Umberslade Estate — Attraction in Stratford-on-Avon

The farm is situated on Umberslade Estate, it's not clearly sign posted and I thought I was going to a camp sight, when we arrived. The farm is behind the Umberslade camp sight.

We arrived and couldn't find where to check ourselves in. There were no visible signs. We were then told to wait as the young girl needed to check something. She came back and said next time you will have to pay for them two (meaning our babies both under one). We questioned why and got the reply of this one looks like it's about to come out and she pointed qt my friends 10 month daughter. How rude! The booking site says babies in arms are free. I called Umberslade 3 times and no one answered, I emailed once, no reply, Facebook messenger no reply and also commented on one of their Facebook statuses still no response. A member of the public answered me and said babies in arms means babies who cannot walk. This Is also what we thought it meant. So Umberslade needs to make this very clear, respond to people or put an age limit on tickets. We were made to feel really uncomfortable for the majority of the trip then as the person who served us showed us round. Just to make it clear we had no issues with paying but how can a baby who cannot walk and use the facilities be the same price as an adult (£10).

We were placed in a group with a school trip. We came for a leisurely day at the farm. I found it so stressful and really the opposite to what we wanted to experience. It was my sons first time and he did seem to enjoy it, but we did have to wait until the end for absolutely everything because the school trip was given priority over us. I understand they are children but each person should be treated fairly. We had to keep asking at every point if we could have animal food etc as we were missed out or were only offered once as they went round the group multiple times. We felt really uncomfortable and like extras. We were not warmed there could be a school trip with our group. I think they should have their own slot and not be mixed with the public, especially with the pandemic as I felt me son was put at risk to a degree as there was no distancing between the group at all.

Maybe I took this comment out of context but one of the staff said to me in the barn area does the dad have ginger hair? (My son does). I found this rude and innopropriate. Would you ask if my dad has brown hair because I do?, no you wouldn't. So why would you ask me this? I found it somewhat prejudice and it was completely unacceptable to ask this.

The soft play was not really your usual soft play. It looked really good but was effectively a climbing frame indoors, a sandpit, woodchip area (you couldn't walk on without shoes as the pieces were so sharp),, a small soft play in the corner. Again not really suitable for an 11 month old and not what we were expecting. We didn't stay long in there as our babies did not enjoy it.

The toilets were lovely and clean however the baby change had a code on it and I didn't know where to get the code from.

The cafe was decorated really nicely and reasonably priced for being an onsite cafe. On par with branded coffee shop prices. £4.50 for a toastie and a variety or choices.

I think the experience is aimed at ages 5 and above and is not suitable for smaller children. £10 is fairly priced for an adult but not for a child, there should be a concessionary price as they do not get use of the full experience.

Heard so many great things about this farm but honestly I will not be in a rush to return juat down to how we were treated and made to feel unwelcome. The farm in itself was nice and well maintained. The 3 star rating is down to the staff and not...

Parking and Customer service not good.

We're huge fans of the play barn and coffee shop at umberslade estate. Over the years we've been so many times with the kids. Including events also, such as the forest school. The cafe is great and the play barn is fantastic. As is the outdoor play area.

Recently the estate has introduced parking regulations, I'm guessing to stop unauthorised parking from visitors who aren't paying to use cafe or facilities.

Unfortunately the casualty to this could be genuine paying customer like us.

We got hit with a parking fine. I input a registration on the machine as I always do. I could have made a genuine error, that's very possible.

At other establishments when I've experienced this kind of scenario, I've gone in with evidence and they have simply cancelled it.

Oliver contacted me to say they've reduced it to a £20 admin fee.

Surely parking fines are for people who are abusing the system, not for paying customers who may or may not have made a mistake. Evidence was provided that we were there.

Correspondence from them wasn't great and I gave some fair and honest feedback that we love the place but expecting us to pay an additional £20 fine isn't ideal.

I've emailed a few times opening the door for some great customer service. An offer to visit the playbarn for free would be an obvious one but nothing was forthcoming so hence leaving this review.

We won't be coming back on principle. But I do hope this feedback helps for the future and wish you all the best as despite this experience, we've had some great times...

Could be much better. Started with a very frustrating 30mins driving around in circles trying to find the entrance as sat nav and signs were all taking us to umberlade hall. Even the directions from their own website did the same and I saw plenty of other people following having the same problems. I had to call them in the end to find out how to get there.

They offer pony rides for an extra £3 which sounds great but the kids had to queue for an hr after paying and then only got a quick walk round the barn. Not worth the upset of making a young child stand in the queue for that long. That is in February I dread to think how it would take in summer!

Third problem is the cafe. Yes it sells nice hot food but it is impossible to get in it when you want to eat. It is tiny and they have picked the narrowest part for the till and service area and so whilst once more making young children queue for ages they are being shuffled around from under the feet of the staff trying to take food out to the few table available. We ended up outside on a picnic bench under an umbrella in the pouring rain. Also the prices for this honour are extortionate. £5 for a no frills sausage sandwich....

All in all not a place I recommend unless it is good weather and you take a pack lunch. There were not many tables outside either only about 4 and nowhere else you can sit so expect to eat standing up. Avoid the pony rides and take someone with you who knows how to find the hidden entrance!

It's a shame as it has such good potential if they reinvested some of their...