One of our transit days in the UK had us moving from the Cotswolds back to Surrey for my Dad’s birthday party.  En route, we decided to take a detour to an old favorite location of ours.  When we lived in Sussex, we were not too far from Sheffield Park.  This is an estate that has been divided up with the National Trust owning the gardens and parkland and the house being privately owned.  The gardens are a delight to visit.

Over many years, a collection of different botanical species have been cultivated at the gardens so they have a great diversity of plants and trees including some sequoias.  The gardens are built around a series of lakes that make the whole place look just gorgeous.  Some of the older trees are really solid and gnarly looking.  Nancy thought it looked like something from the Wizard of Oz.  One of the National Trust guys told us to look for a spot that had a great view back up the lakes to the house.  It took a bit of searching since the tree cover is quite dense but we found it.  It was certainly a nice view.

Great to get back to this place after being away for so long and to see it on a lovely day was even better.  If you are ever thinking of visiting, they apparently have a nice day trip from London to get there.  You can take the normal train to East Grinstead and from there the Bluebell Railway runs a steam service to Sheffield Park.  A shuttle from the station operates on busy day but it is not a long walk if not.  Not done this myself but it sounds like a nice way to make a day trip of the whole thing.