A visit to Michelham priory in East Sussex and beautiful spring flowers - Bubbablue and me
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Michelham Priory and spring flowers

Sometimes children really aren’t a pleasure to be round. Thankfully with N it’s not that frequent, but when I’ve taken him on holiday, I’d expect him to be a little more interested and fun to be around.  We had one day on our break where he moaned from start to finish – not helped by a really sore throat I think, but until he told me that and I could get some calpol we had some interesting conversations.

We’d started off at Knockhatch Adventure Park to visit and meet a friend and her children, and he moaned there about seeing owls, the bouncing pillows and more, then I wanted to stop off at Michelham Priory House and Gardens.

monastic michelham priory

I heard the

‘My legs are too tired to walk’ – the 1 minute walk from the car;

‘You always get to choose’ – hmm, that’ll be after spending the morning somewhere that he chose from the leaflet; and

‘I want to go back to the hotel’

amongst others.  Hard luck kiddo, we were going in.  Thankfully it only cost around £13 for the 2 of us, and that included the children’s Easter trail…which he then refused to do after finding the first 2 boards.

michelham priory

Michelham Priory’s in a beautiful setting.  There’s a moat dating back to the 1200s, a water mill near the side of the grounds, the priory itself, a kitchen garden, psychic garden and acres of grounds to walk in.  I’m sure once all the flowers are out it would be a wonderful place to walk round.

archways at Michelham priory

Our visit was fairly fleeting, but went round the Tudor house, beautifully decorated with spring flowers.  N did find some interesting pieces to look at and it was interesting to read a bit about the place.

flowers at michelham priory
tulips at michelham priory

One thing that always goes down well with N, and gets him asking questions is when places have scale models of the buildings and site – whether historic or modern day.  He’ll always point out what he can see and ask questions about why it looks like it does, and how long the buildings have been there etc.  A great talking point.

spices activity at michelham priory
michelham priory feast
war rations at michelham priory

You can also have a go at guessing the spices in the interactive kitchen, find out about child evacuees and see an example bedroom, or dressing up.

With a 5 year old, every visit is always in a rush.  He didn’t even want to hang around and look at the wonderful old wagons in the outbuildings.

old wagons at michelham priory
old machinery at michelham priory

The gardens looked gorgeous, with some interesting sculptures dotted around, a perfectly calm place to sit and relax in the sun…although maybe not when it gets busier with lots of children.

psychic garden at michelham priory
sheep sculpture

There’s a gorgeous courtyard with a café in it, as well as toilets and the barn where weddings can be held.  We had a nosy – it was all set up with beautiful chairs and decorations.

Michelham Priory also runs different events and activities through the year, so there’s plenty to see and do.  It’s a shame our visit was so brief because there was a lot we missed, but it’s definitely good value to visit.

Have you ever been to look round a priory?  Have you visited Michelham?

A visit to Michelham priory in East Sussex and beautiful spring flowers - Bubbablue and me

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8 Comments

  1. Oh dear, sounds like he was having a bad day. My oldest is the same but without the sore throat. A real killjoy at times! 😀 You got some great photos though and it looks like a lovely place to visit
    #countrykids

  2. That start did make me laugh, what a shame that N was out of sorts I am having a lot of days like that with Youngest at the moment. I think it is to do with tiredness. I really does look like a fantastic place to visit though 🙂

  3. This is my kind of day trip, anything priory and kitchen garden related I love. We have Norton Priory up here in Cheshire that I hope to visit when it gets a bit warmer. Would love the sheep sculpture in my garden 🙂

  4. Oops, some days are just not meant to be. It just goes to show the pictures don’t always tell the full story, they show a very interested N not one keen to leave. Michelham Priory does look beautiful, I’d love a look around though I think my kids might moan too. That sheep on the lawn is awesome, I’d love one of those, much less work than the real thing! Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids

  5. That looks like a gorgeous place to visit and what a shame you weren’t able to spend a bit more time there. I always find it interesting to try and find out more about the history of places like this. Glad the scale models managed to grab N’s attention.

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