After a weekend in Gloucester we decided to drive home back up to Liverpool without using a motorway. The beautiful countryside on a sunny bank holiday Monday was a treat and then we saw signs for the castle, lots of people turning in so we decided to follow ! We are so happy that we did.

The lovely lady in reception showed us on a map which attractions were available to us , she clearly explained about the one way system that had been put in place to enable social distancing.

First of all we wandered around the kitchen gardens, marvelled at the abundant vegetables and fruit that was being grow and then around the beautiful gardens with the really pretty water features.

We had arrived just in time for a Bird of Prey demonstration, and spent an hour sitting in the sunshine watching the different birds being flown.

We then visited The Orangery cafe, I had a delicious scone with clotted cream and a coffee and my hubby had a sandwich, he said the cheese in particular was delicious .

After lunch it was time to visit inside the castle, a nice lady gave us wipe clean information cards , which clearly explained lots of information about the artefacts we would see inside.

Another one way system in place , but it worked very well and we enjoyed taking our time wandering around .

We are so pleased we came across this gem of a place, most unexpected on our way home , really lovely end to a relaxing weekend.

We felt really safe and well looked after during our visit , signage and one way system was really clear and being adhered to by all.

Great visit on a very quiet day in August. Gardens are very relaxing although the one way system and appropriate way signage was a bit confusing in some places, especially to find other areas of the garden such as the waterfall, or to make your way to the castle tour. It was very easy to park and I liked that there were toilets available right by the parking. The cafe was quiet and decent especially with the eat out scheme participation. The castle tour was ok but I would not invest a second time. It was over in minutes and very little of the castle is actually open to see. There were no people to share information about the rooms you were viewing and little information displayed in any of the rooms so I basically learned nothing about the castle. Lovely building though and worth a look. The best part of our visit were the lovely ponds/lakes in the formal garden and the delightful waterfall tropical type garden which was easy to miss if you did not actively seek it out. The waterfall garden area has very difficult access and is narrow so it cannot be accessed by those with a wheelchair or a pushchair. We would definitely visit the gardens again but skip the castle tour. There is plenty of lawn to bring a picnic too.

Spent a lovely few hours here. The gardens are definitelythe highlight. Beautifully laid out and planted with lots of water features, sculptures and structures. Nice place for a light lunch - luckily the weather was good enough to sit outdoors. Easy to socially distance and good COVID measures in place.