National Trust’s Belton House near Grantham, Lincolnshire, blooms for celebration of blossom with events this May
In the spirit of the season, National Trust sites across the country are celebrating the beauty of blossom.
Throughout May, the Belton Estate, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, will be leaning into this springtime spectacle with range of with blooming brilliant activities and event across the estate, including art installations, a mindfulness zone, and origami crafts.
In the mansion, the Chinese bedroom will be filled with floral decorations, including a blossom bed, handcrafted from hundreds of fabric flowers by volunteers, and the scent of cherry blossom and soundscape of birdsong aims to create a relaxing atmosphere.
On the ground floor of Belton House, visitors will be able to discover a brand new ceramics trail, exclusively for blossom month, which highlights eight objects from the collection featuring foliage and flowers.
In the gardens, where the sights and smells of spring are on full show with tulips and bluebells, and a blossom lawn will feature star tents, swings, hammocks and deckchairs where people will be given prompts about mindfulness activities or try their hand at some yoga positions.
To make the most of everything the gardens have to offer at this bountiful time of year, blossom walks will also be taking place daily.
These walks will span the gardens, the oval lawn in front of the mansion and Belton’s own orchard which is normally off limits to everyone except staff and volunteers.
With spring being such a photogenic, visitors who have snapped images of the estate during their visit will also have the opportunity to print them out on site with photobooth installed at the bookshop, offering a limited number of free prints to each visitor.
Craft workshops will be themed around blossom and include free family card making sessions on Saturday, May 3, from 11am to 4pm, as well as origami and other activities.
Adult craft workshops include a lino printing day, on Wednesday, May 14, and a kantha embroidery day on Wednesday, May 21, and there are also plans for floral wreath making.
Lydia Wardingham, senior programming and partnerships officer, said: “This is such a beautiful time of year here at Belton and we love taking the opportunity to celebrate across the site, from the house to the gardens and the wider estate.
“Nature is so important for wellbeing and we want to encourage as many people as possible to engage with it through our programming this month.”
Belton Estate is open from 9.30am to 5.30pm, 7 days a week, with the mansion open from 11am to 4pm, Thursday to Sunday.
The house is currently closed for conservation work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but special Spotlight tours, including monthly British Sign Language-interpreted sessions, can be booked on these days to gain an insight into the work being carried out.
