National Trust Tea Room Bodiam Castle — Attraction in Rother

Not THAT impressed. Staff were friendly! Food was largely in line with the usual NT fare.

However, we first went up to the castle toothed cafe in the grounds only to find there is barely any indoor seating and queued for a lengthy time at 1.30 to be told that though they sell sandwiches they don't serve kids sandwiches and we'd have to go back to the cafe at the entrance which with our 3 little ones in tow was really quite inconvenient.

When we made it to the bottom it too was pretty small with not much indoor seating so had to sit outside and we were pretty cold to be honest. The sandwiches for adults were nice enough. My 8 year old wasn't happy with the kids sandwich option of either ham or cheese. We don't eat pork so he had to have cheese. They use grated mature cheddar which was too strong for my kids and because it was grated it fell out all over the place as soon as they picked the sandwich up. They also serve pom bear crisps...another thing my kids aren't a fan of and there used to be some raidins and a chocolate bar now replaced with an extremely square of plain flap jack. He has written his own letter to NT about this.

Would have been better I think if there was more space to sit indoors, especially considering the number of visitors the site gets, even...

Wonderful tea-room where everyone is catered for. There are tables around the walls of the tea room with signs saying dog-friendly tables, as well as plenty of outside seating. The food includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes. Children and even dogs (Jude's dog ice-cream for dogs!) are catered for. They have a licence and so alcohol is available too. The facilities there include feeder cups, large handled cutlery and 2 handled cups for people with disabilities. There is water available for free and (plastic) beakers to drink it from. Food and drink is of a consistently good quality (been coming here twice a year for 6 years now!). The is a buggy, for people with mobility issues, from near the tea-room to the castle bridge which is driven by volunteers and the staff message the driver when people...

Pretty disappointing. Feeble little exhibition. Castle not very organised. It felt like, lots of up and down steps not to get anywhere. No real grounds to explore. Good shop and cafe. But tables outside were not ideal as cars driving past on exit threw up a lot of dust. Compared to other NT sites locally, like Batemans or Sissinghurst, this one did not measure up as well. Still worth a visit, just don't expect to...