Dartington Trust

I used to visit here regularly, but don’t seem to be able to do so anymore without receiving aggressive letters from renegade solicitors requesting hundreds of pounds for alleged parking violations and threatening me with court action. Some of these claims date back to four years ago, for which I am only now receiving tickets.I am in the process of disputing the charges and have contacted Dartington staff about this, but they don’t express any interest in helping or any concern that this firm is bullying so many of their customers out of money (take a glance at the reviews on Google and you’ll see there are money other people with similar tales).It’s sad that this place has become so corporate and money-grabby, and that they have so little regard for their patrons, especially as there used to be a real feeling of community and support for local artists and enterprises here.

Parking Scam!Dartington hall is a beautiful and pretty area to walk around and admire particularly good with my partner and our dog. One thing and a very big thing however is the parking. the parking on the grounds is a pay and display and also digital checking system to see your registration plate in the parking. On the day I visited, I parked up and spent ages including me and others trying to get the machine to register anyone's card. on the 5th time of trying and testing different bank cards, I manage to get it to charge me with a ticket. all is good i get my ticket which is cropped off some of the printing on the ticket (Lost some of the top writing and the first number of my registration plate) . think that since the money had gone out of my account which was £6, it seemed everything was okay. 2 weeks later I get contacted by the the parking firm saying I didn't pay. assuming its a glitch on their end I explain the situation, show them a picture and bank statement proving of my purchase for one of their tickets. a month has passed and they still declined it and requested I pay the fine. They cheekily gave me a In good faith" amount of £20 instead of £30"... So I have had to pay for the ticket as well as the fine meaning I spent £26 to park there. knowing how dangerous the parking is there

In an effort to minimise the time spent in the morose, gloomy hostel I sought refuge in the coffee shop. I was the only customer. After wondering what on earth was taking so long for my coffee to arrive, I discovered it had been sat on the counter for me to collect and was now cold. The girl serving had decided that staring into her phone was a more urgent task than delivering a drink to the only customer in the room.

This far exceeded our expectations - we took 4 children aged 2-7 around the children’s trail which they absolutely loved. It’s the best children’s trail we’ve done, partly because of the gorgeous setting and partly because of the fun activities at each stop. We also had a delicious meal at the Green Table. Easy to get there without a car on the bus from Totnes station. Highly recommended.

Part of a recent company workshop hosted here. Beautiful location and full of character, rooms are to a high standard, evening meal was delicious and breakfast had a good range of options. Wish I'd had more time to explore the estate more!

Would totally recommend this place.My partner and I stayed here for a few nights back in August 2021 and we absolutely loved it.The place is absolutely beautiful. The rooms were basic but we were more than happy with that as we only spent time in there when going to sleep and getting ready.The rooms had basic amenities like a wardrobe, full length mirror which is very handy, tea and coffee facilities, shower and dressing table. Couldn’t fault it for the price we paid.We had dinner in the on site restaurant one of the nights which was lovely. We didn’t have to book and the food was so nice. It was so romantic and we were even able to purchase a few drinks to take back to the room with us.The location is perfect because it’s not far from Brixham where we were able to get a boat to Torquay so we got to see so many places in a short space of time.The staff were so friendly and attentive which is lovely to see when you go on holiday because they gave us a really nice welcoming.The gardens were absolutely gorgeous, there was so much to see, I think we spent an hour or so looking round the place which we didn’t have to pay extra for.Around the building, there were so many different things going on like wood carving or pottery or even walking round the National park so there’s so much to do.We will definitely be coming back soon because we absolutely loved it. Thank you for a brilliant stay

Wish I’d read the reviews about car parking before I went! Bought a ticket through Travelzoo who said there was 3 hours free parking! Wrong!

Beautiful old buildings. There is an admission charge for the gardens. Cafe and bar available. Toilets outside. Gallery, cinema and arts venue. Plentiful parking. Payment by app.

Amazing estate however the hotel was a little disappointing. We were initially given room 37 , it's a little tired and the bathroom was dirty and flooded, the shower trap was disgusting and clogged with hair and dirt, it had never been cleaned. We were moved to a better room, but the bathrooms need updating and the carpets need cleaning. We had a table booked in the onsite pub the food was really good no complaints there, they serve great quality local ingredients and local ales. However the snug" was freezing

Do not park here!!As many other people have voiced in their reviews, you will be parking at the risk of incurring a huge fine, and somewhere along the lines it will be your own fault. I apparently dug the Ring go code for the Cider Press out of the depths of my imagination - silly me, and now I have to pay them £145 (this was the code they provided on the pay machine so I believe they are scamming me). I’m not completely surprised they need money though - there were so few visitors especially in the extra-specially pretentious, expensive cafes that I imagine they need all the help they can get. Just go…literally anywhere else and it will be more enjoyable than this hell hole.