Wrest Park
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
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  • Margaret B
    Bedford, United Kingdom188 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great day out
    Really enjoyed the egg hunt, which kept the children entertained. Beautifully kept grounds and easy parking. Friendly staff. Only issue was the slow speed of the staff in the cafe. Two cups of tea took over 20 minutes to queue for whilst two staff members discussed how the use the till. Queue did not seem to diminish during the time we watched the kids play in the play area. Hope they fix whatever the issue is before the Easter rush!!
    Visited April 2023
    Written April 5, 2023
  • Mandi S
    19 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent day out with friends
    Started with two friendly informative ladies on the main gate who advised us about tour of house and garden. Did tour of house which was very informative and video very useful. Met a house guide who gave us interesting information on alphabet! Had a spot of lunch in clean reasonably priced cafe before starting the gardens. After strolling around gardens came across the 'buggy man' who then gave us a really interesting drive and tour around the gardens. His knowledge of the gardens was second to none. He identified all the rare or unusual trees and the different areas. All the staff we met were a credit to Wrest Park. Oh and the tulip beds were a real picture and unexpected!
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written April 24, 2023
  • RIB001
    Waltham Abbey, United Kingdom2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Our. Is it to Wrest Park
    We enjoyed our visit to Wrest Park on 18 th August. Our first stop was the Cafe and we remarked on how well organised it was and how nice the food was, contrary to some other reviews that I have since seen. We thoroughly enjoyed both the gardens and house. One volunteer that we spoke to in the house was very well informed and friendly. We will go back for a tour of the wallpaper rooms and the basement.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 18, 2023
  • Roseanne
    Irchester, United Kingdom11 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful gardens!
    We visited on the 25th August. We had such a lovely time walking around the gardens, we were there pretty much all day! We did get lucky with the weather as we visited on a nice sunny day. The gardens are absolutely beautiful and very well looked after. The bottom floor and the stair case was only open in the mansion but it was still very lovely to look at the architecture. There were loads flowers, so lots of bees to, which was lovely to see! Shame about the wasps though, there were just so many flying around you! (although I know this can't be helped!) The staff were very friendly. Overall - it's a beautiful place and lovely to walk around. I would definitely recommend and I would go again.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written August 25, 2023
  • Peter R
    Dartford, United Kingdom1,239 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely house and gardens
    As EH members our entry was free. The weather was a bit wet so we decided to visit the house first. We spent about 45 minutes reading about the history of the house, the house guides were very friendly and able to answer all our questions. Once we left the house, we walked around the extensive grounds down past the long water on which two swans were swimming, to the pavilion where we read about its history and spent time climbing all the stairs into a variety of different rooms. We then headed back through the grounds to the main entrance to have a look around the shop. We were going to stay for a drink and snack in the café, but the queue was out the door so instead headed home. Enjoyed the visit despite the weather and would return if in the area again.
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written August 30, 2023
  • Khalid Shehzad
    Luton, United Kingdom2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Outstandingly beautiful country estate in Bedfordshire.
    Wrest Park, near Silsoe in Bedfordshire, is a great place to visit with children. The early 19th century mansion is grand and impressive. The vast landscaped gardens are extremely beautiful and provide a lovely setting to relax and admire the charming beauty of the place. We have been there many times through our English Heritage membership and have enjoyed it more every time. Dr K Shehzad
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written September 1, 2023
  • Dave Smith
    London, United Kingdom198 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A lot to see, great for walking.
    Stopped here to break a long drive home and was surprised at how much there is to see here. Put our trust in the sat nav after leaving the M1 southbound, as couldn’t see any signs until we were almost on top of the entrance. Small car park for the size of the place, but did find a space. Entrance via walled gardens where there is toilets / shop / cafe with inside and outside seating. Walked through immaculately kept gardens to the house, which is unfurnished but rooms had been restored to former glory. Further out in the gardens there is the dairy, orangey, hunting lodge and a variety of statues / lakes / canals to find. Ended up staying for over 3 hours, and could have stayed longer, but needed to get back to our journey home. As EH members, did not have to pay to park/ get in, so can’t comment on prices, but, worth a visit, and dog friendly as well.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 8, 2023
  • Kathryn R
    Harpenden, United Kingdom282 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Exceeds expectations
    Can't believe I have left it this long to come here. The gardens are very special; loved all the different styles, and the vistas are spectacular. The house isn't furnished and you can only go in a few of the rooms but again the placement of the building, it's doorways and windows in the context of the grounds is superb. What really made the day for us however was the very lovely volunteer guide who gave us so much information about the family, the house and it's history. Thank you so much! Too much to see in one afternoon, well worth another visit.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written October 9, 2023
  • Adam H
    5 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great lights, food just a tad pricey!!!
    We regularly visit Wrest Park as it's such a lovely place. This review is purely for the 'Christmas at Wrest Park'. The good bits: 1) Parking was all good, a tiny bit further than usual but no problem. 2) The lights are brilliant, you can tell a lot of work has gone into it and I personally thought it was great and there was good variety along the trail. A friend thought there would be more of a 'show', so goes to show that everyone will see it differently! The bad: 1) I thought there could have been a bit more of a selection of food at the bit at the start/end. 2) The PRICE of said food - I think I got a medium sized bratwurst in a bun with some onion etc and it came to £13!! I couldn't believe it. So if over expensive food isn't your thing, take something with you. Other than that, a lovely experience.
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written December 21, 2023
  • Cameron G
    Ramsey, United Kingdom7 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing lights, good stalls daylight robbery
    We went to see the Christmas lights, this is the first year the lights were at wrest park and they were really magical. Our children loved them we were glad we booked this venue, it was brilliant. The only downside was the food outlets my gosh the man on the hot-dog stall was so miserable he didn't smile or have any people skills. Also £10 for a hotdog was criminal considering people need to save or at least get value for money, then the duck wrap was £12+ total robbery unless the stall holders had to charge this as renting the space for the event that wrest park were charging them was high it should have been arou 5 or 6 pounds for most things. Also the cornered the market by not allowing people to take food into the venue. A little disappointing with the elevated prices for food and drink.
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written December 26, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,146 reviews
Excellent
589
Very good
391
Average
90
Poor
31
Terrible
45

