Nature trail at the National Herb Centre
Last weekend we wanted somewhere nearby to visit to make the most of the warm weather. I’ve not been to the National Herb Centre for years, but decided that we should go and check out the nature trail.
The National Herb Centre’s just outside Banbury; it’s a herb centre obviously, with every variety of herbs for sale that you could possibly imagine. They also sell other plants, fruit trees and more. As well as this, there are 6 display gardens, the nature trail, a shop and a restaurant. They also run lots of events for children throughout the year, although there wasn’t anything on while we were there.
N loved checking out the garden centre goods on sale. He wasn’t too sure about these recycled garden ‘ornaments’.
But got very excited about seeing this stone Land Rover. I had to stop him from sitting on it!
We headed straight to the nature trail walk. N wasn’t keen – I think he’d seen the hill we’d have to walk back up.
It took a while for me to get his to move from his sitting place. I diverted him by stopping so we could look at the display gardens. Compared to last time I visited where they looked immaculate, they were a bit overgrown as Autumn’s arrived. This was the roman garden.
We also found a horse chestnut tree so tried to find some conkers, but we could only find cases, spotting the others still securely on the trees. Then it was down to the nature trail. N was excited about the path because he didn’t think there was room for anyone to come past. Oh, and it was a great place to just sit and admire the view.
We listened to the crickets chirruping, watched a couple of birds of prey circling, and picked a few blackberries along the way. At the bottom of the hill there’s a lovely wooden structure to sit and relax before walking on towards the pond.
Of course while on a walk you need to have a stick. N had found one, and used it to pretend to chop down the long grass on the walk.
The pond was full of reeds, and there were lots of these teasels surrounding it. I love how these look in the sunlight against the trees or sky.
By that stage of the walk it was getting close to lunch time so we decided to head back. You can walk some way round the full trail, but we didn’t do much of it. On the way back up the hill N decided to pick me some flowers. He does like picking up leaves and different flowers, so next time we head out for a walk, I must remember to take a little bag for him to collect bits of nature so we can create a collage afterwards.
Heading to the restaurant we spotted a big Connect Four game, so of course we had to have a game. They have one at nursery so I thought N might have an idea of what he needed to do. But it seems not, and he just wanted to fill it up.
The menu in the restaurant was good for hot food. Sundays they even do roasts, then there were a variety of salads, sandwiches, hot food. N had a children’s lunchbox at the bargain price of £3.95 for a roll, crisps, drink, raisins and a fudge bar, plus colouring book and crayons. I have to admit the ham roll wasn’t great – he didn’t eat it all, as the ham was a bit greasy and the roll looked to me like a hamburger or muffin roll. My chunky chips caught his eye so he swiped a few of those.
I had issues with my panini. I didn’t fancy many of the fillings so opted for tuna and cheese, but like so many places, it was basically all tuna. I didn’t spot any cheese. I think I’m too fussy when it comes to sandwiches as I like to prescribe exactly how they are (at my old work, I would ask for cheese with a touch of tuna).
It’s obviously a popular place for lunch as there were reserved tables, as well as several filled outside. The hot food did look good. Maybe we’ll come back another time for lunch.
I’d said that we could go and find the playground, so I didn’t have chance to stop and smell all the different mints or thymes as we walked through the herbs. It was worth finding, just to see the view over the valley.
They had some lovely obstacle style play equipment, with bridges and balance beams.
But the big draw was the wonderful climbing frame, complete with telescope and steering wheel.
There’s also a mini maze which is lovely to look at and the perfect height and difficulty for young children.
N loved wandering through it. I’m not surprised as it was a bit unexpected to find it there; it looked wonderful in the sunlight. Although it appeared that the sundial was broken!
We really enjoyed exploring the National Herb Centre, and there’s definitely more for us to discover on another visit. I’ll have to keep a watch out for the special events in case there’s one worth booking onto.
Check out these other ideas for Oxfordshire Days out
What a wonderful place do like to go out this time of year and look about the grounds.x
What a scenic and amazing place to be and he looks like he had so much fun!
Looks like a fun day.
Looks like you all had a blast. It looks absolutely gorgeous there. The only think we’ve got is a botanical gardens that’s about an hour away… lol
Looks like your little one had a great time. Very nice pictures!
