Paxton House is abuzz this week as we all get ready for our opening weekend on 1st and 2nd April.  This year we are opening with a bang and have so much scheduled for adults, teens, children (and adults who still are still in touch with their inner child), you really can’t miss a visit to Paxton.

We are so looking forward to welcoming Lego maestro Warren Elsmore to kick off The Lego Exhibition in the Hayloft Gallery for our Lego Big Bunny Build.  Specially commissioned for Paxton our Big Lego Easter Bunny will be an impressive one-off Lego model but we need  you to come along and help build it.  Everyone who visits the exhibition is welcome to get stuck in and make a part of the Big Bunny to contribute to the whole and Warren will be there to work his magic and direct operations.  It should be fun to watch in construction as well. The Lego Exhibition runs until 16th April and entry is free. We are also running a series of Lego Build Workshops in April.

It’s Spring, so celebrate with us!  For kids, Saturday sees the launch of our Spring Trail with lots of fun activities to get your children out in the Spring sunshine breathing the fresh air in our spacious grounds. Come and explore, the charge includes a map and all accompanying adults need is a grounds pass.

Opening our gorgeous Palladian house after its winter sleep is always an exciting time at Paxton and the elegant rooms designed by architect Robert Adam with their Chippendale furniture and neoclassical details are as astonishing as they were when they were new in the 1770s. Our special costume exhibition, Parallel Lives, Worlds Apart, which explores the contrast between the lives of the Home family of Paxton, their servants and the enslaved people who worked for them in Grenada runs in our State Rooms. If you haven’t seen it yet, you will find it thought provoking and we are proud to be at the forefront of research into Britain’s relationship with slavery. The exhibition continues until October.

At the same time,  Fashion for the Fashionable Live! is a must-see event for only 5 days from 3rd to 7th April. Two fashion students from the University of Glasgow will be staging Sackback Status Symbol, the live recreation of the making of a sackback dress, a high fashion garment in 1770. You will be able to see them cutting, sewing and constructing the dress from scratch as part of your house tour. This is a unique opportunity to step back into the world of Georgian mantua makers and see what it really took to create an haute couture gown two hundred years ago. Make sure you join us.

And, of course, it’s daffodil season at Paxton,  our gardens and grounds are looking fabulous and our Stables Tearoom is full of delicious things to eat, so come along and have fun with us this week. Everything is awesome!

Book tickets here