01 02 03 The Princess and The Pickle: Our day at Exbury Gardens 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Our day at Exbury Gardens

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We've had a great start to the summer holidays, with gorgeous weather and fun days out.  On Saturday we visited Exbury Gardens, one of Hampshire's top attractions, in the New Forest.  We played hide and seek between the trees and The Princess and The Pickle loved all the stepping stones and bridges over the ponds.  

We really enjoyed the steam train ride (although The Pickle wasn't so keen on the dark tunnel!)  When the train stopped at the next station the conductor gave an informative and entertaining talk about the history of the gardens.  The Princess was invited to wave the flag for the train to set off again.  We also spotted lots of sculptures along the way.

One of the highlights was the Sundial Garden, with so many colourful flowers attracting lots of butterflies and bees.  The seat under the wisteria gave some welcome shade on a very hot day and we watched the children admire the flowers for a while.  I think The Princess must have taken a photo of every different flower she saw (as did I!)

Towards the end of the day we came back to the new play area just by the entrance, where The Princess and The Pickle had fun on the slide, swing, climbing frame and playhouse.  After all that playing we needed to cool down with cold drinks and ice lollies!  Mr Eddy's Tea Rooms were immaculately clean, light and airy.

We were really surprised how quiet the gardens were, considering it was such a sunny day in the school holidays.  This may be because the 'peak' season for some of Exbury's flowers has now passed, but it still makes a wonderful day out and I'd definitely recommend it to other families.  

We were sent a family pass to review this attraction.  All opinions are my own.
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