Althorp Estate Reviews Summary

House and Interiors

Pros:

• "Astounding grand house. Interesting architectural history."
• "The house is in immaculate condition and has some stunning paintings, including a few unexpected contemporary ones as well."
• "The house is amazing, stuffed with beautiful art, architecture and furniture."
• "The childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales this house has beautiful, bright and well furnished interiors."
• "House is interesting with high quality art collection."
• "The rooms of the house are intuitively, tastefully decorated and treasured with antiques, inspiration at every turn."
• "Stunning building and exquisite art and furnishings."

Cons:

• "Fewer rooms to view than we had expected."
• "Most of the rooms were roped so you couldn't go round and see everything in the room or read who the paintings were."
• "The house was not prepared for a 'free-flow' with no signs or information at all."
• "The rooms are rather less grand than other homes."
• "The house is neglected. It smells terribly of old age, it would be useful to open the windows every day, besides there is a lot of dust on all the paintings."
• "Some of the art can only be viewed from quite a distance away."
• "House was free flow so could look around at our leisure. The number of rooms open were limited and the interpretation was also the same."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Diane Springnett was a fantastic member of staff who knew the history of the family and house in great depth."
• "Really charming, helpful staff."
• "Friendly staff from the onset, greeted & welcomed by Andy at The entrance gate."
• "The staff are very knowledgeable and polite and respectful towards guests."
• "Staff really friendly and knowledgeable about family history etc."
• "All the staff were welcoming & knowledgeable of the Estate."
• "The staff are all lovely and knowledgeable."

Cons:

• "Again not enough staff only one was serving so we couldn't ask for a price on a gift so walked out as she was serving a customer."
• "Long walk from car park and not enough staff to provide information on room details in house."
• "The guides were friendly but ill-informed."
• "Lack of guides in the rooms."
• "sadly they were not offering guided tours as they claimed they were too busy."
• "Felt really let down by one of ‘security’ repeatedly telling us off for breaking rules that weren’t displayed."
• "Most of the grounds are not accessible either."

Grounds and Accessibility

Pros:

• "The grounds are immaculately kept."
• "The grounds are vast and well-kept."
• "The gardens are tranquil and the lake and its island a perfect resting place for Princess Diana."
• "Absolutely beautiful grounds and garden."
• "The grounds amazing."
• "The parkland is nice for a stroll."
• "The grounds are amazing and I could have wandered around for hours."

Cons:

• "Only one set of toilets a bit away from the house, and quite a long walk from the car park."
• "Not wheelchair friendly however, despite previous reviews saying it is."
• "The walk to the house is ridiculously long."
• "We were slightly disappointed to find that the vast majority of the grounds are closed off to the public."
• "grounds very boring no flowers within the gardens."
• "The gardens are sterile and have many no entry signs."
• "If you take the local bus (96) it’ll drop you at the East Gate. You can’t enter from here. You need to be at the West Gate. It’s a 45-60 min dangerous walk."

Food and Cafe

Pros:

• "Cafe small but good."
• "The stables care was so reasonably priced."
• "Food in the cafe tasted fresh and delicious."
• "Restaurant in the old stables had good selection of sandwiches, cake etc and reasonably priced."
• "The cafe has sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes etc. All was very nice."
• "The stable cafe serves a good pot of tea, sandwich and cake at very reasonable prices."
• "we thought the stables eating area lovely and the food was very good too...reasonably priced as well!"

Cons:

• "The stables cafe has only pre-packaged sandwiches, not even as good as an old fashioned motorway service station."
• "The only niggle was the tea room. It was very busy and the organisation was haphazard and contributed to the long queues."
• "The cafe food was overpriced."
• "Food in the Stable cafe was very un- inspiring. Extremely dry cheese and pickle sandwich - stale bread."
• "The little cafe was disappointing, £4.50 for a small scone, a tiny pot of cream and jam and that didn't include a cup of tea."
• "cafe over expensive brought in items."
• "The cafe is a huge disappointment. It is like visiting a fast food chain outlet with everything pre-packed and served in grotty take away utensils."

Value and Experience

Pros:

• "It was a really lovely day and we would definitely like to visit again."
• "A truly wonderful experience that I would highly recommend to everyone."
• "What a great place to visit."
• "Thank you for continuing to open your home to us Earl Spencer, and allowing me to pay my respects to Diana's memorial at your family's ancestral home."
• "Good half day out. Visiting the house was well worth it."
• "A good day out, my only criticism was the lack of photos and information about Princess Diana, although walking around the beautiful and peaceful lake where she was laid to rest and seeing the memorial made up for this."
• "Lovely afternoon out to a fascinating country house with excellent art work. Extensive grounds with a reasonably priced cafe. Ideal summer day out made even better by the knowledgeable guides. Excellent value."

Cons:

• "Terrible."
• "Very limited. The food is awful."
• "I think entrance price could be cheaper!!!"
• "I expected more. Mum-in law from South Africa visited and she was disappointed that Diana's grave was hardly visible."
• "I felt let down by seeing Althorp. It did NOT live up to my expectations."
• "not much to see in my opinion and being told that no photo are allowed inside after charging entry isn't right in my opinion."
• "Most disappointing, very expensive entrance fee."