National Trust - Hanbury Hall Reviews Summary

House and Interior

Pros:

• "The house itself is beautiful. There is so much history which I find absolutely fascinating and I loved the murals on the staircase walls and ceilings."
• "A lovely house with an amazing interior decor. The staircase was mesmerising."
• "Very interesting house, lovingly preserved."
• "The house is full of original features, including beautiful wall paintings, intricate plasterwork, and a grand staircase."
• "Small but lovely house with wonderful ceiling paintings."
• "The house has some amazing painting especially on the stairwell, along with many other interesting features."
• "The interior walls of the main hall and staircase are covered top to bottom in murals of classical scenes painted by James Thornhill."

Cons:

• "A relatively small building with some rooms closed."
• "The house creaky, dark and of its time."
• "Sorry to say the house not interesting as others (my opinion)."
• "The big disappointment was there was not enough staff so only the downstairs was available to view."
• "Some of the interpretation didn't match what was in the rooms."
• "Only slight negative was a couple of the rooms upstairs had no information and the items contained within didn't make a lot of sense and they seemed quite spartan with no explanation."
• "Pity that not all of it was open to see but what there was was worth the visit."

Gardens and Grounds

Pros:

• "Very extensive grounds including lovely formal gardens much freshly planted, and huge vegetable and fruit area in walled garden well maintained mainly by volunteers."
• "The formal gardens were lovely."
• "Gardens extensive with some extended walks through the parkland if you like."
• "Fantastic formal gardens leading onto orchards, vegetable gardens and fields."
• "The gardens are large and hard to find your way around."
• "Garden is very big and nearby pond is quite beautiful."
• "The gardens consisted of formally laid out designs in the main part, with topiary much in evidence."

Cons:

• "The parterre beds were empty."
• "Unfortunately it absolutely poured down so we only did a quick visit to the gardens."
• "The formal gardens were very disappointing being full of dead ends mainly because routes were closed off with no explanation of the history."
• "The walled gardens only seemed to have a couple of rows of parsnips and celeriac and no information."
• "The gardens are nice but I think if you want to see lots of lovely coloured flowers you might be best to visit during the summer."
• "However, it wasn't so good for my 90 year old mum when I took her, as there aren't enough benches plus the little cart wasn't there so she had to walk all the way from the car park."
• "After 30 minutes it stopped, but the paths were then too boggy for his scooter."

Facilities and Services

Pros:

• "Stopped for lunch delicious sausage rolls and yummy hot chocolate."
• "The new coffee shop has now opened, which looks incredible and very aesthetically pleasing."
• "Good toilet. Tea room good. Plenty of sitting places for those who need to rest!! Good parking area."
• "One toilet open on the carpark and more toilets by the cafe area (which have disabled and baby changing facilities)."
• "As usual, excellent food. There are 3 eating areas."
• "The coffee was also very good."
• "The coffee shop is great for a quick lunch and I must say the soup was delicious."

Cons:

• "If you're doing the Hanbury circular and want to stop here at the cafe for lunch you may be told you have to pay for entry to the hall if you're not a National Trust member."
• "Very small gift selection and second hand book shop in the ticket kiosk."
• "Selection at the cafe is average but the prices are a bit on the high side."
• "The only criticism I have is that we were told we could not walk around the gardens with our dog."
• "Also the kids playground outside seems to have been removed entirely!"
• "Tearoom service was extremely poor."
• "The cafes were very disappointing once we found them as there was no direction signage."

Staff and Volunteers

Pros:

• "The volunteers are so friendly and knowledgeable."
• "Staff extremely welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable as always."
• "The volunteers were brilliant, professional, knowledgeable and full of conversation."
• "Volunteers who are more than happy to engage and talk through the house and garden."
• "National Trust volunteers are always helpful and knowledgeable the Hanbury guys were extremely friendly too."
• "All staff were so helpful and very knowledgeable."
• "Super friendly and knowledgeable staff."

Cons:

• "Disappointed as it was the in laws first experience of the national trust as part of the free entry but they wont be taking up membership now."
• "The woman informing us of this had an attitude problem as well which if she regularly deals with the public could do with adjustment."
• "Staff were clearly struggling to cope with the number of visitors as we had to give up waiting to be served for Afternoon Tea."
• "Such a shame as we'd travelled 3hours to get there."
• "The total impression was - it's a really nice place but it feels a lack of volunteers."
• "What is it with the jobs worth blue rinse brigade that you find at every National Trust site."
• "Lady at entrance was more interested about closing the door than telling us about the house."