Last weekend we had a family gathering to attend in Newark. We decided to take advantage of the Sunday winter sunshine and remembering an article I’d read recently http://www.countryliving.co.uk/out-and-about/events/where-to-see-snowdrops-2015?utm_content=buffer78950&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer took a drive up the A1 to Hodsock Priory near Blyth. http://www.hodsockpriory.com/snowdrops-0 had made it onto the Country Living’s list of places to see Snowdrops in 2015 and being a massive admirer of Snowdrops, I was looking forward to checking it out.
They had only opened the previous day for this year’s Snowdrop season – and being only the 1st February it was perhaps a little early to get the full display – nevertheless we had an enjoyable hour or so looking around. There was a lovely little wooden shack cafe in the woodland, with some picnic tables and even a cosy campfire for us to warm our hands over. Here we enjoyed a hot chocolate each, complete with marshmallows, and a toasted tea cake!
The walk through the woodland was a circular walk and you had the option to shorten it at several opportunities. The longest available route was around 1 mile and the paths were well maintained. Once you had walked around the woodland you had the opportunity to wander around the Italian Gardens which led you away from the woodland and alongside the lawn in front of the priory building itself.
The Gatehouse is Grade 1 listed.
We really enjoyed our visit, but if I’m being completely honest I think we felt that the £5pp entry charge was perhaps a little steep. We compared it with our visit last year to Walsingham Abbey, Norfolk https://adventuresinamotorhome.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/ where we only paid £4 pp and the grounds of Walsingham are much larger and hold far more snowdrops (although we visited a weekend later last year so perhaps that had something to do with it?) – plus, Walsingham Abbey is dog friendly (on leads) whereas Hopsock Priory wasn’t and poor Jazz had to remain in the car!
Love that final photo, its a corker 🙂