We visited Newstead Abbey today which is a lovely historic house situated in beautiful gardens based in Nottinghamshire, UK.
The monastic abbey was built in the late 12 century and was once home to the poet Lord Byron between 1808 - 1814. Source
It's a shame the tree that Byron planted is no longer here.
A couple of swans came to welcome us. Don't be fooled
they were after food really ....
Can anyone spot the dog?
There was plenty to see as there's 300 acres to walk around, including lakes, ponds and waterfalls, and woodland trails.
There's a really cool feature that was added in the early 1700s to give the area a more romantic feel to it. A cascade was put in place where the Garden Lake meets the River Leen. Source
Even though we had to pay £6 for car parking, we could access the gardens for free. The gardens are all themed, Japanese, Spanish, American etc.
You can even book a short stay in the Gardener's Cottage, within the grounds. Can anyone spot the cat?
Newstead Abbey is definitely a place that you could spend a long time looking around. Even though we didn't visit the house today, the gardens were really interesting with lots of places to explore.