With a bit of good weather forecast today we decided to head on out over to Croome – one of the local National Trust sites that has been recommended to us!
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Where is Croome?
There’s more than meets the eye at Croome. Owned by the Coventry family since the 16th century, Croome has a fascinating history. The Coventrys used their wealth – from successes as statesmen and lawyers, colonial connections and advantageous marriages – to create this magnificent place.
Source: National Trust Website
Address: near High Green, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR8 9DW
Phone: 01905371006
Email: croome@nationaltrust.org.uk
What3Words: ///food.clues.worlds
Croome Parking
Free parking is available for visitors. There is plenty to go round with additional parking off to the right should it be needed.
How much is entry to Croome?
You have 2 options when visiting National Trust sites. You can either pay for a day ticket or sign up to an annual pass.
The annual pass offers really good value for money if you are likely to visit more than 3 sites a year. If you are a parkrun regular it also means free parking at National Trust locations like Colby parkrun.
Kids pass has 6% off National Trust tickets and you can sign up to kids pass for £1 for 30 days over on the Kids Pass site (as of 4/10/24)
Annual Pass Prices (as of 4/10/24)
Prices shown as Annual Direct Debit // Monthly Direct Debit
Individual £91.20 // £7.60
Two Adults £151.20 // £12.60
Family (two adults) £159 // £13.25
Family (one adult) £99 // £8.25
Young Person £45.60 // £3.80 (18-25 years)
Junior £12 // N/A (0-17 years)
Under 5’s go free
Day Pass Prices (as of 4/10/24)
Prices shown as Gift Aid Inc // Standard
Individual £16.50 // £15
Child £8.30 // £7.50 (0-17 years)
Family (two adults) £41.30 // £37.50
Family (one adult) £24.80 // £22.50
Sensory Backpacks
We didn’t see these advertised until we were leaving but what a great idea to have these available!
They included ear defenders, sun glasses, a magnifying glass, fidget toys and a few other bits to enhance your visit – such a lovely idea!
Croome Play Areas and Activities
Of course the first thing Holly and Oscar wanted to do was check out the play areas! It is nice to get them away from tablets and tv’s and we are trying to make a real effort to limit their screen time as much as we can.
Discover our natural play area, RAF themed playground, and sensory Potter and Ponder map.
Source: National Trust Website
The RAF themed play area not only had all the usual climbing frames, swings and various other RAF themed fun things it also had a resident cat! Chloe the animal whisperer was of course straight over to it to make friends.
We then headed off down the trail towards the ‘Potter and Ponder’ play area. The route consists of lots of den building opportunities and space to run around and play in the wooded areas.
We talked about how best to build a den after studying a few different ways they had been built, they likes the igloo style ones the best.
At the end of this trail they also had a mud kitchen area and little obstacle course for them to go round. It was a bit muddy down this end so might be best to dig out those wellies if you are visiting in the colder months.
The Rotunda
This peculiar little building says it was used as a banqueting house, what views to have dinner over!
Shop and Plant Centre
The shop helps support the work done at Croome so do take time to have a browse.
Walled Garden
The privately owned historic Walled Gardens are a key part of Croome’s landscape designed by ‘Capability’ Brown. The Walled Gardens are now closed for 2024 and will reopen on Saturday 5 April 2025.
Source: National Trust Website
We didn’t go inside as they are an extra on top of the entrance fee (£5 per adult, including National Trust members with accompanying under 18’s free)
RAF Defford
Discover the secrets of the Second World War airbase, where In the 1940s, RAF Defford housed over 2,000 service personnel and scientists who tested radar to meet new enemy threats.
Source: National Trust Website
Again we didn’t go inside here, as lets face it, the kids just wanted to roll around in the mud and eat cake.
Gardens
If a nice long walk in nature is what you are looking for them Croome is the ideal location. There are several different routes you can walk to get to the main house and back to the entrance.
Along one of the routes back to the entrance they had these boxes where you had to guess the scent. We weren’t very good at it and didn’t get very many right.
They also had information about the different trees along the walks.
Croome House
At the heart of the parkland lies the house, the brainchild of the 6th Earl of Coventry, an 18th-century trend-setter who collaborated with the best new talent of the day – Robert Adam and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.
Source: National Trust Website
Oscar loves these big houses and was excited to get over to this one. As always the staff were very welcoming and explained what we would find inside the house, directed us to the toilets and cafe and then showed us into the room where a little info video plays on loop about the Croome house.
I could have taken photos all day in here, they had so many cute little things going on like this archive space and the paper flowers draped along the stair cases.
Downstairs they also have a whole room dedicated to the younger guests, with puzzles, games, books, gymnastics mats and seating. We spent almost an hour in here just going through all the different games they had!
Oscar also found this area where they were playing music so he had a little dance break.
Bug hunt in the house
As always, there is a small activity for the little ones to do while visiting. Within Croome house you can take part in the bug hunt
The Chapel
Holly and Oscar are obsessed with churches at the moment, I think they must be learning about them at school. We’ve had lots of talk about Jesus (which are pretty brief as I am not religious myself and my knowledge is limited!)
Inside it is beautiful, they had the wreaths out for Remembrance Day so we talked about what these are for.
Second hand book shop
As with most National Trust sites they have a small second hand book shop. Croome’s is located in the main entrance building.
Eating
Of course no visit to a National Trust site is complete without cake!
The same menu choices as other sites – although if you want cake the cafe in the house had a better selection than the one by the entrance, and no queue!
During the summer all the outside seating would be perfect and it looks like they have a separate Ice cream stand too. If you want to grab some fresh apples you can even pick your own from their Orchard.
I had to take a picture of the bathroom as I loved the sinks! They also had baby change facilities in the end cubicle.
Croome Summary
This is definitely a great National Trust site to visit with children, the play areas and the cafe are perfect to spend a few hours exploring before heading in for some cake. The majority is buggy friendly and baby changing facilities are available.
I do think if you are going to visit any of these it’s worth getting the annual pass as they work out such good value compared to a day pass.
Kids pass has 6% off National Trust tickets and you can sign up to kids pass for £1 for 30 days over on the Kids Pass site
ChrissyJ xx
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