Basildon Park, Reading

Basildon Park is a National Trust property best visited when the weather's good so you can enjoy the gardens and parkland. The gardens aren't especially ornate which leaves you feeling quite relaxed about letting the children run around. There are some trails to follow for older children, younger ones might find them a bit long. There are a few areas for children to play in such as an eco den. When we visited on a sunny day in the school holidays there was giant Jenga and giant draughts to play with in the gardens. You can't take pushchairs into Basildon House but the National Trust provide carry slings for babies. I'd say the house is interesting for older children, younger ones might get a bit bored. Watch out for craft activities in the school holidays, it helps to visit when these are on and my children spent almost an hour with the helpful National Trust volunteers crafting and sticking. It's quite a steep walk from the car park to the house, three wheeler pushchairs are fine but buggies might struggle a little bit on the walks. The tea shop has some good cakes as you might expect but if it's busy you can't get in easily with a pushchair. We visited on a hot day and needed extra drinks but I had to queue with the lunchtime crowd inside the tea room for these and leave three young children and pushchair outside. A separate drinks kiosk with easy access would be better. Most of the people there were the typical National Trust demographic but they seemed very tolerant of my noisy three children!