Arley Hall & Gardens Avis 15

Went today to see Arley Hall, checked for opening times. On arriving we was told the gardens were open, however the house was not open. The hall only opens once a month on weekends, no mention of this on the website.
We then said we will go and have a coffee, the girl said it would cost up £12 each, just to see the gardens, but we just want a coffee, it will still cost £12 each….
With that we left, what a scam!!!
Will not return…

Absolute disgrace of a place, one toilet and that was discussing, Gardens are over priced for whet they are, hall was closed so a wasted trip. Gardens might be worth a visit in late May June but the rest of the time give this place a miss, not worth the money.

UPDATE following your reply back to me…
Please gets the facts correct..both myself and my husband were offered full refunds from the 2 members of staff we independently spoke to on 2 separate phone calls on the Saturday morning. As stated it was not because we did not want to go to the exhibition it was a mistake “made on my own behalf “ that I incorrectly purchased a family ticket as my children are 18.I felt the full price tickets for 4 adults to be expensive particularly as we had visited the hall on a number of occasions.Neither members of staff advised us otherwise or suggested alternatives. I really wish the calls were recorded which would state this fact. As I advised both members of staff were very friendly and helpful. I guess the review has been written by the customer service manager ; you belittle me by advising I accept “half of my refund! . What’s the problem with that! It should have been a full refund as advised to us on the calls on the Saturday morning.Your attitude is truly appalling. You displayed no empathy whatsoever for a genuine mistake. I made the call to the hall on the Saturday morning after I booked on the Friday evening. The booking was for the Sunday. I state again that the 2 members of staff were helpful whom we spoke with on the Saturday. It was the manager who needs training in customer service. You advise in your review, a number of times that tickets are non refundable, you made no account for human error. It was only after extensive and unnecessary emails , that you agreed to offer half the refund!

Book tickets with caution !Having visited Arley Hall on a number of occasions where we found the guides to be very helpful and informative, unfortunately this cannot be said for the customer service team and manager (but not owner). I made a genuine mistake in booking a family ticket for the Peaky Blinders exhibition weekend, on the Friday evening for the Sunday. Immediately I noticed the ages of children on a family ticket were 16 (our children are 18) I called the Hall on the Saturday morning to speak to some friendly members of staff to be advised that a refund would be processed on the Monday. No other purchase options were given. However… No refund!! Instead I received an email on the Wednesday to advise tickets are non refundable..even for a genuine mistake. The attitude of the customer service team and manager has been disgraceful. They have shown no customer service or empathy whatsoever to the situation. Instead it has felt very much of a blame culture from them to us, for the error I made at the time of booking. Eventually after lots of emails back and forth, which were very time consuming and unnecessary, had they taken a more empathetic approach, they have agreed to pay “ half”the cost of the family ticket back to us. Sadly after lots of lovely memories made at Arley Hall, the attitude displayed by the customer service team mean we now won’t be visiting the Hall again.

Visited Arley Hall light spectacular on Sunday evening and I fully agree with the other review(s) about the state of the walk way. It was very muddy and dangerous in parts especially for those less steady on their feet. There were pot holes and in parts where there were no lights you couldn’t see where to put your feet.

Terrible experience of being shouted at and belittled by a very abrupt member of staff for playing with outdoor games (standard National Trust type visitor offer) that apparently were there for a wedding although there was absolutely no signage. Lack of signage on paths elsewhere too. Very expensive bad day out.

Very difficult place to get to without a car. They have a carpark but it comes with a £3 charge. You have no option to pay because you literally cannot park anywhere else.
They have a small cafe with very limited food options, on the day we went the choice was a vegetable pasty or Quice both served with salad. Did not know it at the time but the pasty was curried. Visited in August and whilst the herbaceous looked good and the lawns neatly cut if you look closely things have a bit of an unkempt look about them. All in all slightly disappointed with this visit.

I have visited many gardens up and down the country and Arley Hall gardens rank in the top five that I have seen.The gardens are stunning and every time you turn a corner another delight awaits you.The garden just keeps giving.The herbaceous border is a riot of colour and is the best I have seen

I actually love Arley Hall and Gardens - especially the nursery visits before leaving as they sell amazing plants. This review is specifically for the Garden Festival 2024. I have been going to the festival for a few years now, and started to notice a small decline last year. This year whilst the weather didn't help on the Saturday, it became apparent that the organisation of it wasn't up to scratch. I was personally guided to an incorrect car park which I subsequently realised when asking a very abrupt 'lady' on the entrance. The plant stall were sparse - far fewer than previous years and the whole thing felt like a ghost town. A full rethink is needed I feel.

Beautiful well kept gardens. We couldn’t go into the hall as it was closed but we had a peep and it looks fab.
Lovely cafe and terrace but quite expensive (£8.40 for 2 cans & 2 cookies). The older staff within the cafe are abrupt & rude. They have a lot to learn from their younger colleagues!
Nice gift shop with a lovely helpful lady working in there.
Well worth a visit, but if you have kids take a picnic.

We've been so many times to Arley along with the other top gardens in the UK and beyond and think this is no1. The18th century borders the oldest in England are spectacular deep and double sided are worth the entrance fee alone and there's so much more in the beautiful gardens. The hall has been the base for so many great films and TV shows. Lovely place.

Where to start..

My partner and I recently got engaged and as you can imagine, we’re overly excited to get married and started wedding venue shopping!! We decided to choose our location - Cheshire.

As we were Googling, we came across Arley Hall & Gardens. We watched the 12 minute video which was presented beautifully. It was also home to Thomas Shelby (Peaky Blinders!) and we instantly fell in love.

We decided to hire a car to view the venue however, we knew before viewing it was going to be our chosen wedding venue, no matter what! The venue was exactly what we had seen in the video so we were set!

