This morning we managed a task not commonly achieved in our house.. we were up and out of the house by 9.30am! We were headed to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, the UK’s first preserved standard gauge passenger railway.
With 3 train-mad children this will always be a successful day out for us, and today was no exception. We took the train from Sheffield Park Station all the way to Kingscote Station (a 9 mile/45 minute journey) got off the train to watch the engine turn round and couple up to the other end, and then got back on the train again! This time we only went half way, to Horsted Keynes, where we got off for our picnic lunch.
After lunch we caught the next train back to Sheffield Park Station and had a look round the museum. We saw Stepney, who appears in the Thomas the Tank Engine series, and also Bluebell. Seeing Bluebell made Thomas very happy as he got a wooden Bluebell engine for Christmas from a good friend of ours!
It was still fairly early when we were ready to leave so we decided to stop off at Sheffield Park, a National Trust site only a 5 minute drive from the station.
Sheffield Park and Gardens is an informal landscape garden laid out in the 18th century by ‘Capability’ Brown and further developed in the early years of the 20th century by its owner, Arthur G. Soames. We have never been before but will definitely be visiting again as it is beautiful and a great place for the kids to run off some energy!
3 Kids and a Gluestick 