National Trust - Attingham Park Estate: Cronkhill Reviews Summary

Grounds and Nature

Pros:

• "What an amazing place to just go and take a walk, such beautiful untouched nature."
• "Nice property with well made walking tracks through the forest and deer park."
• "Large expanse of parkland, including the deer enclosure, so very suitable for both long and short walks in a peaceful setting."
• "We took a stroll through Deer Park, along the WWII trail, which we found fascinating."
• "The grounds at the park were very nice, with a good selection of walks to suit all abilities."
• "Extensive, rolling grounds. Easy walking."
• "The estate and woodland walks are amazing."

Cons:

• "£30 for 2 adults to walk around the grounds and the house was closed!! We have a pandemic but don't recover financially by ripping people off!!"
• "A bit pricey."
• "Only slight let down is £15 cost for entry to the Gardens."
• "Some walks are reduced or unavailable during November and December."
• "Quite pricey though at £13 each, with pre booked tickets only, so nearly £40 for 3 of us to go for a walk, so not really worth it if I'm honest, sorry."
• "Most of the park was closed due to Christmas preparations and a deer problem."
• "Unfortunately due to flooding we were unable to go round the deer park."

Facilities and Services

Pros:

• "Lots of facilities available, Including takeaway coffee all clean, with social distancing measures in place."
• "All staff very friendly, approachable and working hard to keep the place immaculate."
• "Excellent Tea Rooms/Cafe, set in a large courtyard, with plenty of interior and exterior seating."
• "The food and drinks were the usual high quality you expect at an NT property."
• "Staff and Volunteers always friendly and helpful."
• "The cafe does not cater for any gluten free options and seems to struggle with stock with many hot food items unavailable when we have visited."
• "Toilets are very clean and most people were wearing face masks in confined spaces."

Cons:

• "Lots of outside tables but not many inside."
• "They have a beautiful cafeteria, but the food is quite poor and there is no beer."
• "The food offering was poor. Gone was the homemade fare and in was the cellphone wrapped cake and sandwiches."
• "The restaurant is ok; they are understaffed (have been for a while) so service can be a little slow because only half of the serving facilities are open."
• "Service in snack/coffee shop atrocious!!"
• "The limited nature of the play field could be better advertised, listed as open, but on arrival the majority of the play equipment is not accessible."
• "Many of the cubicles don't lock properly and there is always a lot of water on the surface around the washbasins, although fairly new it already looks shabby."

Accessibility and Parking

Pros:

• "Very well sign posted from the motorway."
• "Plenty of parking for our motorhome."
• "Parking was easy and plentiful."
• "Loads of free parking."
• "Allocated parking places and a nice restaurant and a secondhand book shop on site."
• "Friendly staff, many toilets, shop, second hand book shop, Large car park and a cafe right at the front when you arrive."
• "All paths through the woods are wide, level and hard surfaced."

Cons:

• "Couldn't use any blue badge spaces as they only cater for cars, only spaces we could find was at the far end of the carpark."
• "Path was occasionally a little bumpy for the pushchair for my 1 year old."
• "Due to the age of the building, they are not suitable to take up your pram upstairs."
• "Only bug bear is the toilet facilities, have toddler and there no adult toilet in baby changer in courtyard."
• "Accessibility: some of the paths are a a little uneven and parts of the deer park have no paths just short cut grass."
• "We love Attingham Park but today we did a longer walk and found no signposts directing us back to the Mansion."
• "Rather over crowded in the current circumstances and little effort made to socially distance."

House and Historical Value

Pros:

• "The house is definitely worth the visit."
• "For a small extra charge, tickets available at the entrance, I was invited on a tour of the East Wing, recently opened to the public."
• "A beautifully kept stately home showing the historical life from the home of titled gentry through to the use as a college."
• "Quite a grand, impressive stately home."
• "The house itself is amazing and the walks, walled gardens and children's play activity field make it a brilliant place to visit."
• "The house is interesting, and includes lots of servants quarters."
• "Stepping into the house was an amazing piece of history."

Cons:

• "£30 for 2 adults to walk around the grounds and the house was closed!! We have a pandemic but don't recover financially by ripping people off!!"
• "However, the house itself was a bit of a disappointment. For such a huge place, only a few rooms open and not as much information on the history and the family as I would have liked."
• "A bit disappointed about only being able to see the main level of the house though."
• "Quite disappointed, there were only three rooms to see, I think this should be stated on the website."
• "At present the only level open in the Manor is the ground floor and lacks any atmosphere."
• "The limited nature of the play field could be better advertised, listed as open, but on arrival the majority of the play equipment is not accessible."
• "The house was decorated nicely with themed rooms and xmas trees. Nice shop with bits and bobs to buy, photo opportunity of the outside of the building was spoilt by scaffolding (no mention of this on website)."