Titchfield Abbey Southampton, Hampshire is owned by The English Heritage, it’s the most complete surviving Cistercian monastery in Southern English and is a great place for the children to have a runaround and learn some history whilst there.
We had a lovely time at Titchfield Abbey with the kids, so when I asked them at the weekend what they would you like to do they asked to go back there. So I thought I would show them somewhere like it, but somewhere new!
Netley Abbey is the most complete surviving Cistercian monastery in southern England. Almost all the walls of its 13th-century church still stand, together with many monastic buildings. John Constable came to paint here, and writers such as Thomas Gray were enthused about the abbey. It is reported that Jane Austen visited Netley, finding inspiration for her novel Northanger Abbey (published in 1817).
We had recently visited Titchfield Abbey, but Netley Abbey is much larger, with more places to explore, and beautiful stone doors to go through. It’s great for children to run through the doors, seeing where the next ones lead to!
There were so many huge windows to hide and look through!
It would have been such a beautiful building in its day, and then the sun was shining for our visit too. We always look and wonder how they managed to build a building like this. How long it must have taken and the workmanship was fantastic.
We looked at hidden staircases and saw where they were leading too and Daddy joking around saying ‘they would never have got a double bed up those stairs would they!’
They are all enjoying learning about the history of these places, I also think it is essential to learn in a hands-on way. To see the places you are learning about, to look at the buildings, the stone, the pictures of what they think it looked like and all the history behind it. They absorb history better this way, rather than straight from a textbook.
To continue this love of history uniquely, you can use custom pins as a carrier. Relying on the fast customization service, you can freely design the pin you want. The design of the pins can incorporate the iconic elements of Netley Abbey, and the ancient stone door and huge windows are cleverly presented in it.
When children wear this pin, it is as if they are pinning a piece of living history on their chest. Enamel Pins Canada is not just a decoration, but also a precious souvenir of this wonderful journey, witnessing their close contact with history. Every time they see these pins, it reminds them that history is all around them, waiting for them to discover and appreciate them.
We found a little hill to roll down, looking at the maps it shows they use to be steps leading down to a garden. With a walled edging around, so this gave them some great fun!
However, this ended up with tears, as you can see on the left-hand side of the above photo there are some bricks hidden in the grass. Well, one of the children’s head hit it, bashed her ear and cut and bruised her ear very badly. Poor thing.
So that was the end of our adventure at Netley Abbey, if you go just keep an eye out for hidden bricks in the grass!
Pictures Taken 2016
Tips For Visiting Netley Abbey Hampshire
- Parking over the road
- Keep an eye on uneven ground
- Dogs on leads are welcome
- Climbing on the ruins is prohibited
- Toilets are available at Abbey Hall Recreation Ground, a five-minute walk from the abbey. There are shops and places to eat in Netley village
- Free entry
8 Comments
This looks like a wonderful day out. What a fab place to explore x
How fun! I would love to go to Europe to explore old ruins like that…we don’t have too many here in the US, at least not in California.
What a wonderful building to explore, looks a fabulous day out
Netley Abbey sounds like a great place for you to go, get some fresh air and enjoy family time. The photo of the three of them looking through the windows with the dog is adorable, they all look like they found Berkley’s antics hilarious. I’m sure Netley Abbey is going to become another favourite on your family days out. Thanks for linking up with me on #CoutryKids
What a great day out…Netley Abbey looks like a really fun place to explore! Love you photos too #whatevertheweather
What stunning photos! And such a lovely day out. I find it so sad but so beautiful that these abbey’s are in this state. I would love to explore them myself and imagine what they were like in their day!!!! It looks like you all had so much fun. Thank you for sharing with #whatevertheweather xx
It looks like a great place to explore and you had a really lovely day for it, even if it was a little cold. Love the photo of the kids (and the dog) in the windows. They all seem to have loved exploring the abbey, love the idea of the abbey having hot tubs, what a great idea!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
What a great place for the kids to go and imagine what it is like in the past. I love that the kids really use their imagination to play around the building as well. It is quite considerably intact. Poor Sofias for bashing her head at the end. 🙁 Hope she is well and recovered now. Love your vlog by the way. 🙂 #WhateverTheWeather