Clarkyarky
67 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2021 • Family
£12.60 (or £13.90 if you don’t notice when booking that ticket prices are set to automatically include ‘voluntary’ donation unless you change it!) is not good value for money given all you can do is walk around bland lawns/wooded areas and look at lake, as all indoor ‘attractions’ are closed.

We were very lucky that the weather was very good on the day we visited as this at least meant we could sit on the grass to eat our lunch (too few benches/picnic tables provided, given there is no option to eat indoors at the moment).

Wouldn’t bother with the on site ice cream van (parked next to Orangery on day we visited) - very expensive for golf ball sized amount of ice cream.

Shame about visitors flying noisy drone down by the Pavilion - why were a family with kites told by staff to pack them away, but nothing said to drone flyers?

Long queue for dirty unisex toilets.

All in all a pretty disappointing day. This place was so much better before English Heritage took over and put a stop to the wonderful craft and flower shows that used to be held here. So much better value for money back then too.
Written April 24, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

disappointedBandG
Bristol, UK93 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2020 • Couples
We visited as a pit stop on the way on holiday.
The thing that riled me about this place is we were queuing as part of a one way system when a gentleman decided to barge past (not sticking to social distancing) and meet his partner who was at the front of the queue. The staff should have insisted he stayed in queue in order to maintain social distancing.
However, the grounds are pleasant. Allow plenty of time to fully explore but be aware if you're after the usual tranquility of English Heritage attractions this isnt one with children screaming and running up and down. Particularly unsafe by the pond area!
Quite expensive to enter if non members.
Written October 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Pengor
Dunstable, UK492 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020
Lovely , well maintained grounds and great paths for our new mobility scooter.
The house remains closed ,as is the play park but there is plenty of well organized parking and many disabled parking places.
All covid precautions are in place and booking a date and time is required. This is restricting the number of visitors but there seems to be plenty of slots available at short notice.
The restaurant is open for light bites and there are plenty of outside tables if one prefers to eat outside. The food was fresh and tasty.
Many visitors choose to picnic and there is plenty of space to do so and quite a few benches for those unable to get on to the ground.
Written August 6, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

