National Trust - Rufford Old Hall

Thoroughly enjoyed visit. Very fortunate to get a parking space quickly. Others arriving had to wait for a while for one. Grounds were excellent with house, hall being well presented by informed staff who held a wealth of expertise. Café is good but had a little wait to get served.

Beautiful well maintained Tudor/Victoria property, excellent facilities, good grounds, reasonably priced tearooms with both internal and external seating. Very helpful & informative guides/volunteers. Watched & chatted with two lovely volunteers cleaning armour. Very enjoyable visit.

This NT property is well worth a visit , don't let the 3 stars mislead you. I will explain later why I docked it a star at the end.First off I must commend the volunteer and tour guide of the hall. They were all friendly, welcoming and very knowledgeable. The hall and house itself oozes history and was owned by the Hesketh family (known in later years for their participation in motor racing. Because the hall is the only bit that is solely owned by the trust its the only part you can take photos in , you can't take photos anywhere else in the house. This comes to one of by bugbears with the national trust, putting furniture in places that isn't from there or of the wrong period and style. They have done this with a piano in the upper part of the house, it doesn't go, it doesn't belong but because the NT thinknit should have one it has one from another property. The room itself already has an old style instrument in , it doesn't need this . Other than thatbits a great place.

One of the smaller NT locations but fascinating history.Staff are friendly and informative.Small car park gets full quickly even when not particularly busy.Small cafe provides just drinks and cakes.

First time here. Lovely place. Full of history. Didn't get a chance to walk around the grounds as it was raining heavily. Next time. The cafe was great too. Lovely home cooked food. Staff were really friendly and informative.

Had a wonderful visit to this property. The gardens were lovely and the volunteers answered our questions or sought them out! Nice tea room, too! Fun squirrel hedge, too.

A lovely NT property with stunning tudor features. The volunteers are so informative and ready to help and give fascinating historical insites into the property. The Great Hall is worth going to Rufford just to see as it is breathtaking, the bog wood screen is fabulous.We had a delicious lunch in the atmospheric kitchen cafe. The homemade soup was so good. The staff in the shop were friendly and chatty and helped me collect from my car some second hand books I was donating to the book shop.

Great place to visit, one of the smaller National Trust properties but full of fascinating items and history, so I would recommend taking your time and using the copious info in each room and using the knowledgeable guides to talk you through items.Not the best for dogs but there are areas to give them a decent pee stop, but not allowed in house or gardens which when we visited weren't looking as good as previous visits.

Beautiful house. Staff are very pleasant. Easy to find. There are a couple of things which I’d say which prevent me from giving a higher score.Firstly, the cost - £10 for an adult to walk around a house - and realistically the only interesting part is the great hall. The house itself is more interesting from the outside than from the inside. The gardens are nice for a walk but not in the same league as many National Trust properties so it seems excessive to charge a family almost £50 for a couple of hours max.Secondly, the restrictions on dogs. We took our dog because the site said there were plenty of places to walk, but the dog walks are all covered in sharp pebbles. These are unsuitable for smaller dogs. The ‘formal garden’ areas are not as formal as many National Trust properties and there was no reason we couldn’t take our dog in there. He is better behaved than many of the children in the courtyard cafe who insisted on riding their bikes and scooters around the tables. Parking was full - had to go round twice.Other than these two issues, the property was pleasant for a visit and I’m sure others might say that the house and its history makes up for its shortcomings but frankly they don’t. Thank you to the shop staff who were very pleasant and kind and loved our dog.

An enjoyable hour in the house and gardens. We walked down to the church and along the towpath. The staff were all very helpful and friendly. £10 seems a reasonable price, but other than the great hall there isn't a great amount to see in the house. The gardens are pleasant, but were not a major attraction. I can understand some of the reasoning, but not being able to take photographs inside the house is a pity.