Crathes Castle Reviews Summary

Castle and Grounds

Pros:

• "Area of castle very nice maintained, great area for walking with family and dogs."
• "Wonderful day, fantastic walk called the ley way across wooden bridges past lovely streams and ponds and fantastic gardens with some amazing trees."
• "Always a wonderful place to visit. Lots of different walking routes."
• "A great location to visit with amazing history and gardens. It's part of the national trust so members go in for free."
• "The Gardens are vast and so well looked after, the sights, sounds and smells make this a treasured gem of a place."
• "The grounds of the castle provide great walks and it is also the home of Go Ape which provides adventurous tree top walks."
• "Great woodlands to explore and an excellent adventure playground for the kids."

Cons:

• "Some rooms changed in the 1920s, original decorations lost, little castle, not really worth 13£."
• "Interesting castle but access inside difficult."
• "Stairs in castle difficult to manoeuvre at points. Not suitable for those with mobility problems."
• "No dedicated disabled parking with spacing either."
• "No notice at car park saying that you have to go to shop for ticket. A trail back to shop hard work for disabled."
• "Castle itself was okay, but I'm disabled as is my partner more or less and access is abysmal to be honest, very hilly."
• "None of the structures had ramps to allow wheelchair or buggy access although there was no reason for a small ramp to be added."

Cafe and Food Options

Pros:

• "Also had an excellent lunch in the cafe."
• "Great day out with the kiddies, loads of room for them to run around, playground and what not and Great little cafe."
• "The staff was too friendly and will answer your questions."
• "The onsite cafe is great, but on peak days like bank holidays, expect to wait, and struggle to find a table."
• "The castle has a big and modern cafe with hot food and beverages."
• "Cafe serves good food, if a bit pricey."
• "The cafe isn't the most expensive or the cheapest BUT the staff are the friendliest and most helpful."

Cons:

• "Food still being served in cardboard boxes with plastic cutlery. Not much choice on menus."
• "Only disappointment was in the selection of food trucks available. Snacks or pizza."
• "The cafe is closed due to lack of staff."
• "Although lockdown restrictions have eased, they haven’t reopened indoor seating, and on a drizzly day in Scotland we couldn’t face paying cafe prices for a picnic style lunch."
• "Sadly we can't say the same about the cafe staff."
• "Very poor facilities. No opportunity to sit indoors and there is plenty of space to have socially distanced tables indoors."
• "Arriving were met with un-accommodate parking staff not allowing us to park to facilitate wheelchair removing."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Joined National Trust Scotland in gift shop, they delayed starting the last tour until I arrived."
• "Staff where very friendly."
• "Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative."
• "All the staff were friendly, the performers were so talented and had been there for hours still with a bug smile on their faces."
• "We got a friendly welcome here with a great introduction talk to the castle and its history."
• "Free tour guides who know all about the castle, and put on a great show."
• "Cafe was busy when we arrived and the service a bit slow but all the staff were friendly and helpful."

Cons:

• "No warm welcome, no hot food, no menus on display, and overall couldn't care attitude."
• "Any child in a wheelchair would not have been able to see Santa, but at least the staff could care less."
• "While the workers we interacted with were friendly and did their best, it was obvious they were short staffed and generally disorganized especially with special needs groups."
• "Beautiful well maintained grounds but let down by staff unable to answer straightforward questions about access to the castle."
• "There was a dour woman on the 2nd floor who didn't engage with us at all. Lousy employee not cutting the mustard."
• "Turned away at castle entrance by a rude member of staff."
• "Management really needs to remove the countless orange signs and nets that are super detrimental to the views and ruin pictures."

Accessibility and Facilities

Pros:

• "The castle is part of the National Trust for Scotland and you can visit inside with a guided tour that takes you through many rooms full of history and stories."
• "Friendly and helpful staff, large car park."
• "Easily found, plenty of parking."
• "Facilities like baby changing rooms/WCs are easily accessible and well kept."
• "The castle has a very nice walled garden, you can get in for free after the castle closes for the day."
• "There's a couple of kids activities to make exploring the interior of the castle interesting to them."
• "With really nice cafe coffee shop."

Cons:

• "There was a cost for car parking but the machines weren't working when we went."
• "Been here several times shocked to see now we have to pay entry free to see the walled Garden."
• "House closed but managed the gardens and only had to pay the car park fee. Nothing open - not even the cafe."
• "Parking should be free or at least get your money back if use shop, cafe or go into Castle. A big rip off stand together Don't go."
• "Don't allow dogs but says they do??? Also £3 to park up then £15 to get into Castle."
• "The whole place felt like a monetary extraction exercise rather than an experience."
• "Note that there is a small fee for the parking when arriving by car."