National Trust - Melford Hall Reviews Summary

House and History

Pros:

• "Such an interesting history and beautiful house and surroundings."
• "Melford Hall is a dramatic and beautiful Elizabethan house, part of which dates back to medieval times."
• "Beautiful Tudor house but still retaining the feel of a family home, in a lovely setting on the green at Long Melford."
• "A grand old house with lots of character and history."
• "The family had links to Beatrix Potter who was a regular visitor. The original Jemima Puddleduck is on display in the nursery."
• "Really interesting history at this National Trust site."
• "Lovely family home that is partially open to the public. Notable previous visitors include Elizabeth the 1st. and Beatrix Potter."

Cons:

• "I little disappointed to find most of the house was closed because of a flood the previous night."
• "Only open for a few hours. So check before you go! Could do with a lift to the upper floors!"
• "One wing is very 50s 60s due to a fire, so for me was a wasted wing."
• "Nice house to visit but small grounds and half the house is closed as people are living in it."
• "Not as Tudor as it might be. Fires, modernization (in Georgian times and in the 1950s) mean that the windows are wrong and some of the rooms are out of scale for Tudor times."
• "However there is no written information at all! You look at pictures and wonder who you are looking at."
• "Somewhat disappointing overall. No obvious reason that we could see, but no information whatever in the rooms as to what you might be looking at."

Gardens and Grounds

Pros:

• "We also had a great picnic in the grounds."
• "Enjoy a meadowland walk and picturesque walled gardens."
• "Beautiful gardens and peaceful setting."
• "Gardens well kept and very colourful."
• "Beautiful, interesting house. Gorgeous grounds and gardens, loved the tree you can completely get inside, the borders and the mini woodland walk."
• "Gardens are pretty too with a glorious display of Dahlias."
• "The gardens are beautiful and the house very interesting."

Cons:

• "The gardens were a disappointment."
• "Gardens relatively small. Large adjacent parkland."
• "Formal gardens were smaller than expected."
• "The grounds are quite limited. We visited in March and there were hardly any flowers, even spring bulbs."
• "The gardens are small and not much to see, so I wouldn't recommend you visit just the gardens, make sure to pay the extra to see the house itself."
• "Gardens are comparatively small, unusual for a fancy home and with the weather being good, it was filled with noisy, picnicking families."
• "However the garden was a huge let down."

Cafe and Food

Pros:

• "The tea shop is also worth a visit and I personally recommend the sausage rolls."
• "Good tea rooms and cakes indoors or outside near the croquet lawn."
• "Tea was great, lots of wasps around but not a problem."
• "Ate in the cafe good food at a reasonable price can thoroughly recommend."
• "Excellent food in the cafe."
• "A lovely tearoom with gorgeous cream teas and pastries."
• "Very nice tea room serving nice lunches within the house."

Cons:

• "The cafe is small with very limited options."
• "Cafe ok if weather is good."
• "No EV charging point though."
• "We didn't stay for lunch as the tea room, on the ground floor was freezing."
• "Cafe on site with limited menu but lovely food and reasonably priced."
• "Food was tasty, but soup could have been hot."
• "The only negative aspect, hence 3 stars was the Trust trying to sell raffle tickets while people were walking around the Hall."

Accessibility and Facilities

Pros:

• "Friendly, helpful but not too helpful guides and cheerful service in the cafe."
• "Great place for a half day visit. The facilities were clean and a one way system was in place inside the hall."
• "Parking is free."
• "Good sized car park with toilets."
• "Plenty of parking spaces."
• "The room guides are excellent, adding depth to the experience."
• "The guides are lovely lady’s and gents with lots of knowledge about the hall and extremely friendly to us all!"

Cons:

• "It was a shame I couldn't go upstairs being a wheelchair user."
• "Sadly cannot rate higher as we were denied admission to the grounds with a small well-behaved dog on a lead."
• "Dogs are not allowed, even in the outside area."
• "Only the upper part of the house isn't pram friendly and you are invited to leave your pram downstairs if you like, which we did."
• "Only negative was we couldn't heat up baby food so come prepared!"
• "Dogs are allowed but only in the car park and the somewhat poorly named Woodland Walk (across a field inhabited by many sheep)."
• "Unconvinced it is worth the £11 entry."

Staff and Volunteers

Pros:

• "The volunteers placed around the house were knowledgeable and made the story come to life."
• "Informed volunteers man various positions through the house."
• "The staff has been really helpful delighting us with some extra tips regarding the previous owners."
• "The staff are friendly and informative."
• "Staff were friendly and enthusiastic."
• "The site staff were really friendly and informative too."
• "Very helpful and knowledgeable staff."

Cons:

• "Sadly little information available with very few volunteers and most knew little about their room."
• "Sadly national trust has curved a lot of outdoor events at Melford Hall due to safety reasons."
• "However there is no written information at all! You look at pictures and wonder who you are looking at."
• "As per usual with national trust bit of 'hard sell' to join - which can be annoying !!!"
• "Somewhat disappointing overall. No obvious reason that we could see, but no information whatever in the rooms as to what you might be looking at."
• "Sadly the staff didn't make us feel very welcome, I felt like it was them & us and that I didn't belong there, quite offish and put a damper on our day out."
• "The only negative aspect, hence 3 stars was the Trust trying to sell raffle tickets while people were walking around the Hall."