Just had lunch with newborn grandson and 20 month old granddaughter. The staff in the cafe couldn't have been more helpful. The facilities for baby and toddler feeding and changing are excellent. Thank you very much.
We arrived at Packwood in time for the 11.30 tour. Our tour guide Owen was a very pleasant young man who made our tour very enjoyable he told us he was new to taking groups on a tour. After a nervous start he became more relaxed. His was funny, patient with the children whose parents had little control & Very informative. I loved the story about the long table. Well done. The place itself was decorated for Christmas it was beautiful. The.gardens were lovely even in winter. Tea room was warm, although the staff here we're operating like robots no welcoming smiles. I eill definatly visit again in the summer but would take a picnic.
We went to Packwood as it's just up the road and we needed to keep my retired parents occupied. We went on a tour of the house but not the gardens as the weather was poor, plus the tours overlapped (hopefully not a problem during more summery months as more volunteer guides are no doubt available). The tour was lovely - good pace with a friendly and knowledgeable guide - although the rooms were sometimes a tad small for the size of the party. Parking was easy. We had a coffee and snack afterwards in the cafe - good price and good quality and the new build fits in well to the overall ambience. We were jealous of the folks sat in armchairs in front of the fire! We also visited the small but well-stocked gift shop and came away with some lovely bits and pieces for friends and family, as well as some treats. All in all a nice way to keep my folks entertained for a couple of hours on a wet day.
Unfortunately on the day we visited the saturday between Christmas and new year the upstairs was closed so we could only look round the ground floor. That said we did enjoy our visit and found quite a bit to look at. The restaurant was really good and the food although expensive really delicious and something for everyone.
I hadn’t visited Packwood House in years and was delighted to see it moving with the times. Principally, as a volunteer for Guy’s Cliffe Walled Garden, I was keen to see the kitchen garden. This is described mischievously as an 18th-century garden with a contemporary twist, and it is an inspirational gem. We went on New Year’s Eve (great to find it open in the winter), and it was overflowing with lovely ideas, mini horticultural scenarios and botanical gems. I loved the clever storage solution for the pots, and thought it was a good move for the public to be able to see ‘behind the scenes’, so often hidden from the public behind grim fences. The auricula theatre, populated with gourds, was such fun, as were the herbs in wellies (a clever Pinterest-type moment), square cloches, decorative pine cones and even a Heath Robinson mole deterrent. Of course, the formal gardens are super, too. The frozen pond had a mystic quality, the coins suspended in ice, and I was impressed at the variety of ways the gardeners had filled the winter beds with so much interest. With the new café, and access to great walks around, I’m looking forward to going back soon to see the first signs of spring. More photos and review on my blog here ... pamkelt.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/planting-ideas-in-my-head.html
Both the gardens and the house are well worth a visit. The amazing sculptured trees are great to see. It is well worth going to the top of the garden to see the view through these sculpted trees.The house is very interesting with some amazing exhibits inside. The guides in the house were full of information and only to happy to share their knowledge with you. It was also fun when we visited during the Half term for children as they had Halloween trails for the children and cleverly placed spiders for them to find. This kept the children occupied while their grown ups could enjoy the .This is a place that would be good to return to to see the gardens during different seasons.There are plenty of places where you can picnic too.
We visited Packwood House as we are members of The National Trust. Easy drive from Birmingham down the M42. Good sized car park where, if you are energetic enough, you can go on the five mile country walk to Baddersley Clinton which is another National Trust site. Packwood house is a lovely well maintained house with many pieces of period furniture and some beautiful tapestries which were collected by a previous owner. Lots of historical information on display and some very knowledgable volunteer guides who took us around the building telling us of the previous families who lived there and some great history of the building. Nice restaurant on site where we had lovely fresh sandwiches, tea and cake (very nice). We then walked around the gardens which are very well maintained. All in all a nice relaxing day out.
I understand that the visitor entrance area and cafe have been newly developed and my first impression was that although it has been smartly and sympathetically done it really should have been twice the size it is. The shop looks like a bit of an afterthought in the corner of the entrance and did not seem to have a dedicated staff member. The welcome we received felt a bit grudging (once we had declared that we were not NT members and did not wish to join there and then) we were taken to one of just two tills taking entrance payments. I noticed long queues later in the day and I felt that the staff were struggling a bit. The cafe was jam packed (pardon the pun!) and although there is plenty of outdoor seating on a chilly February day it wasn't too appealing! The actual food was below par, the curry especially was most odd, bland and watery (more like soup) and served with bread rather than rice and pricey too.We had a mixture of experiences in the house, some room attendants were more friendly than others and one comment just made me laugh - when asked to remove a rucksack by one attendant (fair enough) I commented that they are bulky things and a nuisance on buses - the attendant replied that she never went on buses so couldn't comment - that put me well and truly in my place!The gardens and grounds are really charming, even in winter, with striking topiary and snowdrops.Overall our visit was very interesting and felt like good value at about £10 per person.
We stopped off here and at Badesley Clinton, which is quite closs, on the way to Stratford. The house and gardens are well worth the visit and we found the staff to be very friendly and informative. Both the house and gardens are worth the time spent on them. Although there is a small giftshop at the entrance there is a larger shop in the main building. The cafe was quite good, although it does fill up very quickly.
Attended just before Christmas. Spent an enjoyable morning pottering around the Xmas stalls. Managed (by luck) to get a slot to look around Packwood house itself which was fascinating. We also spent some time looking around the kitchen gardens which bearing in mind it was December was a bit sparse - I imagine in the summer it is glorious. The upstairs of the house was closed during our visit so I intend to return!