Chatsworth Reviews 

3 of us spent £60 paying for the gardens. You get complimentary parking if you buy a ticket online, but what they fail to tell you is that if you put it in all on one card you will only get 1 parking ticket. Parking is an additional £7.50. I’ve been coming here all my life but I won’t be returning. It’s overpriced and they’re completely rigid with their policies.

Fabulous house. Definitely a palace. The grounds especially the rockery garden was wonderful. My only reservation was the cafe staff that were very rude to my mother and moved on very embarrassed as there was a queue of people.

We were staying in the area with friends who suggested we went to Chatsworth for the Spring gardens..
The whole experience was disappointing. No effort seemd to have been made to add any Spring colour to the gardens, £15 each (no concessions available) was excessive for what little was on offer.
The courtyard cafe (small sales vehicle) managed to charge £28 for 4 coffees in cardboard cups , 2 small cakes and a dry underfilled tuna roll.
Such a shame as we had visited some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now the whole place is overpriced & seems to focus on extracting as much cash as possible from visitors..

Avoid if you can.....

Took my two daughters to Chatsworth garden centre. We went for lunch at the restaurant there. The service was terrible, we had to wait a long time for our meals. When they came my daughter’s meals both came wrong and mine was a prawn Maria sauce sandwich which came with no sauce on. All in all the whole experience was not good. We were very disappointed. Also I thought it was very over priced.

Had lunch at the Cafe today. I ordered the open steak sandwich or at least that was the description. I was actually served a 3mm thick strip of meat certainly didn’t live up to the title of steak. The cafe has recently declined probably caused by Covid?
Poor quality and not value for money.

So after a long wait after covid we decided to do Christmas at Chatsworth on the 23rd December 2023. Now anyone who knows this place at Christmas you think Brass band and Carol singers, this time nothing! Unless you call a man with a hand winding organ who occasionally appeared. All the stable areas now taken over by more shops and cafes. If I wanted that I could go to meadowhall. If you wanted a hot dog (£9) and roast 1 large marshmallow (£2.59) MADNESS OR DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!! Adventure playground now less as trampolines and large slide gone! Having seen the house in 2019 and the TV program we found the house display less appealing this year. Garden light trail was the best part of whole day. Personally recommend just get a ticket for this bit only! Chatsworth Magic at Christmas lost to greed and commercialisation, we use to love Chatsworth but we just fell out of love! such a shame!

Wanted to visit courtyard cafe and shops. We were told on arrival to the car park it’s booked tickets only and it was sold out (no where does it say online to book other than 26th dec and 1st Jan) so we were told to do an U-turn and leave.
Did go to farm shop. Nice and quiet but a little expensive Xmas items

We have gone to Chatsworth multiple times per year for the past 40 years.love love love Chatsworth!
But… whoever is now in charge of decor (especially in the cafe in the stables!! What could look so stunning done in period colours, with all that gorgeous stonework and some proper artwork up, relating to a house of that standing… instead of paintwork that looks like something one would see in a hospital corridor) is definitely in the wrong job. It looks SO bland and yucky! Such a shame to see it look like a council cafe instead of what it is AND yet we are still charged exorbitant prices to eat/drink there!! More fool us I suppose.

BUT my issue in writing today is concerning the visit I had yesterday TWICE!
There are some people who work in the little huts to check tickets etc before you can park, who are THE most rude, power hungry and non professional that I’ve met and I met them yesterday!!
Please teach your helpers proper customer service and to take a moment from trying to rule and listen to the customer… not impressive at all.
Equally there were some lovely people who know how to relate as a front facing customer service.

This was the fifth visit for me to see Chatsworth at Christmas & will probably be my last.
Previous years have been very good with the themes played out beautifully in each room.
Alice in Wonderland was a real treat as was the twelve days of Christmas and the pantomime theme.
This year however was just a load of Christmas trees in each room and as one review pointed out “nothing you couldn’t do yourself”
The gardens were a huge disappointed, particularly as we know the magic that can be achieved through lighting & technology.
The light show on the house depicting the advent calendar was the only highlight.
So sad as this is the first year my husband has shared the experience with me as I usually go with my Mum.
I know it will be his last.
£70 for the pair of us and we felt it was a total ripoff.
We had a coffee each before we went in which cost over £7….WHAT!!
I live very close to Chatsworth and love the place but if anyone asks me if it’s worth the money at Christmas I would tell them to save their money for better things.
The prices rise but the entertainment gets poorer.
Rip off Chatsworth.

