Trentham Avis 34

Traffic to this place is a joke.. I booked for the circus and could not even get on to Trentham gardens due to poor traffic management we left in plenty of time only to end up in traffic on the main road to Trentham for over an hour, if we waited in it any longer the show would have been nearing the end.. that’s 3 tickets purchased down the drain. I won’t be going Trentham Gardens again.

Purchased tickets for 2nd January unfortunately there was a weather warning not to travel from Wolverhampton due to icey conditions, emailed customer service to change the ticket dates on the day and not received a reply 7 days later

We love visiting Trentham, myself & my husband visit quite often. As a person I don't like complaining, would rather give positive feedback, but I have used the toilets which are situated at the bottom of the village by the wheel, they are terribly dirty, doesn't matter the time of day/evening they are always the same, the toilets are not just filthy inside, it's all around the outside, no toilet paper, toilet brushes well I wouldn't even touch, no wonder nobody cleans up after themselves, the list could go on. Sadly there is a notice by the door with signatures on saying they've been cleaned, I think this definitely wants looking into as those people aren't doing there job properly.

We visited the Trentham Gardens shopping village on our way back to Scotland having been down in Portsmouth. This review relates to the Rotisserie food outlet at The shopping village. My wife and I decided to go for the seniors roast "for the smaller appetite". I don't think the server could have given a smaller portion. My roast beef consisted of thee very small pieces of lukewarm beef and a lump of fat. My wife's turkey was the same.
This was served on a bun with a portion of lukewarm chips. "Help yourself to everything else" I was told by the "chef". Everything else consisted of cold baked beans, cold sliced tomatoes, cold cucumber and withered up lettuce. This "meal" included a cup of tea which was the only hot thing we had. The only one to benefit was our dog who had the meat bits. I had read reviews of this place on another review website and all I can say is they were easily pleased. This establishment does not deserve one star. Terrible food and surly, ignorant staff.
Having said that we went to the main garden centre at Trentham and can only agree with other comments regarding the restaurant. We went to the dog friendly area and sat down. We were the only customers in this part of the seating area. It was not clear if it was table service or if we had to go to the counter . Several staff saw us sitting there but none came across to talk to us. 5 minutes later after being totally ignored we left.

We did visit some of the other shops in the village and were met with warm, cheery welcomes and very helpful staff. It is a shame our day was spoilt by the Rotisserie and The Garden Centre cafe

Very very disappointed with the garden centre. I went with a friend, we each bought three plants. All six turned out to have pests. Two of mine had spider mites (very hard to spot an early infestation, and can be very very hard to eradicate), the third had root mealy bugs, which are also hard to detect because they live on the roots under the soil. I got suspicious when it wasn’t taking up water and decided to un-pot to examine the roots. No wonder the poor cactus couldn’t hydrate, the root mealy bugs had eaten basically all the roots. It died. I managed to treat the spider mites on the two varieties of jade I got, but spider mites aren’t too bad to deal with in jades as there are far fewer nooks and crannies than some other plants and they aren’t the mites ideal host plant anyway. My friends plants also all had spider mites. Two couldn’t be saved (tradescantia nanouk and ivy), was able to save the third (pink princess aglaomena), but only after drowning it in pesticides no less than 5 times. Thankfully I quarantined the new plants in a separate room from the rest of my plants, and had bottom watered the cactus in a different bowl than I use for my other succulents and cacti, so the pests didn’t spread. I would advise anybody to NOT BUY ANY PLANTS FROM THIS PLACE UNLESS YOU WANT PESTS. Disgusted.

I was absolutely appalled at the state of the garden boarders that were once to be admired. They are so overgrown it will require diggers rather than any number of staff/ volunteers to restore. The Italian gardens are now no longer, being replaced by perennials and have lost a beautiful design feature for visitors to enjoy.
Moreover the Heritage buildings on the Estate are in even further disrepair although the owners should have made attempts to save them many years ago.
Only the lawns are kept in good order and it is such a terrible, wicked shame.....,

Lovely looking place but that’s as far as it goes. Overpriced tat and bewildering lack of toilets. Whoever designed it was paying too much attention to the look rather than the function.

