Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
Holker is a Victorian-rebuilt stately home on the Cartmel peninsula, with 25 acres of formal and woodland gardens and a deer park where fallow deer graze across the grounds towards Morecambe Bay. The reason it earns its place here is simple: children under 12 get in free, so a garden day costs two adult tickets.
This is not a playground day, and the house rules are firm about ball games and bikes, so this is a walking, deer-spotting, duck-watching sort of day. The East Indian Cayuga ducks by the fountain are reliable. The deer park is open March to October, and the hall itself opens 11am to 3.30pm if you want to see the rooms. Parking is free.
The estate runs a full seasonal calendar, from Halloween crafts and a ghostly garden trail at the end of October to a winter market in early November and a Christmas grotto in December.
What it costs: Hall and gardens: adult £15.95. Gardens only: adult £11.95. Children under 12 free. Free parking. Seasonal events such as Halloween and the Christmas grotto are ticketed separately.
Pumpkin carving, a ghostly trail through the gardens and monster crafts, with Halloween face painting paid on the day. Storyteller Taffy Thomas tells seasonal tales in the library at 11am and 2pm, £5 a head for everyone including adults.
An elf welcome, festive crafts, a treasure hunt round the formal gardens and Father Christmas in the library with a gift, plus free hot chocolate and mulled wine and 10% off in the Courtyard Cafe. Only five dates and limited tickets, which Holker says are likely to sell out, and they are not on sale yet.
Seasonal: March to December, Wednesday to Sunday. Check before travelling.
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