EAST Hampshire is offering a host of unique events, activities and opportunities for treating mum this year.

From cream teas on a steam train to glamping in a shepherd’s hut, there is something for everyone to enjoy this Mothering Sunday (March 11).

For those who enjoy gardening and floristry, the grounds at Chawton House will be open on Friday, March 9, when there will be an opportunity to attend a spring hand-tied bouquet floristry workshop with the owner of Orchard Flowers.

On March 6 and March 13, there will be rose-pruning workshops, while an exhibition of ‘Pens, Paintbrushes and Pioneers: Portrait of a Woman Writer’, based around the portraits of pioneering women writers Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Mary Robinson, Maria Graham and Jane Austen, running from March 5-21.

For more details, visit www. chawtonhouse.org.

If history is the key to your mum’s heart, the unique experimental archaeological site at Butser Ancient Farm at Chalton, near Petersfield, will provide a great opportunity to step back in time to prehistoric Britain.

Open from 2pm-4pm on Mother’s Day, visitors can walk through prehistoric houses and enjoy the warmth of the crackling fire while the surrounding landscape begins to wake up for spring.

There will be activities for children, and afternoon tea will be served in the Iron Age roundhouse. Spaces are limited.

For more details or to book, visit www.butserancient farm.co.uk or call 023 9259 8838.

Or you could go back in time to the heady days of steam, taking a traditional cream tea while travelling on the historic Mid-Hants Watercress Line. The Mother’s Day cream tea train departs Alresford station for Alton at 2.40pm.

For more details, visit www.watercressline.co.uk

Get a taste of country house living with Sunday lunch at historic Langrish House, near Petersfield, or enjoy afternoon tea and a spa break at Champneys Forest Mere Spa.

For adventurous mums, there is an opportunity to experience a special sleepover on Saturday, March 10, at the home of 18th Century pioneering ecologist and author Gilbert White in Selborne.

Children can bring their mums along to an exciting evening of nature activities at the Gilbert White Field Studies Centre and sleep in the heated 16th Century barn.

For more details, visit www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk

Or you can treat mum to a stay in a shepherd’s hut or camping pod at the award-winning Two Hoots adult-only site nestling in beautiful countryside near Alresford.

Shepherd’s huts have their own washroom and toilet with well-equipped kitchen, as well as log-burning stove and electric heating for year-round cosiness.

The eco-friendly camping pods provide a great alternative to a tent, with full insulation to provide a cosy, warm environment.

For more details, visit www. twohootscampsite.co.uk

If environmental sustainability is your thing, the Sustainability Centre at East Meon offers courses and workshops in how to create your own willow sweet pea baskets, learn all about bushcraft survival (overnight course), kitchen gardening, cordial making using hedgerow ingredients, starting your own medicine chest from foraged herbal finds, and furniture painting.

For more details, visit www.sustainability-centre.org

You can enjoy Mother’s Day delights at Winkworth Arboretum, at Godalming. See the spring flowers in bloom and enjoy morning coffee or afternoon tea and cakes in the tea-room between 10am and 4pm.

There are some steep slopes and steps in the Arboretum so do wear suitable outdoor clothing and footwear. Dogs on leads are welcome.

Entry costs £8.10 for adults and £4 for children (family ticket £20.40) Call the National Trust on (01483) 208936 for more details.

For mums who love their art, Petworth House is celebrating William Blake’s three years in Sussex, the only place outside of London where he ever lived. the unique exhibition features more than 50 loans from such prestigious collections as the British Museum, V&A and Tate. You can view examples of Blake’s visionary works inspired by the Sussex coast and countryside, experienced while living in a cottage in Felpham "the sweetest spot on earth" where he saw "visions of Albion".

The exhibition, split across two buildings, includes an immersive exhibit in the mansion showing original drawings by the author and president of the Blake Society, Philip Pullman, made for the internationally acclaimed His Dark Materials books. Entry from 10.30am-3.15pm costs £16,

Call 0344 249 1895 to book.

Slightly further afield up the A3 at Richmond’s Ham House, you can enjoy a special themed tea for Mother’s Day, with activities, children’s trails and special talks throughout the day (10am-5pm).

From 1pm, visitors can join one of the trust’s knowledgeable guides for a free 30-minute tour of the exterior of the mansion and learn about the architectural changes made to this magnificent 17th century property.

Booking is not needed but enquire on the day.

While there, you can also visit the Stitch in Time exhibition to see costumes created on the popular BBC Four programme of the same namte.

Until April 29, all six costumes will be on display and visitors can see the intricate work of costumier Ninya Mikhaila and her team up close.

Tickets for Ham House and its famous garden cost £11.05 for adults and £5.50 for children (family ticket £27.60).

At nearby Esher you can celebrate Mothering Sunday in the beautiful surroundings of the National Trust’s Claremont Landscape Garden – very much a place to visit for all seasons.

Enter a prize draw when you join the National Trust on the day to win a planted container of flowers.

And don’t forget to treat mum to cup of tea and tasty treat in the café between 10am and 5pm, on Sunday March 11. Entry to the gardens costs £9 for adults and £4.50 for kids (family ticket £22.50).

Other places to visit include National Trust properties at Hinton Ampner, near Alresford, and Uppark, near Petersfield – find out admission prices and times at www.nationaltrust.org.uk – and Birdworld at Holt Pound on the A325 near Farnham (www.birdworld.co.uk)

Jane Austen’s House Museum at Chawton, will be marking the 200th anniversary of the publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.