Lyme Park at Easter

Spring flowers and Easter eggs

The National Trust offered over 250 Cadbury Egg Hunts at their properties over Easter. One of these took place at Lyme Park in Disley, near Stockport.  We know this because we decided it was a good time to visit and see the spring flowers and were a little surprised to see Easter eggs hanging from trees and hidden in the gardens with lots of people (children and adults) walking around with faces painted to look like a 'bunny'! 

Easter eggs in the trees in front of Lyme Hall

Lyme Hall is a magnificent building and sits in lovely formal gardens within a 1400 acre estate. There are some superb views across the moors and towards Stockport with Manchester in the distance.

The spring flowers were filling most of the formal gardens and were looking splendid.

Daffodils in bloom at Lyme in the Dutch garden

Spring flowers overlooking the Reflection Lake 

The Hall is well worth a visit too, here you can learn about the Legh family and their travels, especially Thomas Legh who, in the early 1800s, explored in Egypt, Greece, Syria, and the Ottoman Empire and brought back many treasures.  He seems to have been a bit of an Indiana Jones character.

You might think that the hall looks familiar, this could be because it was used by the BBC as 'Pemberley' in their production of 'Pride and Prejudice' and was also used in the BBC series 'The Village'.

I was impressed with the finery in the dining room, with all of the glassware and crockery on display and hand mirrors available to use so you can see the intricate plaster work in the ceilings without cricking your neck!

Crystal glasses

Mirror to look at the ceiling

Stained glass windows

Richly coloured glass in the windows cast glints across the floors and bright blinds light up the corridors.

Red corridor

There is a cafe under the hall in the old Ale Cellar where you can get soup, sandwiches and cream teas... and a bottle of local beer too.

Views over Stockport

Back outside we walked around the grounds and climbed up to get the views from the tower to the north of the hall known as The Cage.  On a clear day the views would be wonderful, even on the day we went we could see a clear 180 degree vista for miles around.

The Cage tower at Lyme

There is plenty to see and do at Lyme and it is a great location for families and for anyone who loves the outdoors (and Jane Austin).

Here are some links if you want to find out more:

Peak District Info

National Trust