I tried to renew my membership. It was so difficult to the extent it was frustrating. When I eventually managed £71 was taken from my bank account with nothing to show for it. The following day I received an e mail reminding me to renew. I really wish I'd not spent money on this organisation (or lack thereof). Easy process = happy customer Poor process = poor reviews. My advice is spend your money elsewhere.
Edit: Sorted by Trentham

Cream tea is lovely but getting it is very confusing and staff unbelievably slow and disinterested.

For the second time I have been a visitor to Trentham Garden Centre restaurant. The first time. Ordered drinks and cakes for 3 people. After waiting for ages biting arrived. Something was wrong, people coming in after us were getting their food etc before us. Went to the counter and eventually got to speak to someone. They didn't apologize just said "oh we must have lost the order, we'll have to have an investigation into why!!!!!" Not ok we will take the order again and get it straight to you. That was months ago. I wonder how the 'investigation' went, or is it still ongoing ..? Then today.. ordered 2 cream teas. The young lady who served the items was polite and helpful. Got to the tills. Only one person in front of me. And .....waited, waited, waited, waited... May have been something wrong with the tills? But no conversation from the staff to customers i.e. " I'm sorry for the wait we have a problem etc. "Just stood mute...one of the till operators looked like they were going to get help but actually walked to the food servery area then walked back . Hopeless. We left the items of the tray and walked out. Is anyone managing the place????

First time in this area. We went to Trentham Gardens and found it quite expensive to go in. There were no paper maps so we wandered off looking for Internet connection. Bit annoying that you pay to get in and then again for the train and boat. Maybe a one free go ticket would be nice.
We found a route on line which highlighted various walks but the huge ? 'monkey' fence stopped us leaving the one path round the lake.
The gardens were OK but looked tired and overgrown, with fairly dull water attractions.
The top garden was better but the dilapidated old estate buildings did little for the environment.
We were not really impressed but after leaving and finding virtually nothing else to do in the area (pottery sites excluded) it was the best activity available.

Wine and cheese shop excellent.gentleman serving was very friendly and helpful . excellent range of products.

1 1/2 hours to get off the car park. Your security staff are a joke.

went in with our annual pass today to access the gardens, the lady on the desk said that i did by direct debit and was told they arent doing that anymore leave my cards with them and they will date them, when i came out of the gardens they were dated but one had a month earlier end date on when asked why i was told id taken that out separately which i didnt, we did all together at the desk and they did the d/d form, as i was explaining and he told me no its correct then told the me rudely to shush so he could concentrate on the dates of the pass’s then got the manager who was even more rude than him. she was adamant i only paid £134 for 2 adults and 2 children when i said no i paid 148 2 adults 3 children she then said i must of done it and not remembered so branding me a liar, yet she showed me the computer screen that said id paid 148!
unfortunately i didnt have my phone to show proof however when i got home i checked my bank and emails and i did pay £148 for 2 adults and 3 children absolutely shocking service and to be called a liar when i most certainly am not is absolutely disgusting who the hell do you think you are!
if they hadnt of told me they are no longer doing the direct debit then i wouldn’t t of known about the cards been dated differently, i hope this doesn’t flag up again in october as she just wrote a date on it!
trentham judging by the reviews you need a shake up of staff and maybe a course in oh dealing with the general public ive never felt so ganged up on and belittled when i actually hadnt done anything wrong!

No Light show this year but instead charged to go inside to the Christmas market which is usually in the free part. A few rides, all of which you had to pay extra for (Despite having paid an annual membership AND paid to get in the event).
Rip off, don't bother

Was planning on taking out membership at Trentham Gardens (hadn’t seen these reviews first!) . Went for a visit and there was a power cut so ended up paying day rate but told we can put that cost against annual membership when we go again.
So we turned up a second time only to be told that we could only have that credit against annual payment and not the direct debit route which was 15% cheaper .
No talking to the guy at the desk - just a jobsworth. So we left and won’t be taking out membership.
I messaged Trentham via their website to complain and have never received a reply - do they want business or not?

