to complain about this rip off 'attraction' even though the owners seem nice...

[mypokerface]

Went to a country house yesterday which had featured on Country house rescue. As it's not far from us I thought it would be worth a visit with the dcs. Checked its website before we went, it advertised lots of activities for children including an activity park, maze, treasure hunt etc. After paying the £17.50 to get in (one adult, 2 children) we tramped around the 'gardens' which was more like a forest - dangerous muddy hills which were so steep people kept falling down, saw the maze which had just been planted so not a maze you could spend any time exploring, completed the treasure hunt in 30 mins (only 5 clues) went to the adventure playground to find one slide and one climbing frame.

Decided to go to the cafe, ordered a coffee, 2 orange juices and 3 slices of cake. Told it would be a 15 min wait. Sat down in the overcrowded cafe, could literally not move, it was rammed full of tables and chairs, and waitedfor another 30 mins for our drinks and cake. WTF? Could maybe understand if I'd ordered hot food, but there was little preparation involved. Whole place a shambles. Loads of people serving but no-one had a clue what they were doing... Total cost for coffee, juice and cakes - no change from £20.

Anyway, the lady taking the orders in the cafe was actually the owner and was lovely. Apologised to everyone for the delay and was working really hard.

However I just feel like I was completely ripped off. Forked out almost £40 to walk around a forest with limited facilities and be served a tiny piece of cake and a tepid cup of tea which we had to wait ages for. Meanwhile the family are raking in money from the public which they are pumping into their lovely luxurious house which they get the pleasure of living in and doing very well by the looks of it, their private drive was full of top of the range bmws and audis.

AIBU to complain? Just felt completely fleeced.

I just had a look on the website and to be fair the photo's of the hedge maze do clearly show that the hedge is only two inches tall at this time .

Not sure how they can justify the text "Lose yourself in our hedge maze" that appears underneath that photo though.

But yes it does sound like you have plenty to complain about. Our favourite local attraction charges less if the weather is bad because a lot of it is zoo based and you might not get to see the animals. They also started with low prices when they were still building half the park. They are making improvements all the time but if the building works prevent you getting to some sections of the park the price is always lowered and you are warned before you go in.

I actually think you are being unfair (appart from about the Cafe - which was crap - far too busy - long waits, etc). The walk is pretty long - my kids loved the playground - and there is the hill with the view which was great. I agree the maze hasn't grown much - but you still have to work out how to go round it, and it was better for the little ones as they weren't scared, as they could see the world adn didn't feel too lost.

noone the maze has suffered acute tree 'trauma' which means a lot of the trees are dead or dying. They had a note up saying the weather had really affected them and I completely understand that. I said to the dcs that we'd have to go back in 10 years time (this is how long it takes for the trees to be the perfect maze height apparently) to explore it properly.

My boys went there for the first time last month and loved it so much that we returned a few days later! I was a bit at the price, but they spent a good four hours there, playing in the maze, playing in the adventure playground and playing hide and seek in the gardens.

Also had stick play in the hall, where you could design all sorts of things from gatherings from the garden, ribbons etc. DS2 made a stick man, and DS1 a bow.

I agree the maze is pretty disappointing, and they should state in the website that the maze isn't growing at the moment (there's a sign that explains damage a few years back).

I think you should write to them with your concerns.

So sorry you feel ripped off. I had to look at the maze - I see the problem, like you say it will be great in 10 years no much use to you now.

thequietone but there's barely anything to do in the adventure playground, one big slide not suitable for the under 5's (overheard a couple of parents actually complaining about how dangerous the slide is, because of no handrails just a steep ladder to climb up) a wigwam which only very small (or short!) children can access and a climbing frame. My dc's spent about 5 mins in the playground and were bored.

takingiteasy "YABU to go to one of these places in the first place! Why subsidise someone's life of luxury? never understood the whole stately home thing. Come and admire my big house and pay me for the privilege! No ta!"

That's a bit of a sweeping statement! So you don't enjoy going round a stately home or nice gardens - fair enough. But loads of people do genuinely find this interesting, why else do you think so many are members of NT?

I find it hard to understand why anyone enjoys theme parks, football matches - even shopping malls - but I would never say they were BU for doing so.

That said, this particular property does sound like it leaves a lot to be desired.

It sounds crap and tbh I would be tempted to explain if as bad as you have described!

For comparison, Claremont Gardens near Cobham (NT) which has a small playground, a tearoom, and a lake with a circular walk around it (though kids could roam a bit from that) is priced as follows:

Adult: £6.30
Child: £3.15
Family: £15.75

''YABU to go to one of these places in the first place! Why subsidise someone's life of luxury? never understood the whole stately home thing. Come and admire my big house and pay me for the privilege! No ta!''

Actually, the owners of these houses often have no other choice. I can't really blame folk for turning their homes in to places of business if it means they can keep them.

Some do better jobs than others. I've been to a few of these type homes and I'd be pretty pissed off paying that amount of money to do so little, and to not even get to have a poke around the house.

"seeming nice" is lesson 101 of ripping people off
if you don't "seem nice" when you try to rip people off it doesn't work so well

Don't want to plug but Bowood really is good. Beautiful with a great adventure playground one of the few places like this we have found is worth the money

"For comparison, Claremont Gardens near Cobham (NT) which has a small playground, a tearoom, and a lake with a circular walk around it (though kids could roam a bit from that) is priced as follows:

Adult: £6.30
Child: £3.15
Family: £15.75"

And for more comparison, Crystal Palace Park in SE London, which has:
three lakes (one with "life" size Victorian stone dinosaurs - and a small colony of turtles...)
a small working farm you can visit to see ponies, pigs, fish, cavies, snakes, etc.
a mature maze which is one of the biggest in England
a playground with a large sandy area and plenty of equipment
and acres and acres of grassy hills and flats for walking and kite-flying, is...
ALL FREE!

awesome am googling as I type. Crystal Palace Park sounds fantastic and I particularly find the word free appealing!