The Insider’s Guide to The National Lottery Open Week - Instagrammable Days Out
From majestic castles to world-class gardens, there are plenty of picturesque sights across the UK that are worthy of your Instagram feed. Whether you love a good selfie or prefer to stay behind the lens, here are a few incredible venues and attractions taking part in The National Lottery Open Week that should certainly be on your short list…
Don’t forget to use your National Lottery ticket or Scratchcard (digital or physical) to redeem special offers this Open Week.
1. Buxton Crescent
Location: Buxton, Derbyshire
Offer: Free Assembly Rooms Tour with the Buxton Crescent Heritage Experience 21st – 23rd March 2022
Insider fact: Buxton Crescent became a spa destination in Roman times, when a settlement was built around a clear, warm-water spring that still sends up more than one million litres a day from the original source underneath the Buxton Crescent.
Insider tip: All the rooms have great views, but for a great snap the Card Room at the East Corner of the Crescent has sweeping views of the building’s front, as well as the Pump Room and slopes (and gets the best light throughout the day!)
2. The Japanese Garden Cowden
Location: Clackmannanshire, Scotland
Offer: Prize draw entry - 19th- 20th, & 23rd - 27th March
Insider fact: Aside from being both beautiful and peaceful, the garden is the only one of its kind in the world to have been designed by a Japanese woman - Taki Handa. Described in 1925 by Japanese practitioner Professor Jijo Suzuki as 'the most important Japanese garden in the Western World', the garden consists of several acres of Japanese influenced landscape with a perimeter path around the small loch.
Insider tip: From the top of the North Bank in the traditional Japanese Garden you get a great aerial view of the pond and surrounding garden. On clear days, the views from this area are perfect for seeing the bridges, plants and sky reflected in the pond and for capturing a great photograph.
3. Crom
Offer: Free entry 19th-27th March
Location: Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh
Insider fact: Crom’s famous Yew Trees can be found near to the Old Castle ruins. The trees are actually a conjoined pair of male and female yew and together have a combined circumference of 377 feet and a diameter of 115 feet. Out of the two trees, the female yew is larger and older, with the earliest known reference to it being 1739, but it’s unknown just how old it is. The other, male tree, was probably planted in the 1800s, making it much younger.
Insider tip: Venture off the road and onto water – hire a boat at the jetty to see this incredible landscape from another angle.
4. Dyffryn Gardens
Offer: Free entry 19th- 27th March
Location: Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
Insider fact: Reginald Cory, whose father built the house in 1893, commissioned and attended plant hunting expeditions all over the world in search for new and exotic species to bring back. The family business was in coal which they shipped to over 180 ports around the world, which gave Reginald a fleet of ships at his disposal. As a result, Dyffryn’s plant collections are unique and incredibly important horticulturally.
Insider tip: Stop by the glasshouse to take photos of the impressive cacti and orchid collections.
