Family-friendly things to do at Hinton Ampner

A family exploring the gardens at Christmas at Hinton Ampner, Hampshire — Family enjoying the gardens in winter at Hinton Ampner | © Megan Taylor

There's lots of family fun to be had at Hinton Ampner. This festive season is packed with family fun things to do - from outdoor adventures to a Christmas filled house, join us for a fun filled day.

Pre-book your visit

Booking is essential for Christmas at Hinton Ampner. This applies to house & garden visits only and to both members and non-members. If you are visiting the gardens only, you do not need to pre-book your ticket. Please scroll down for our booking link.

An Enchanted Christmas

Join us this year for An Enchated Christmas - a day packed with adventure. Our house will be filled with beautifully decorated trees, twinkling lights and festive scenes. Outside the gardens will be decorated with Nordmann trees, beautiful lights and lots of photo opportunities.

We will also have lots of activities for families. From elf spotting and a sensory elf house for tiny tots to outdoor elf games for older children, there are lots of opportunities to blow off some energy with us. No visit would be complete without a visit to our cafe for a festive treat where we also have menu items for children.

Elf adventures

Saturday 16^th November to Sunday 5^th January

Please note these activities are free, however booking is essential to visit from Saturday 16th November - Sunday 5th January.

Elf Spotting Adventure

6 cheeky elves have run off with some of the presents Santa needs for his Christmas deliveries! Explore our South Terrace area to spot the 6 elves and then race to the sleigh for your picture with the giant present stack and sleigh. Along your spotting journey you’ll find the elves music station and their candy house – filled with sensory puzzles for tiny tots.

Suitable for ages 0-4.

Games Area

Even busy elves need time to have fun and play games. Come and discover our twinkly music station, find out your Christmas elf name and race like one of Santa's reindeer.

Suitable for ages 5-8.

Robin spotting in the house

Amongst our Christmas display there are 6 robins hiding and waiting to be spotted. Keep little ones amused with finding the Christmas robin in every room.

A woman in a pale grey winter coat and beret crouching down to look at a Christmas tree with a young girl in a black long sleeved top and gold dres — Visitors enjoying Christmas decorations at Hinton Ampner | © National Trust Images/Megan Taylor

Family walks on the Hinton Ampner estate

Stewkeley walk

The Stewkeley walk takes you across the Hinton Ampner estate towards the village of Kilmeston, before looping back to the entry of the estate. This moderately strenuous walk is perfect for walkers of any age and skill level. It's just under two miles and takes around an hour to complete.

Stewkeley walk

Ancient tree trail

The parkland at Hinton Ampner is home to many ancient trees, some with rather quirky characteristics. You can find out more about spotting the ancient trees by downloading the guide.

Follow this guide

'50 things to do before you're 11¾'

There are lots of ’50 things' challenges you can complete with the whole family at Hinton Ampner. Here's a few recommendations:

No. 1 Get to know a tree: If trees could talk, what stories would they tell? Get up close to a tree and feel the texture of its bark and leaves and notice all the different colours and smells. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
No. 12 Have fun with sticks: When it comes to sticks, the possibilities are endless. Use them to become a gallant warrior, make a magic wand, create a home for a small animal or insect or create some wild art. There are lots of interesting sticks to find in the Hinton Ampner estate and parkland
No. 33 Go cloud watching: With a little imagination you can create whole worlds from the shapes you see in the clouds. Do they resemble anything, like animals, trees or cartoon characters? Invent a story using the characters you see in the clouds. Try writing your story down or drawing it on a sketchpad
No. 44 Watch a bird: There are many different birds that can be spotted in the gardens and woodland at Hinton Ampner. Birds get frightened off easily, so you'll need to be as quiet as you can, and not make any loud noises or sudden movements to stand the best chance of seeing lots.

Planning your family visit

If you're planning a visit to Hinton Ampner with the family, here is some useful information

Buggies and puschairs are welcome throughout the whole property including house, gardens and cafe. However, on particularly busy times access to the house may be restricted to enable people to safely navigate around the rooms. Whilst we try to provide a space for buggies or pushchairs to be stored if we cannot cater them in the house, our space is limited and can only be accommodated for on a first-come first-served basis.