The weather wasn't the best so we sat inside for an interesting talk by the resident astronomer. Once it cleared up we got a chance to use the main telescope and to use binoculars for some more free form and dynamic observations. Well worth the cost and I would (indeed, have) recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in the night sky

We booked up for an evening moonwatch session and we were not disappointed. First off the cost is £22.50 per adult but cheaper for children and concessions - absolutely worth the money!! We had a very knowledgeable gentleman called Harry who took our group. He gave us lots of information about space, the planets and the stars and suggested we downloaded an app called Stellarium to our phones which is brilliant if you haven’t used it before!! We were lucky enough to have the most beautifully clear evening to look through the amazing telescope onsite. We saw incredible views of the andromeda galaxy, the moon and pleiades. Harry was happy to answer any questions he helped us get incredible photos on our phones. There is a real treat at the end of the session but I’m not going to give it away!! My mind was blown by all the new facts and information. I literally could have stayed there all night!! There are plenty of pairs of binoculars to use should you wish and a free tea/coffee/ hot chocolate machine at the back of the room. If you are a novice stargazer like me this will blow your mind, or if you just want a better view of the sky from a dark sky area this is for you! Harry, we can’t thank you enough for the fun - we will definitely be returning for another session!!

Amazing experience . Harry our presenter was enthusiastic and gave us a fascinating 2 hour tour of the skies . I learned a lot . We were very lucky in that as we arrived it was snowing but the clouds then cleared for a while and we were able to see the moons of Jupiter and the craters of the moon through the powerful telescope .highly recommend .

We visited as a family on their astronomy for beginners event. Roy was fab. He was engaging, friendly, knowledgeable and really helpful with equipment and pointing out the planets, moon and stars. Our night was pretty cloudy but it did lift for spells. I have never seen so many stars even though it wasn’t a clear night. The whole family was engaged and found the night really interesting. Was honestly such a cool night. Will definitely come back to do another event and just look up at such a wonderful sky. Thanks Roy for a really inclusive and informative experience. Has your glove turned up? Haha. Wonderful night.

Had an amazing experience with Rita and Roy, the Astronomers, who were funny, friendly, helpful and extremely knowledgeable. Did the 9-11pm tour, which was incredible. Travelled up from Gloucester, staying in Durham, so was about an hour away. Well worth it. I'd recommend this to anyone, seeing the sky likes you've never seen it before was amazing. Thank you so much!

We came for the astrophotography beginners class. I would say I am a beginner with normal photography, never mind astro so I really enjoyed the learning experience. Chris has a wealth of experience and was a genuinely lovely man. He has an absolute abundance of knowledge and he was so adaptable to any situation. Any question was answered, and it felt like he enjoyed what he was doing which also helped. We got lucky with the sky and the weather (albeit cold of course) and Chris helped us take some incredible photos. Everything he said made sense. I would like to come back again, possibly for some star gazing.

We were at the hotel for three nights and booked three different sessions, one each night. While there was some overlap the presenters, Jimmy and Rita were wonderful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, going out of their way to tailor what they presented to broaden and extend our experience. Although the weather was so cloudy we could do no practical observations, we learned a great deal and came away very happy.

Fantastic evening. Roy was our astronomer for the evening and he made it a fun , fascinating and very knowledgeable night learning about our night skies. The forecast was rain and it was quite the cloudy night however 15 minutes before the end the cloud cleared and we had the most amazing star filled sky , so certainly worth sticking around for. My kids 14 and 12 were still fascinated and wide awake at 11.15 looking through the binoculars and telescopes in awe of what they could see. Certainly worth a trip.

I booked the Dark Skies Discovery session as a family of 4 for my dads birthday. Roy was our Astronomer and kept us very entertained whilst teaching us new facts about astronomy - we were all very impressed at his clear passion for the subject. I would advise anyone not to leave early, despite clouds in the sky, as at the very end the skies cleared and Roy stayed a Futher 30 mins and set up both Telescopes so that we could see all we'd learned about. 10/10 experience.

An absolutely fantastic experience. We started at 9pm, it was a cold and windy day and had just become quite cloudy overhead to begin. Roy, who was leading the session, had a lot of optimism that it would clear up. While waiting for the skies to clear, Roy talked to us about his work, things to spot while star gazing and had a catalogue of knowledge and information that the whole group was fascinated with. While I assumed this time may have been spent star gazing, I truly believe that to fully appreciate what you were looking for you needed all this knowledge and information so it does not feel like that time was ‘wasted’. Within the last 45 minutes the sky cleared up and the view was incredible. Roy was able to show us different galaxies through the telescope, he even stated an extra 20 minutes due to missing all that star gazing time beforehand. Highly recommended experience.