National Trust - Nostell — Attraction in Wakefield

We'd intended to leave early and make a full day of it, but discovering an ant invasion in our house scuppered our plans. We decided to go anyway as it was a beautiful day, just to have a trip out and see if it was worth revisiting.

It definitely is!

Even the car park attendant welcomed us warmly and enthusiastically! The car park is in a grassy field - I'm not sure how it would fare after lots of rain - and is a fair distance from the house and gardens, but it's a pleasant stroll on a good path through the beautiful and expansive deer park. It looks to be a great place to fly a kite!

We didn't arrive until 2.30pm and were not expecting much, but were really delighted with what we saw. We took a gentle amble through the menagerie gardens. The magnolia trees were still in bloom along with rhododendrons and wisteria. I expected it to be heaving with people, but it's so big, we only crossed paths with about 6 people and an angry goose. It felt like we were the only ones there a lot of the time.

We went to explore the play park. Belton House is our nearest NT property and the play area there is second to none. However, Nostell takes a good 2nd place. It's in the woods and filled with interesting play equipment that kept our 10yo happy for ages.

We didn't go into the house this time. We plan to return next weekend and spend lots more time there.

I can't not mention the shop manager who was a highlight for me. They sell little wooden acorns hand turned by a Yorkshire man from trees from the Nostell Estate. I noticed one in particular at the bottom of the jar, and the shop manager positively encouraged me to pour out the contents all over the shelf to bag my acorn of choice. He then struck up a jaunty conversation about inheriting thousands of wooden acorns when he took over the shop and the need for us all to write more letters to each other. I wanted to invite him home for tea, but there was a zip wire to investigate.

One complaint - the ladies toilets smelled really bad. Oh.. two... there were not enough bins. Sorry... three... please please can NT put more benches in play parks? Children tend to come with adults who don't want to clamber over a trim trail, but prefer to sit and enjoy a moment of peace while the kids tear about. Not everyone is happy to sit on a knobbly log, in the dirt or on a grassy slope for hours. I know you want us all to go to the cafe and spend money on hot water and desperately unhealthy baked goods, but some of us want to be within 100m of our kids while they hang upside down...

We love Nostell. This was our fourth visit but the first time we used our National Trust membership (would 100% recommend).

My daughter is 4.5yrs and absolutely loves everything about Nostell Priory, the staff are so friendly and welcoming, despite the house being a treasure they are not at all anti-children (eg. Dont do this etc), they really love to get children involved by telling them about the house, gardens and grounds.

We visited when the cafe was shut due to unexpected issues, this cannot be helped however it was a bit of an inconvenience as my daughter is required to take a certain medication with warm food & in this instance only pastries were available.

It was nice to see Nostell busy with a variety of customers from very young babies to the elderly and all kinds of people in-between :)

The gift shop has great items and lovely children's books, particularly about nature and wildlife.

The house is stunning and so well kept. Its great to hear the stories behind Nostell and have an insight into the people that lived there.

The playground is great fun and really in with nature so whilst you're there you may see wildlife and listen to the birds. From here you can go on a long walk into the woods and by the lake. Lots of benches are dotted around too.

We enjoy visiting the second hand book store and always end up leaving with a couple of new books. This time I found a brilliant Montessori teaching book that I've been after for a while. My daughter brought home a book about nature and animal habitats.

The only downfall is the pricing of foods really. I understand it is all high quality and fresh ingredients however during a living cost crisis it would be more beneficial to lower prices so others are able to enjoy high quality foods without the worry of spending too much. We paid £5 for a child sized tuna sandwich on sliced bread, a family with 2-3 children could be put off paying this. The food however was lovely and we will purchase again when we return.

We will be back, probably within a few weeks as its my daughters favourite place.

100% recommend the National Trust...

I was disappointed by Nostell. The photos online are not a reflection of what I saw today.

You have to pay £5 to park if you are not a National Trust member.

Once you have paid again you get entry to the gardens and house. The map and the photos gave me high hopes for the gardens but it was really just a walk through the woods with a couple of lakes - the kind of walk you can do for free in any woodland.

We headed for the menagerie only to find that there is no menagerie, just a small blackboard sign with white chalk asking you to imagine the animals.

So we headed for the rose garden. I love roses and this was the main reason for my visit. I couldn't believe what I saw - a couple of roses with a derth of roses on them.

The house also lacked promise. You go in from the ground floor and see all the service bells and you can also see the treasury with some impressive silerware. The rest of the rooms had very little to offer; the odd display case with an item or two, a few bits of clocks on the wall.

Upstairs was better. There were three bedrooms, reconstructed with varying degrees of success and some outstanding Chippendale furniture. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the bizarre, filthy baths and toilet that were in the rooms next to the bedrooms - like so bizarre 20th century en-suite.

The tapestry room was beautiful but the tapestries looked like painted fabric rather than real tapestries but it may have just been the light making it difficult to see.

There was no atmosphere of a great house really. I won't...