Was that a Giant connect four? OMG I am going to look on Amazon for one right now!
All that Roman garden looks really cool. Looks very toddler friendly. Baby Mash would probably live this.
Oh wow, what a very special place to totally relax and enjoy. I would love to just lay down in the grass and look at the clouds and breath in the fresh air. I hate the city!
What fun time it looks like he had. And I want to go and explore there myself. That places
looks neat. I know my 5 kids would enjoy that.
This looks like so much fun! I love how they have fun things for the kids too. Especially that giant Connect Four game!
Looks like a beautiful place. The giant connect 4 looks awesome.
I really like that first picture! The VW Bug van is adorable. It looks like you guys had a great time.
Your son is so adorable. This looks like it was an amazing experience for him.
Visiting a place like this would totally be up my alley!
This place looks very peaceful and I would love to have a seat just like N. I love how you capture the beauty of the land and I’m coming to visit soon.
It looks like a really nice place to visit. I love the Maze and the sundial.
Looks like a wonderful place to visit!
Love all your pictures.
Awww looks like you had a great time. I love those mazes, that would be awesome to go through.
This one was great for children as they could still see over the top of it
Wow! You guys certainly had some fun adventures! I love that recycled bus and those dogs! Lovely pictures!
The ornaments were quirky, but nice to see something different.
Thanks for stopping by
Looked like you and your family had a wonderful day. I’m sure the little one was worn out, so many activities.
He does like to say he’s tired. He found plenty of places to sit down and rest!
Looks You Guys Had A Fun Time Would Love To Take The Family One Day Soon
Love to watch the kiddo enjoying his trail and sightseeing stuff. Love the place too very natural and fresh
It was really natural and easy to enjoy
I have never heard of The National Herb Centre before. This looks like an amazing place to visit indeed. I love the sun dial. Thanks for sharing.
The sundial was cool, it was a zodiac rather than numbers
wow! what a nice place to visit! I love the photos!!! 🙂
Little man enjoyed the trip eh?!
What a fun time, thanks for sharing. I love the lawn ornaments, especially the vw bus.
Really quirky aren’t they. I liked them too
This place looks wonderful. There is an herb garden near me and I tried to visit as often as I could over the summer. I love the hedge maze and the scenery is gorgeous plus I felt like I was along on the trip through your narrative photographs.
I thoroughly enjoy these kinds of posts. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, really appreciate your kind comments.
It was a beautiful place – really simple, but perfect for a sunday walk
Looks like a great place to visit. So hands on. That obstacle course looks like a lot of fun.
Natural Herb Centre? Never heard and never been in that kind of place. I bet if you bring me there I wouldn’t be able to identify more than two! LOL! And they have a restaurant too, whoah, probably all-organic/natural stuff! 😀 Good thing you guys enjoyed! 🙂
Don’t think the restaurant was particularly organic. Wasn’t expensive enough to be, but would have been local produce.
What a great, informative review! Such beautiful pictures. I usually give a restaurant two chances, unless they do something terribly wrong.
Thanks for your comments. I agree on the restaurant front. Might just be one bad day
Such a lovely place – definitely into nature, so beautiful as well.
What a wonderful place! I’ve not seen an herb centre before and would LOVE to visit one. Will be looking to see where the closest one is so we can make a visit!
It’s quite nice to have a ‘garden’ centre that’s got a different herb focus.
This looks so fun! I have 5 kids and they would have a blast!
It’s a really simple day out, but that makes it perfect as you can do your own thing there.
This place looks fabulous, beautiful and interesting. Love your photos, especially the ones of N admiring the view, the teasels and N in the maze x #CountryKids
Thanks Sara. Really please with how lots of my photos are turning out, although it does help with good lighting as I’m an auto fan.
What a lovely sounding place to visit. Herbs are such a great sensory experience, we have been investigating them in activity hour here on the farm though my greenhouse is nothing on these beautiful grounds! thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids
Thanks. We didn’t really get to the herbs for sale. I’ve spent ages there before – just love how many different varieties there are and how wonderful they all smell, chocolate mint, lemon thyme etc. N wasn’t keen after sniffing the rosemary!