We’ve wanted to go on the Bluebell Railway for a long time now, but never seemed to time it right. We finally went on New Year’s Eve, driving down to Sheffield Park where it starts, making it with minutes to spare.
From Carshalton to Sheffield Park on a good day it takes an hour, which isn’t bad at all – we bought tickets for the Fairy Godmother Specials (£17.50 per adult, £9.00 per child – slightly more than a standard all-line return), which gives you third class seats plus you get a mince pie and are served drinks. After a crazy end of year I was more than happy to sit down, watch the world go by and drink a glass of white wine.
For H’s ticket she got a pack of smarties, a balloon character made (Tigger!) and a little bag with a toy lion in it which was lovely.
The journey there and back took around two hours, and it was good to switch off and take in the Sussex countryside.
Afterwards we decided to head up the road to Sheffield Park, a National Trust place we’ve never visited. Our main purpose was to grab some food, and then spend their last hour open of 2015 wandering around the grounds. They had a trail which immediately appealed to H, looking for various wicker sculptures (A Winter’s Trail) around the grounds – so once we had eaten we headed out – and it was fairly easy to do in an hour.
One sculpture had blown away, but otherwise there were eight sculptures of varying designs dotted around the grounds which H loved finding (as well as stopping to splash in a few puddles). Sheffield Park is a landscape garden with much of the layout and design coming from Capability Brown, who worked on a few gardens and houses we’ve been to.
Sheffield Park has many lakes, joined together with interesting bridges, walkways, paths and gardens. You can hear the whistle from the Bluebell Railway from time to time as you walk around, but most of all you can breathe; the fresh, crisp country air is all around you.
We arrived at Sheffield Park train station for the 12.15 train, and left Sheffield Park National Trust at 4pm – and could have stayed for longer too!
That looks like a great day out – I love old railways. Here in Normandy, where the old railways have gone several have been turned into vélo-rails where you cycle in specially adapted cycle buggies along the old tracks. It’s brilliant fun!
Happy New Year and here’s wishing you a fabulous 2106
Happy New Year! Ah it was a lovely day out, I needed to blow away cobwebs and get some breathing space, and this was ideal. Oh, the vélo-rails sound awesome! Have you blogged about it? Would love to see some pics!
I have a guest blog on the vélo-rails waiting to go up and I’ll stick a photo of our very wet day on the vélo rail onEcoGitesLenault FB page …
What a great day of exploring! Looks like a fun way to have and adventure for a day. Love the mud puddle picture.
Thanks! It was a fun day, and plenty of muddy puddles too 🙂
This looks like a great day of exploring for you all, I can’t think of anything more relaxing than a steam train journey through the countryside with a glass of wine. You got quite a lot for H as well, I bet the tigger balloon character was great. Sheffield park’s trail looks like a great way to enjoy nature and the perfect way to finish off your day. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
It was bliss – so good to switch off and just take in the scenery! H did well – the ticket was only about £1 more than a regular ticket as well, so pleased with that. I should put up a better Tigger picture – it’s really good, really well done.
Sheffield Park was fab too!