Herstmonceux Castle — Attraction in Wealden

After leaving the house I decided to surprise my partner with a visit to Herstmonceux Castle. At the entrance the gate attendant mentioned there was scaffolding at the front but assured us the back looked the same, and that the castle was open to the public. Based on this, I paid £10 each for entry and parked our motorcycle.

We first stopped for a coffee and panini in the café unfortunately, the Panini was very chewy and the young staff were under pressure from difficult customers creating a tense atmosphere.

We enjoyed walking through the beautiful gardens but the back of the castle didn’t really resemble the front as suggested. Inside we were directed up a staircase to a landing with mostly “private” and “no entry” signs. The only accessible room was a ballroom set for a conference, with rows of chairs and plasma screens not what we expected or worth photographing. Exiting the ballroom on the other side we found more closed doors and “private” and “no entry” signs and eventually ended up back at the entrance after walk down the stairs on the other side of the ballroom.

I asked a guide about other areas to visit only to be told the castle was closed off due to scaffolding and the only way to see a small extra section was to pay an additional £4 for a tour, which seemed poor value. I expressed that paying £10 for limited access to the castle and the gardens felt misleading.

While I later found some information online about the renovation the lady at the entrance should have made the closure inside clearer. Had we known we wouldn’t have purchased tickets. Overall we felt disappointed and that the ticket price should have reflected the limited access perhaps at half the cost.

In all honestly a word of advice’, it’s not worth going until the renovation...

Nice grounds. The castle itself isn't open to the public. I took a group of 19 there and we the did a 6 mile circular walk in the area after our initial one hour wander around the grounds. This was on a January weekend when the grounds are only open one weekend a month over the winter for a discounted £6 per person. The parking area adjacent to the castle wasn't really big enough for a group that size, with of course other visitors being there too, so some of us used the grass. No problem with that, but there were big delays getting on the site. The site was only taking card payments and not cash which we hadn't been made aware of. This resulted in one of our party, having waited half an hour beyond the 10am opening time to get in, turning round and going home. In all it took 40 minutes for the 19 of us to get through and assemble outside of the castle, despite all of us arriving before the 10am opening time or just after. The fee for visiting the site during the winter when the tea rooms etc are shut was probably about right. The grounds were very muddy which was to be expected. It was lovely seeing the peacocks and other wildlife. I had contacted the castle twice prior to the visit and one person had little knowledge of the access arrangements and the other was more aware of what was happening with the site over the winter. I think the castle needs to have better arrangements in place for group visits to get them in quicker, and more flexibility on access and payment arrangements. Hopefully in the summer months when visiting is in full swing things are a bit more organised. Very nice visit though and would go again. Also ideal for parking to access the surrounding area and buildings such as the nearby 14th...

Visited today (20/08/25) in the afternoon with my Grandma and was highly impressed with our visit. We were given a useful map of the grounds upon arrival. We had a sausage roll each for lunch plus cake in the cafe, both of which were delicious at a reasonable price.

The gardens and grounds were interesting and had a variety of colours throughout. There's also some woodland areas where you can walk around. I believe the Herstmonceux grounds are around 600 acres, so it's a decently sized estate.

The day we visited happened to be a day that castle tours were taking place, so we booked onto the 3pm tour. Our tour guide, Melinda, was very knowledgeable and friendly. She talked about the history of Herstmonceux Castle and the different stages it's been through. The castle itself is quite a fascinating building (Grade I listed I believe). It's primarily used by the Queen's University in Canada, but it was nice to see parts of the castle.

They've recently opened a little farm shop onsite, which has a nice range of products, also includes the gift shop too. We were served by a young girl called Molly, who was very helpful and friendly and we felt very welcome to the site. The other people that served us were friendly as well.

The volunteer gardeners have been doing an amazing job at keeping the gardens looking good, given the lack of rain recently.

If you're planning a day out, I would highly recommend paying a visit to Herstmonceux. Tickets are reasonably priced and dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds. Also child friendly as there's plenty of...