Four or us arrived at the garden centre last week hoping to have lunch at the Italian restaurant inside the garden centre. Yet AGAIN, it was closed - blaming it on staff shortages again. How many unemployed people are there in the UK, & you're struggling to recruit? And what a waste of a very large space.

Instead, we were guided towards the restaurant next door, where the staff looked harassed. We should have walked out the moment we heard another customer complaining that her table had been waiting 35 minutes for their food, but we foolishly stayed. Big mistake.

The method of ordering & payment has changed since the last time I visited, & for that, thank heavens Trentham Gardens has seen sense : it used to be that you picked up your food, queued for ever to pay, then had to take your chances finding a table, all the while whilst any hot food would be going cold. Now, I'm pleased to see that you find a table first, place & pay for your order at the till, then a server brings your food to you.

So, there were 4 of us - 2 adults & 2 children. Firstly, there were no children's meals, or even smaller portions, just full adult meals, at full adult prices (our visit was during the school holidays). Next, there was no apple juice, no vinegar, no cutlery, no tomatoes for a ciabatta meal........we ended up having 4 adult meals with drinks, which cost an eye-watering £72. The carveries cost between £15-£16 each, which is daylight robbery. How can you justify such extortionate costs? Plain greedy, grasping vultures. We could have gone down the road to the Toby Inn & had 4 carveries for under £40, which is exactly what we'll be doing next time. NEVER AGAIN will we dine here - you're going to the dogs, Trentham.

Diabolical experience - won't be going back. There are far better places to eat in the vicinity to spend my hard earned cash.

Bene going to the gardens and centre pre before the shops were built. And taking pups for disabled too. I’m now disabled myself but dint have a stick or buggy as it’s in other ways. So today I decided to go and treat myself to new garden furniture (choice of 3) a pizza oven and some new plants.

As I’ve brought my pups to socialise and get the. Used to the noise as I have a hearing impairment .. so we decided to grab a coffee and it would be good for our pup to sit and watch while we decide what items we need .. we found a table full of cups and dirty plates. The rest were the same. One person was serving and my partner text to say should we go somewhere else as we wanted to go an j and purchase our goods I decided to stop. One member of staff came passed smiled and walked off (didn’t move or clear any of the cups ). Then I was greeted by another lady who said tou can’t have a dog in here can you leave ! As I dint have a light in my head saying disabled, I would like to think the entrance to the cafe had a sigh for service dogs or be asked .. I’m sorry I do t look disabled but like most people I can’t see people’s brains either. It doesn’t mean we don’t have one.

I decided to leave, thankfully the que was that king my partner gave up and came back to the table .. we made the decision to leave the centre and go elsewhere for coffee where we would all be welcome. Including our service pup who learning the skill of noises to alert me ..

No purchase and we will not return. As for disabled parking why is 4 the amount at the far end ? Really. How’s This disabled friendly

Expensive and over priced shops,
Gardens look tired
No souvenir shop which would be a great bonus.
Brought mum for her 80th birthday, she was disappointed.
Food up in the gardens was very nice and the service we received.

The gardens visitor experience has deteriorated, and is no longer worth the money.

The back of the top field, by the woods, is now fenced off and behind locked gates. My dog loved walking along there. You get a better experience outside the Gardens in Kings Wood for free.

There is a not very attractive wire fence right along the edge of the lakeside path, for the beevers - and a really ugly and intrusive metal construction on top of the weir dominates the southern end of the lake.

There are also two lots of double gates to negotiate now to get around the lake, which are pinch-points where queues build up - and trick to get through with a dog or buggy.

Early Saturdays are not viable for a walk around the lake, as the narrow paths are packed with hundreds of Parkrunners - and now, due to the fences both sides of the lake path, it isn’t possible to safely get out of the way, Basically, totally unpleasant as a visitor trying to walk for one of the two mornings each weekend.

The local parks and woods are now just more pleasant for walks than Trentham.