Hestercombe House & Gardens

Lovely return visit for the Christmas Market and stroll around the grounds. Well marked out paths around the lake and places to explore with great views. Did the evening light show last year, well worth a visit this year.

One of the best Christmas lights and sounds spectacular I have seen so far. Pre-booked tickets were affordable. A nice effortless walk around and the mild weather made it to be so special for us.

Haven't visited for some years and was rather disappointed with this visit. There is very little to see in the house and most rooms are mainly empty. The formal gardens are lovely, certainly worth a look, but are rather lacking in 'colour' and the Orangery was empty. The upper gardens/walks/ponds are nice for a stroll but are overgrown in places and seem to have been left to their own devices. The £16 entrance fee does seem rather excessive.

It was wet and windy. Still we had a lovely time. Afternoon tea was a bit cake heavy, scones we're really nice. Would have preferred a bit more savory but that's personal choice. We also went for a walk. Got the last 16 minutes in the bee education centre which was fun. Even for us adults. Event in the wet and the rain it was a lovely walk. Even fed the ducks up close and personal

Review- Garden only: There are two parts to Hestercombe, a woodland walk to the North and the formal gardens attached to the house. The woodland walk follows the stream and the 4 lakes and is just over a mile round trip. There is plenty to see, a waterfall and numerous temples and monuments etc. I noticed on the way around that with the ducks and swans children seemed to really enjoy this walk.Attached to the house there are Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian gardens. From the South side you look down onto the main garden which has a great sense of scale. This garden is flanked by two water gardens and a beautiful pergola at the bottom. The Dutch garden is an absolute gem, super soft cool colours. All staff and gardeners are wonderfully polite and welcoming, the service at the Stables restaurant is impeccable and they serve the best lamb burger I have ever tasted.Put Hestercombe on your list of visits, these gardens really are lovely, easily five stars.

Lovely formal gardens with different garden levels and different planting. Nice woodland walk around the estate up to the Georgian landscape garden lots of different buildings to see there are some steep slopes up there.There is a lovely cafe back by reception to have something to eat, the scones were delicious but the cream tea with 2 scones come with tea for 1 not 2 people

Spent over four hours walking through the gardens and paths. Map does tell you which paths are easy or steep. On the steeper routes you get some really good view points. Seats dotted around to take a break.The scent from the roses was lovely. We had been advised that a wedding was taking place in the Orangery so it would be off limits for a while. Not a lot in the house . Staff friendly in the cafe. Enjoyed our pasties. Would recommend it to anyone who likes gardens formal and informal.

We went for a lovely meal in the bistro, followed by a wander through the illuminated gardens. It was very pretty, but I think the lights were a little disappointing

Beautiful gardens and scenery, definitely worth a visit for the Christmas lights too. Was a bit expensive for the food especially when the hotdogs rolls were hard and the turkey roll was bland I tiny thin bit of turkey and stuffing. Wasn't worth the price but the hot chocolate was so tasty and the sight seeing was so worth going.

I attended a wedding there, it is a lovely venue with beautiful grounds.Catering was excellent.We had a very enjoyable day.The Victorian gardens are lovely.