I visited the stunning West Sussex tulip festival – featuring a staggering 1.5 million flowers in the most gorgeous range of colours

Blue skies overhead, a warm breeze and 1.5-million tulips in 130 vibrant hues stretching across the fields before us.

We’d arrived at Tulleys Tulip Fest, the number one tulip festival in the UK, located at Tulleys Farm in Turners Hill, near Crawley.

Inspired by the tulip fields in Holland, this West Sussex seasonal spectacle creates a stunning, colourful landscape that my family loved exploring.

Not only are the blooms stunning – and they really are – but the Tulleys team has also staged various photo opportunities around the fields, which my children loved engaging with. From a giant pair of sunglasses to windmills, giant clogs, and large wooden frames, we came away with a range of gorgeous pictures that could definitely go on the wall.

And while we spent a good couple of hours just wandering the fields and marvelling at the beauty of the whole spectacle, the flowers aren’t all that’s on offer.

There are also live performers, a huge observation wheel, lakes, a shop and Dutch-inspired streetfood and drinks scattered throughout the event.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of halloumi burgers, hot dogs and fries, and despite it being a pretty busy day in the fields, we loved that there was plenty of seating. And there were enough food and drink booths that there was never too long of a wait for anything (except the ice cream stall – given the warmer-than-average temperature when we visited, I guess that was a given!).

Later, we feasted on doughnuts and Dutch pancakes with chocolate sauce – a welcome sugary treat after racking up a fair few steps while enjoying the blooms.

The whole event had a lovely, chilled vibe and we all commented on how friendly the staff were.

We had thought we’d only be there for a couple of hours overall, but we ended up spending five hours at the tulip fest. It was just such a fun place to soak up some sunshine and enjoy this celebration of the season.

The tulips are in bloom for another couple of weeks, and tickets are available at www.tulipfarm.co.uk/