We go every year to Chatsworth at Christmas. Last year was not good. 2023 was dire. No carol singers no brass band in the courtyard. Theme of an Advent Callander was random with no story and decorations poor. No atmosphere at all.
Prices in the shop and cafe continue to rise- from already expensive to very expensive.
Very very sad- I’m not sure I can chance going again next year.

Over priced and utterly disappointing. I encouraged a friend to go after seeing the wonderful Christmas display last year, but now feel embarrassed and let down. It was cheaply done with tacky plastic wreaths, plastic trees with boring decorations and sparse displays. School standard snowmen made out of disco balls. A huge let down. I would like my money back. Taking loyal visitors for a complete ride.

Our family of four visited the Christmas market, house and gardens. Without doubt it is a beautiful place. However, the market was extremely expensive and had no Christmas atmosphere. More Xmas music would have helped
The house is fabulous but the Christmas decorations lacked creativity. All the lights on all the trees were white.
The evening walk around the gardens was boring and again lacked creativity but did finish off with an impressive light show on the house.

Chatsworth was beautiful but not stunning as it usually is. Also the disabled parking was so far from the house because of the dismantling of the christmas market and there was no motorised buggies there. The walk took me ages and as I normally use a motorised chair was so tiring, without the walk round the house. Spoilt the day out.

The 2023 Christmas at Chatsworth was disappointing, compared with the spectacular displays in past years - e.g. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Wind in the Willows or the Dickensian Christmas. Yes, the Christmas trees were beautifully decorated, as were the swags of candy canes and gingerbread men - BUT it certainly wasn’t an Advent extravaganza and there was very little to capture the imagination of children.
The staff were pleasant and helpful and the catering was of a good standard.
We left, feeling underwhelmed by Chatsworth’s interpretation of Advent.

Been twice before this was the worst its ever been. TV programme rip off Britain. This was rip off chatsworth

Positives: The Christmas Market was nice to walk around with a good variety of stalls. The garden lights ok and the projected images on the outside of the house good. Negatives: The day started by getting wet feet (despite wearing suitable footwear as advised) following the purpose laid footpath which shot up streams of muddy water without warning as people walked across it. The house itself. Very disappointed in the Xmas decorations. No clear theme, Advent Palace basically consisted of a Xmas tree trail with numbers 1 - 24 scattered about, a large cracker and some Xmas stockings suspended from the ceilings. The trees were pretty but it all seemed rather sparse. The highlight was the projected silhouette of an elf that appeared in few places. Felt the entrance price was a lot for what we got. Was expecting to have a magical Xmas experince suitable for all ages, as given by Castle Howard last year, this was far from that.

We paid around £32 per ticket which covered parking/ entrance to house and market. So well organised and every staff member representing Chatsworth were friendly, efficient and helpful. We managed to get a snack and coffee at lunch time which cost around £30 for three of us which wasn’t unexpected. We loved the house with it’s beautiful decorations and had fun looking around the market. A big shout out to the lady who had knitted 1000 poppies to sell to raise money for the British Legion. Can’t comment about the lighting in the garden as left before dark. Also loved the live acts who performed in the market. A really great day for three generations of my family.

I can't fault the christmas market always love going. There is just one massive problem PARKING £28 to park just for a few hours. Chatsworth you should be ashamed of yourselves, its greedy and disgusting that you think its okay to charge that. My other half and stepdad had to miss out today just so some of us could go by being dropped off and picked up.
So much for helping and giving at Christmas

Very disappointed with the lack of Christmas lights in the garden and no Christmas music but weird off putting tones, all my family were deflated by the lack of Christmas spirit and a small cup of mulled wine £6 ! and £18 each to park and see nothing as the market closed at 6pm so we saw 10 mins of the market before it all closed. Very disappointed and won't be going again.

Tonight we attended the fireworks at Chatsworth House. We won’t go again. The tickets cost £19 each. The bonfire was small, the so called spectacular fireworks display was decidedly underwhelming and short and ended half an hour early. The music was awful, the so called Halloween entertainment was non existent. The food expensive (a small burger £10 !!). I love Chatsworth, but the whole evening was boring and expensive.