Throughout of the process, we were liaising with Milliemae Holt who is one of Arley Hall wedding coordinators. As we got a provisional date set, my partner and I started to discuss price. Of course, before securing a deposit, we wanted to ask if there’s any movement on price in which, who wouldn’t nowadays? You would be silly not to given the cost of living/coming out of a pandemic etc.

We asked 3 different questions regarding pricing and we received the most, unhelpful, rude & dismissive emails back from Millie (pictures attached of our emails for proof!). From the 2nd email, I was extremely taken back as Millie informs us to start looking at other venues if Arley Hall wasn’t in our budget - Wait what?! How could you push a customer to go and book with another venue? Do you not want our service? Especially a customer who is going to depart with over £10,000 of their money?!

My partner and I put that 2nd email down to Millie ‘having a bad day’ even though that shouldn’t really be an excuse. We decided we were going to call Shelagh (meant to be a happiness manager) the next day to relay how Millie has come across rude. The following morning Millie emails back to our 3rd email completely dismissing the conversation which displayed a level of frustration. We knew from here it was wasn’t down to Millie having a ‘bad day’, she’s just unacceptably rude and doesn’t care about her customers. This is meant to be the person who will be working with me on my wedding day! If she can’t answer 3 questions over email, how will she manage my wedding day?! How can we work with someone so rude?

At this point, both Lewis and I are extremely upset and disappointed that such a prestigious venue has someone who works for them that cannot provide basic customer service skills.

My partner and I called Shelagh to inform her of the emails. We relayed exactly what was said hoping Shelagh would show some sincerity and would get Millie to apologise for her actions. However, Shelagh was very defensive over Millie and informed us that Millie has been ‘busy & frustrated’ at our emails. How is that acceptable?! How is our future wedding coordinator getting frustrated at us? How is she blaming the fact Millie is ‘busy’ make it ok to respond dismissively? Honestly, I was and still am in utter shock of how this is acceptable.

There are nicer ways to position ‘no we don’t offer a discount’ however, we didn’t get nice, we didn’t even get basic customer service which you should get if your ready to pay over £10,000. You should also be able to ask 1000 questions if needed.

My partner and I was always going to pay the price however, we were so upset how Millie treated us & the lack of understanding from Shelagh, we’ve decided to go back to the drawing board and start again after securing the date with Cheshire East Registrars.

There is no way we can work with people who clearly don’t want to work with us. If I could give 0 stars, I would. It’s left such a bad taste in my mouth about Arley Hall & Gardens.

Choose wisely where you want to get married as I’ve met some lovely wedding coordinators who actually want to work with you!

Nice long walk in the woods expensive for what it is .
For me the biggest con having to pay for a house ticket to go in to the restaurant .
When your in the restaurant I don’t think the menu is child friendly just sandwiches they said when I asked on a cold day .come on most people are here because of children.come on get your act together

Visited Arley Hall today with my partner on our bikes. We were told quite bluntly that we had to pay the entrance fee, (£9 each to gain access to the toilets and cafe) We said we only wanted to visit the cafe and use the toilets. The lady on the till asked us had we not see the sign outside about cyclists. We hadn't. She was rude.
Upon leaving, another member of staff politely explained that the grounds are privately owned and this is the wish of the owners, and had been since C19. I said these restrictions do not now apply and seemed silly to expect us to pay the entrance fee just to use the toilets and have access to the cafe. We had rode in excess of 30 miles at this point.
The lady said that it was the owners wish to operate this policy and that we would be paying for "the privilege of using the cafe"
Interesting point of view.
Thus, cannot comment on the cafe as we weren't paying £18 for that 'privilege'.
The cafe was very nice but empty, as my partner reported upon her return from the toilets, and the carpark had around 40 cars on a BH weekend, so maybe the owners are onto something.....
In any case cyclists, avoid.

Rude staff, waited in line for 35 minutes for 2teas and 2cokes and cakes,very chaotic over priced food, we had to wait in line whilst others were queuing for a meal.

As wedding photographers, we had the privilege of capturing a beautiful wedding at Arley Hall & Gardens, and we must say, it was an incredible experience. The atmosphere at Arley is warm and intimate, making it the perfect venue for a dream wedding. The charm and character of the place left a lasting impression on us, and it’s evident that this is a cherished family home.

The Gardens at Arley are amongst the finest in Britain and are truly outstanding in their vitality and variety. The double herbaceous border is a magnificent sight and provides the perfect backdrop for wedding photography. Our clients were thrilled with the photos we captured in the Gardens and the memories they now have of their special day.

The wedding ceremony was held in the magnificent Hall, which provided the perfect setting for a grand yet intimate wedding. The staff at Arley were extremely helpful and were on hand to answer any questions our clients had about any aspect of their special day.

Arley Hall & Gardens offer various locations for the wedding ceremony, including the inside of the Hall, the Gardens, and the historic Cruck Barn. This versatility gives couples the freedom to choose a location that suits their personal style and preferences. Our clients chose to get married in the Gardens, and it was a beautiful and magical moment.

During the open day, a selection of highly recommended suppliers were on hand to help with the planning of the wedding. We were impressed with the quality of the florists, Ewer Roberts and GD Flowers, who provided stunning floral arrangements that complemented the beauty of the venue.

Lastly, we appreciated the fact that the Cheshire East Registrars were on hand to explain the format of the wedding ceremony and went through the main points with our clients, so they knew what to expect. This helped to ensure that the ceremony went smoothly and that our clients were relaxed and able to enjoy the moment.

In conclusion, Arley Hall & Gardens is an exceptional wedding venue, and we would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a venue that provides a warm, intimate, and beautiful setting for their special day.

Kindest regards,
The Kensington Photographers