The Walled Garden Reviews Summary

Gardens

Pros:

• "This is such a wonderful hidden gem."
• "Very large walled garden with both kitchen and formal gardens with garden art, a stream small lake and plant sales."
• "The gardens were accessible with a push chair and parking was easy - plenty of fields etc."
• "A play park is available for the kids to use and the garden itself is a great place to lose yourself for a couple of hours."
• "Nice walk around garden stunning wild flower beds."
• "Beautiful landscaped gardens."
• "The gardens are beautiful, especially when you consider that they only ask for a donation."

Cons:

• "But disjointed by random pieces of 'art'."
• "Gravel paths made it impossible for me to get around in my wheelchair."
• "Wasn't very well sign posted and was hard to find."
• "The only negative was that both cafe and toilet were closed despite the sign on the gate saying they were open."
• "Rest of garden areas seem a bit overgrown and unkempt."
• "Have been to this freely accessible gardens several times and there are changes every visit. However, on this visit (late August) the garden itself has a very tired look about it and a number of pathways are overgrown."
• "Sadly, some of the gardens have been closed off due to maintenance."

Cafe

Pros:

• "Food was very good and tasty, service fast and polite."
• "Lovely little cafe too."
• "The Dovecote Cafe was well laid out and the food on the menu looked just as impressive as the 'High Tea'."
• "The cafe was a real treat and the plant sales area unexpectedly very good value."
• "We also had lunch at the Dovecote Cafe which was fresh, tasty and reasonably priced."
• "The cafe is inviting and has a wide range of food and drinks to choose from."
• "The food from the cafe was excellent."

Cons:

• "The lady behind the counter was understandably under pressure, but was quite rude."
• "Also not at all impressed with the suggested £5 donation eat your picnic there."
• "RE-VISITED we came back all happy after coming here a while ago and was a little disappointed, yes it was busy but I must of had the smallest cup in the place (which was dwarfed by the saucer) and probably one of the smallest pots of tea we've had in a while. The cake was dry and slightly burnt."
• "I found the cafe rather disappointing though. No table service, and even with table numbers, you have to go up and collect your own food and wait for your hot drinks."
• "I visited again on Mothering Sunday. I knew it would be busy, but didn't expect to have to wait an hour for a tuna sandwich!"
• "The waiting staff appeared inexperienced or just didn’t know what they were doing."
• "Worst service ever received from the staff at this place they ignored the gentleman who was enquiring how much longer he had wait all staff miserable and couldn't care less attitude."

Accessibility

Pros:

• "My disability restricts how far I can walk in one go but this was OK."
• "There were lots of benches so I was able to have lots of rests."
• "It's perfect for exploring with little ones, animals, playground and a brilliant cafe."
• "Free to get in but there's an honesty box to put a donation in and a garden shop."
• "A beautiful place to visit. Free parking in the field or just outside."
• "Free parking and very nice cafe on site."
• "Free parking & restrooms available."