National Trust - Hatchlands Park Reviews Summary

House and Exhibits

Pros:

• "House is only now open all week; a change from pre-pandemic."
• "Really interesting in the house where there are over 40 different types of piano/harpsichords all of which steeped in musical & composer history."
• "Interesting collection of keyboard instruments in the house with a good art collection and interesting decor."
• "The main attraction is the amazing collection of pianos and art in the house."
• "House is full of an expensive and impressive collection of old pianos, and similar instruments."
• "Featuring instruments from the 1580s through to early 1900s, it is an impressive collection."
• "The house is very interesting, especially the keyboards on display."

Cons:

• "The house was stuffed with artifacts which could not be viewed in any real detail."
• "Both time the house was shut. Didn't tell us upon entering that house is shut on Saturdays."
• "Not allowed to photograph those though!"
• "House closed though at weekend."
• "House was interesting but not very big, so quite expensive entry for only 5 rooms to see."
• "You only get to see a few rooms from the house."
• "The house itself only has a few rooms open, which are quite stuffy and busy."

Cafe and Food

Pros:

• "Very friendly service from staff."
• "Good food in the cafe."
• "Had tea and panini in cafe, fresh and hot £5.95."
• "The tea shop is the usual national trust affair with nice coffee and cakes."
• "We did, however, enjoy coffee and cake in the cafe!"
• "The cafe also served lovely food."
• "Cafe do amazing scones with all the trimmings yes clotted cream and jam."

Cons:

• "Was charged 8£ for entering this place. Not worth it."
• "The cafe, which was incredibly slow."
• "The cafe was the worst national trust one we’ve ever been to. Out of scones at midday, Dirty, food (cake and frittata nearly in-edible)."
• "It took a long time to be served in the cafe (over half an hour as it was so busy) but by the time I reached the till the food I wanted for my diabetic husband had sold out!"
• "Biggest downside was that we visited the Kitchen cafe at around 3pm and no hot food was being served."
• "Visited the cafe at 1.30pm and was really disappointed by the lack of choice."
• "The cafes do let the experience down as they always seem to be running out of items or extremely busy with a slight lack of organisation."

Park and Grounds

Pros:

• "There are several signed walks of different lengths to follow."
• "The grounds are lovely for a country walk."
• "Beautiful park. Large open space with free roaming animals, they're only in certain sections and these are marked at entrances and exits."
• "Beautiful parkland, many routes (long and short) to suit your needs."
• "Only walked around the beautiful landscaped park as we had a dog with us, but was impressed with how well kept the grounds are."
• "The grounds are nice for walk with sweeping views and slightly misleading signage."
• "Beautiful grounds for walking, with abundant rookeries, traditional cattle breeds, 400 acres of land."

Cons:

• "But beware of the cattle grid behind the house. We saw several kids on scooters hurtle into the grid and one or two parents fall in after them."
• "It's usually pretty muddy so wellies are a good idea."
• "It can be VERY muddy in winter."
• "The grounds are ok but the biggest problem is the carpark is so far away from the main complex that includes the two cafes and toilets."
• "Grounds are massive we had a Nice walk but nothing to see. no deer in the park."
• "The grounds although vast is overgrown."
• "This was let down by poor signposting of the various walks."