james a
Hertfordshire, UK17 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
This was our first visit to Wrest Park. On arrival we were very disappointed to be told that the house was not open due to a wedding taking place. We had checked the website before leaving home & it did not state that the house would be closed. We entered the park passing the cafe & shop on our way but, due to very poor, insignificant signage, missed the visitor area which displayed lots of information about the grounds, house & park (we only discovered this at the end of our visit, & in spite of having lunch in the adjacent cafe!) Having only a map, we found it difficult to find all the places of interest without proper signs. The Pavilion was not open (information in the visitors centre stated this was open to view). On a positive note, the gardens, close to the house, were very impressive & the grounds well kept & extensive.Discovering the visitor centre before we left, & discovering what we had missed, we doubled back to find what had alluded us. In conclusion, signage was totally lacking & I do not accept that we had to pay the full entrance fee when the house & Pavilion were closed to the public. A reduced charge, in these circumstances, should be put in place.
Written August 8, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Colin E Photography
422 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
We went to Wrest Park on the 15th October, had a very nice walk around. Shame some of the staff were not wearing masks and still talking to the customers and each other, which was a shame. Most of the public we saw walking around were not following social distancing and not moving to one side, luckily there is enough room, so we could move out of the way and keep a safe distance, even if other people were not. I know Wrest park can't do much to stop that, maybe more signs around, so people think a bit more, might help. The shop has a good one way system and the staff member in there, was wearing a mask. .
Written October 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Keenomanjaro
Croydon, UK181 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
Just off the A6, Wrest Park is a great place to stop off for an afternoon to take in the house and extensive gardens. The house has a few basic rooms set up with museum-style exhibits, plus a few impressive, if unfurnished, state rooms which are well worth exploring. However, the main draw here has to be the gardens which are well laid out across a large area with ornamental ponds, colourful parterre, a hidden sculpture gallery in the old dairy building, a grand orangery, the old bowling green house, an attractive pavilion and a nice 'Chinese' bridge among the highlights. There's some nice woodland to the far end of the property that's worth spending time in, as various statues and clearings can be found and we spotted muntjac deer out there too. A nice property that would be ideal for a warm summer's day but worked just as well on a bracing, but dry, winter's afternoon.
Written January 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Toni M
3 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020 • Family
Staff pull out all the stops to make you feel welcome at this English Heritage site. There is plenty of space and amazing gardens to walk around which are currently full of autumn colours. The kids and I undertook the who done it Halloween ghost trail 🎃. The actors did a great job of story telling and the kids got a sticker when that had figured out all the clues.
Excellent playground for a good range of ages. Cuppa and a cake on the expensive side. A fabulous afternoon out.
Written October 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

chris l
Pinner, UK99 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
Wrest Park is a beautiful estate. The gardens are full of interest and very well designed and maintained. The volunteers are very polite, helpful and welcoming. Only the ground floor of the house is open to the general public, but it's worth a visit and the guide will explain the fascinating history.

The cafe is good and the outdoor seating is well-placed adjacent to a children's play area so kids can play while parents refresh (but watching their child all the time).

This is a brilliant day out and we shall certainly be re-visiting
Written August 28, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Debbie210Suffolk
Suffolk3 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
I joined English Heritage earlier this year after a visit to Wrest Park. The grounds are beautiful and it is a wonderful place to walk in. However, I have now attended two family events and both have been disappointing. Today's 'Spooky Wrest Park' was very poor. Apart from the terrible weather and the necessary Corona Virus restrictions which were out of the control of the management and staff, the whole visit was a 'non-event'. As a member I didn't have to pay, but I took my daughter and twin granddaughters, who did have to pay a considerable amount, with very little to show for it. I certainly would not recommend a visit to Wrest Park for one of their events to anyone in future.
Written October 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi thank you for getting in touch with your feedback on your recent day out. We are sorry to hear that you felt disappointed with your visit, this is never what we like to hear when we host activities at Wrest Park. Our Halloween event is a little different this year - some of the hands on and indoor activities we were previously able to do are not currently possible due to social distancing guidelines, but we've done our best to offer some new alternatives such as the Halloween trail and story-telling. Our Events Team always welcome feedback on their activities, and we will of course share your comments with them.
Written November 2, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Lutonlord
Bedford, UK207 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Family
We are English Heritage members , have been to this venue many many times over the years and those were extremely enjoyable .

We arranged to meet our daughter and grandchildren , one is a teen and the others go down from 10- 4 years of age . The light show itself was excellent and the way the lights were used to showcase parts of the park were very inventive demonstrated attention to detail.

Such a shame this cannot be said of whomever organised the catering side of things , the stalls were of a street food type , poor variety, not great when considering this is a family event , there were hot dogs which were large and cost £10 but no burgers or nuggets for the younger children .

There were other stalls , one was apparently a Chinese styled theme , the duck was ok but their fries which were advertised as flavoured with garlic were just laden with salt .

There was another stall that various type of fries but not a lot else and yes I’ve seen these types before at carnivals etc and am aware of what they charge but we still feel this was ill thought out given this type of event .

This was a rather disappointing end to our visit given the how well the light show was organised and presented .
Written December 24, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Wrest Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Frequently Asked Questions about Wrest Park

Wrest Park is open:
  • Wed - Sun 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM