Belvoir Castle Reviews 158

it was really great opportunities to visit this castle. Its really beautiful and I felt my self queen for few moments🙈. One downside is tickets a bit expensive but for a such rich historical place it was worth

We had a lovely first visit to Belvoir Castle today. Very friendly staff - reception and staff in the Aviary cafe in particular. The house was presented well and definitely had the wow factor. It also felt homely. The gardens were beautiful. Lots of photos were taken.

A lovely day out at Belvoir Castle. Friendly staff especially the head gardener who we were privileged to chat to in the spectacular Rose Garden. He gave us great advice on how to look after and properly trim our box bushes. A fantastic day out!

My family went today. We had dinner at the bistro. We ordered a bottle of the Belvoir wine ( not many alternatives tbh). The food was below par…. Gammon steak with uncooked fat… no veg…. The salad appalling. The wine gave us acid and I will never ever drink that wine again… the whole experience was awful. Will not be going any where near this place any time soon.

Really poor 12 days of Christmas visit.looked promising on entering log fires and trees,after that went down hill 😢 just felt as no real effort had been made at all.

We came to Belvoir last year where the santa experience was very good.

This year however in a nutshell.

1. Turned up at 4, paid for parking only to be told car park closes in an hour. We had to go up some poorly signposted private roads to park.

2. House is very beautiful, staff that met us really nice.

3. Went to get a cup of tea in the cafe, to be met by probably the rudest most aghast lady telling us indignantly "read the sign, WE'RE CLOSED" thankfully a nice man there gave us a bottle of coke. If you close the cafe at 4, let people know prior to the visit.

4. Santa and his elves very good! Presents awful. An 80p polystyrene bird and a picture of a castle which had the price scribbled out on the back. £95 experience for 30 mins of a hurried walk around and those presents is an insult.

Very much doubt the duke and duchess actually wanted people coming into their house and this was apparent.

Lastly getting out of the estate took us 30 mins as it was not signposted, pitch black and many confusing junctions

Visited 12 days of Christmas. Ridiculously over priced for a very disappointing display. A slow stroll got us around in 30 minutes - at £25 per adult this was not at all acceptable. It’s clearly focused on funding the resident family’s Christmas and not entertaining guests. Won’t be back and would recommend any of the many other local alternatives such as the Belton house light trail which was fabulous last year. I am happy to pay for quality but the price did not reflect the quality of the experience.

A very poor afternoon tea for 3 . The bread for the sandwiches were dry and had to be sent back and replaced. The scones we cold and had to be warmed and tiny bowl of clotted cream was given to us supposedly for 6 scones. A cantuccini biscuit was one of the other desserts and a little glass of what I assumed was eggnog containing alcohol which was mentioned during the
Booking when a
Member of the party doesn’t drink any form of alcohol. Poorest afternoon tea I’ve ever had and the price with entry that you have to pay to get into the tearoom was £180 for 3 of us.

We visited for the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. The castle itself is beautiful and the warm log fire on entering was wonderful. The decorations were beautiful. Well worth a visit!

Car parking. They have an automated vehicle reg recognition system using an app which was all good. However the app had my old registration. I then got chased for a parking fine and provided the proof that I did pay it was just down as the wrong reg. They rejected this claim and are now chasing me for £130. I paid for the right amount of hours to use the space and provided evidence as such. The rejection on this shows, they do not care about anything other than money.

I was so disappointed, having been meaning to visit with my family for a long time.

The whole place just has a feel of 'nobody cares'.

The adventure playground is clean and attractive but it is much, much smaller than advertised, definitely nothing compared to Belton House. The gardens are in a bit of a mess, admittedly we are in autumn now but there is no sense of any pride being taken considering the admission charge.

Lastly, the food options let me down the most. The tea room was booked up having climbed up the hill and struggled to locate it. We were sent to a hut round the back which offered about a quarter of the menu stated on the board outside. A few soggy sad looking pastries, half empty freezer of ice cream and some flapjack. We had some pastries out of hungry desperation but they were average at best. Not what you would expect in such a grand setting. The teas and coffee were also only luke warm straight away.

All of the staff seemed fed up. Just a generally miserable atmosphere.

I hate leaving bad reviews but seriously DO NOT BOTHER!! It's clear the owners don't care about visitor experience at all.

Having lived only a mile away from Belvoir castle for over fifty years and now moved away, I took my friend to visit the castle and grounds, who like me is in her late seventies. I could not believe that it cost us both twenty pounds each entry fee. On top of that, we had to pay an extra six pounds just to park. I’ve been many times in my early days and never had to pay to park. Won’t go again.

We had attended a Land Rover show in the grounds on Sunday the 10th and decided to visit the gardens on Wednesday with our two dogs.
We paid for 3 hours parking and assumed we also had an additional free hour.
The access path to the castle appears to have recently been surfaced and the finish was extremely slippery to the point of being dangerous!
The gardens were not well maintained and definitely not worth the £20 paid to enter! We found the route markers to be confusing leading us to end up on the longest walk and no markers to be seen.
We eventually found our way back to the car park dried the dogs and headed off.
When we arrived home yesterday in the post there was letter stating we had over stayed and we’re liable to a £60 penalty!!!!
We definitely will not be back!!!!

Very disappointing visit we had afternoon tea the food was dull and uninspired the tea room needs updating.
The castle is tired and the gardens are unkempt and hugely disappointing.
The entire place needs serious care and investment.
Such a shame we won’t be back.

The Engine Yard seems to be failing. The last couple of times we have visited the retail units are gradually closing down. I would estimate that more than half the shops have closed down. We visited at a premium time last week and there were six cars in the car park. In the past the car park has been full. The Duchess made a statement on a social website saying that this summer would be flourishing. There is no sign of this so far. Very disappointing.

Car parking. they have an automated vehicle reg recognition system....straight forward enough, it picks up your reg on entry then on departure you enter reg into machine and it displays the amount due. I paid, have proof. Today I received a letter from debt collection agency charging me £170 for non payment. I challenged it, as I have proof I paid, they told me too late to challenge, its pay £170 or see you in court.

It all started at the entrance gate where a sign was posted advertising for volunteer guides and gardeners! Are you kidding me? The Duke is worth 125million pounds.....pay your people! Castle was shabby, fabrics torn and the entire place looked very unkept. What's up with the family photos everywhere and the bust of the Duchess? We know you live there. The highlight was the very lovely older woman in the tea room where we enjoyed lunch. She was so sweet and made the ridiculous pricing seem worth it. I'll stick to National Trust sites in the future. Also, I paid for a full day of parking....let's see if I get a ticket!

Received a parking fine despite paying for parking. Instructions are not clear and it is money grabbing to say the least! It is disgusting, especially seeing as I paid for parking and entry.

Visited many times last year in car for a drive out and cup of coffee in the main car park. Although parking machines you used to get 1hr for free. Just taken the car out of its garage for the summer and had a drive out to Belvoir. No new signage and had a coffee as usual. Stopped a whole 26mins. A week later I get a £100 fine reduced to £60 for early payment from Initial Parking. Greedy owners coining it in from what used to be regular customers. Visitors beware. I won't be going again.

They just want your money!
Prices for garden and car park are excessive. Would NOT recommend.