I met a friend today at some lovely ruins-not National Trust, independent. We'd never been before. We went to the visitors centre, paid, had a pleasant chat with the lady working there, asked whether we could take a pushchair with us onto the site (yes, though in the end we didn't), used the loos, bought some drinks and snacks and had a rest with our toddlers at one of their outdoor picnic tables. We also noted and commented on the lovely cakes they were selling!
Then we went to look at the ruins. They were beautiful and the DC had a lovely time exploring with us. There was some rubbish lying around so we picked it up. That's only relevant as I want to demonstrate that we were entirely respectful of the place!
Then we went back to the visitors centre, used the loo again and bought drinks. We sat at a picnic table outside again and ate our sandwiches. We didn't ask whether we were allowed because there were lots of people eating picnics, both at the ruins themselves and at the visitors centre. We were looking forward to getting some cake from the centre after we'd eaten our sandwiches.
As we were finishing, a member of staff came out and said we couldn't eat our picnic there. We apologised profusely and said we hadn't realised it wasn't allowed. We also IMMEDIATELY started packing away. She repeated that we weren't allowed and said it was entirely inappropriate, which I thought was a bit over the top but didn't comment on. We apologised again, she left.
Less than 2 minutes later another member of staff came out and very stroppily said 'are you GOING to move your picnic on?' I was a bit irritated by her tone. I said 'that's exactly what we're doing!' and indicated our now empty table. I don't think 2 minutes to pack away rubbish and organise two toddlers was excessive. She stared at me really aggressively and said 'it's totally inappropriate. You wouldn't go to a restaurant and take out a picnic!' I thought-but didn't say-of course not, but this is not a restaurant and you don't sell meals, just cake! I said, 'we've apologised and explained that we didn't realise it wasn't allowed-we've tidied it away now. We've also bought food and drink from your shop-we're not just using the facilities without contributing.' She repeated herself even more angrily and I said 'there's no need to be cross about it, you're really overreacting.' She repeated herself AGAIN and gave us another hard stare before stomping off.
I feel a bit upset about this and am tempted to write and say I feel it's very unfriendly and bad customer service. It was a lovely place and we had a great time but they pretty much threw us out because we brought sandwiches, which we apologised about several times. We wouldn't have brought them if they had a restaurant but the website clearly showed picnic tables and there were people eating picnics all over the place! I am perfectly willing to accept that we should have checked first-and always will in future-but wasn't their reaction a bit ridiculous?!
Sorry this is long. Am annoyed.