Sussex Day Trips #10 - Nymans

At times it is easier and faster to travel to places farther away than to a place which is very close. Key cities in England have well established public transport systems, however, in small towns and countryside they tend to be less frequent and less reliable. For popular tourist places, there are day trips offered by coach tours. Still there are plenty of beautiful places which are only visited by locals. Mere 10 minutes bus ride from Crawley, there is a place as pretty as any other in Sussex and that is Nymans house and gardens. I don’t even know name of nearest bus stop, so kept a close watch on google maps during the bus ride and when I saw the place is about 500m away, I pressed the stop button. Buses in UK don’t stop at every bus stop on the route unless there are people in the stop (in who case the door opens where only passengers get inside ) or when people inside press stop button (and middle door opens for passengers to get out). Thankfully I managed to get down at nearest stop which is only few minutes walk away from the gardens.

At the entrance, is the reception area with ticket counter and a cafe☕️. Despite being a weekend, the place isn't very crowded. We took the tickets and started towards the gardens which started with vast lawn area surrounded by tall trees. There are no other structures visible from the gardens - as if the outside world doesn’t exist😁. Then a path led to interior part with more densely packed trees 🌳. 

 

Before the main house there is another structure which looked like a neglected courtyard which I feel is intended to look that way but actually was well maintained. 

The main house was restored after a fire accident. The owners unable to bear the maintenance costs, donated the house & gardens to the government💷. The house is like a mini castle and have lots of paintings🖼️, a big library📚 and huge seating area. Don't remember seeing bedrooms - probably did not restore them as the place is no longer intended for habitation. 

   

The house is surrounded by all varieties of gardens from well manicured lawns to wild shrubs and fountains & arches.

 

Towards the end there is a small nursery and a gift shop. 

I like the souvenirs here - they are not just decorative but useful as well. I bought a pack of cards in wooden box and a mouth-argon. My friend bought eco-friendly bamboo straws. 

They host some events in rose garden after 6PM, but we don't have return buses after 5:30 pm😔. Even though we missed the event, we had a relaxing day strolling across the fenced roads and lovely gardens😊.

That is the final day trip during that stay in England before my vacation in Europe and move to Scotland. 

Even though I had to drag myself out of bed on weekends after a hectic work week (and few times succumbed to laziness), I am glad I made these short tours😌. They don't need lot of planning📝, they would be nice with or without company👯‍♀️, quite relaxing despite what the brain says(or screams) when the alarm goes off on Saturday morning🤯, gives something to look forward to and help get through work frustrations😅.

P.S: first post with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil-loving them 😍.