Kielder Observatory Reviews Summary

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The team are very enthusiastic and knowledgeable!"
• "The people who work here are warm and a pleasure to talk to."
• "Friendly and ridiculously knowledgeable and passionate staff will dazzle and engage you in equal measure as they share their passion for space."
• "The staff are approachable and passionate about the subject."
• "Staff are excellent and are very knowlegeable and friendly."
• "The staff were so knowledgeable, friendly, engaging, and passionate about what they do."
• "The staff were all super helpful and informative and the whole experience was brill."

Cons:

• "However the Tuck shop wasn't opened which was disappointing."
• "The staff were knowledgable and helpful but were a little dismissive of some of my questions."
• "Sent me a voucher which was great. Just asked them now to give me some dates to be told tough luck voucher has run out. Oh and no refund!!!"
• "Paid up got my tickets and then COVID hit... tough luck voucher has run out. Oh and no refund!!!"
• "I was mostly disappointed by the staff. They were friendly enough but I only found passion from one of the 3."
• "Unfortunately, we were then paired with two other groups, one of whom took a very long time at the telescope on two occasions, meaning members of our group and the other group were unable to see anything."
• "What a waste of time and thanks for nothing."

Facilities and Location

Pros:

• "As it’s a huge light pollution exclusion zone the sky is so clear."
• "The whole place is perfectly built in the middle of the forest and totally in keeping with its surroundings."
• "The building itself is very impressive, all locally sourced materials."
• "And the observatory itself is an extraordinary building in such beautiful scenery."
• "This observatory is also in a beautiful part of the country & the views are stunning!"
• "The observatory and surroundings are beautiful too."
• "The drive up a 2 mile forest track is interesting and then you arrive and the views are stunning."

Cons:

• "The drive from the holding car park is very narrow, hence the cars for the next slot were held in the bottom car park."
• "Also the observatory is in the middle of nowhere with no running water so the toilet facilities are interesting to say the least."
• "Toilets are composting so make sure you don’t lose a grip of your phone or keys as retrieving them would not be fun at all!"
• "Go to the toilet before attending, the composting toilets aren't a problem, but they are covered in other peoples urine and you can't wash your hands."
• "No amenities as such up at the observatory, there is a compost loo."
• "No baby change which I missed from the reviews."
• "Please be aware that you can't drive up there unless you have a booked session or obtain a key for the barrier in advance."

Weather and Viewing Experience

Pros:

• "We had a clear sky and so had plenty to look at including, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and a distant nebula."
• "Very cold but amazing star gazing with excellent night sky guides."
• "The best mug of hot chocolate this side of Bourneville."
• "We were very lucky with the weather and saw a lot through the telescopes."
• "We were very lucky with the weather as it was a very clear night."
• "The night was perfect for star gazing with not a cloud in the sky and in total darkness with no light pollution to spoil things."
• "Lucky enough to have no clouds too, which means I actually got to see another galaxy!"

Cons:

• "It was such a shame we couldn't stargaze because of the unexpectedly bad weather."
• "Unfortunately we didn't have the weather when we visited the observatory."
• "Even though it was cloudy and we were unable to see much through the telescopes."
• "Sadly the weather was very cloudy and couldn't see any stars through the telescope."
• "Unfortunately we didn't get to see the stars as the cloud cover was so thick."
• "Unfortunately after a 3 hour tour and educating talk the skies were cloudy and I got to see completely nothing!!"
• "Sadly no stars as it was cloudy, wet and foggy."

Educational Content

Pros:

• "The talks and presentations were really entertaining and the team were able to be fun and very educational."
• "Excellent presentations and the opportunity to get hands on."
• "An amazing experience with a very knowledgeable staff that told us about the wonders of the stars and planets."
• "Superb and knowledgeable staff with great introductions to astronomy."
• "The information talk Absolutely blew my mind!"
• "The talks were mega informative, you really do learn how vast the universe is."
• "Fascinating and entertaining talks by enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff."

Cons:

• "One gave us nothing, we played around for 20 minutes on a free app with little direction."
• "Pretty informative though the initial videos felt like a company induction."
• "The initial talk which lasted over an hour was a bit long and the children present were getting restless."
• "On a poor weather evening you essentially have 3 talks, 2 of which were pretty poor given the cost."
• "The team need to be prepared for this and have a video and pictures for people to see what it's like in good conditions!"
• "All in all, given the high expectations, we were left disappointed and wouldn't rush back."
• "Cloudy skies would make live demonstrations problematical."