The colouring activity with the sea life animation was fun. We had freshly made sandwiches in the Café. The bins and food at the tables were attracting lots of wasps so we went inside and sat under the magic fairy tree. Perhaps there could be some humane wasp traps to attract the wasps, then release the wasps when the house closes. The wildflowers in the garden were lovely and we met 2 Gardeners, walking back to the Car Park, who talked about the gardens and flowers throughout the year. There were lots of children enjoying their visit. The outdoor toys and games were also really good. We would recommend visiting here with children. We didn't visit the Hall as we didn't have time plus our granddaughter was enjoying herself and running around the maze and in the Garden. If you are not a Member of the NT (Free Entry) it would be a quite expensive day trip. NB. Entry Tickets MUST be Booked Online...

We went up in the school holidays so it was busy as you would expect but we'll managed so we didn't have to wait too long We went in to the house first where there was plenty of staff to talk to about items of interest and who nicely informed me that they have a room set aside if people need space and quiet if overwhelmed as I was carrying a special needs child It was lovely to see the toys set out in various locations for children to play with..... Plenty of adults were enjoying these too The children's museum was fantastic, plenty for me to read while going round and lots for the children to see, touch and get involved with, my 17 year old even squeezed herself round the fire place tunnels

Staff were very friendly and when I asked if there was anywhere to change my 7 year old they showed us to a changing places bathroom with fantastic equipment that meant I could change him with dignity instead of having to lay him on a toilet floor, I was very impressed. They also showed us into the sensory room next to it so he could calm down All in all we had an incredible day that suited my interest in history with the playtime fun...