Gotha Gardens and Café at Pembroke Farm — Local services in North Hertfordshire

EDIT TO MY FIVE STAR REVIEW FROM LAST YEAR BASED ON TODAY’S EXPERIENCE:

Further edit to add that they keep changing their response to my review and other reviews. Their previous response was extremely rude and defensive in tone

Terrible experience, do not visit if you have dogs as you may be refused entry if the people working there deem your dog to be ‘aggressive’ because of the way they look/their breed.

Today my husband, my mum and I went to visit Gotha Gardens along with my 7 month old baby and our two gentle, on-lead family dogs.

For context, both dogs are medium sized Staffordshire bull terrier mixes. For further context, we visited last year with my dog and were allowed in no problem - we actually had a lovely time then and I left a very positive review for Gotha Gardens - see photo of our visit from last year.

This is what makes what happened next a real shame, because we had a great visit last time and are honestly shocked and saddened by how we were treated today.

As we walked in, we were rudely greeted with loud shouting by the owner saying ‘no no no - you can’t come in with aggressive dogs’. We were completely taken aback as our dogs are not at all aggressive and are wonderfully behaved, ironically not even batting an eyelid when their dog barked at us on approach!

It was incredibly awkward as she made a big show in front of other patrons, and we were made to feel like we were doing something terrible just by wanting a nice family day out.

We explained to her that our dogs were not aggressive and asked for an explanation as to why we couldn’t come in, especially as we came last year with my dog with no issues! Although the place is open to the public, she threatened to call the police if we did not leave her private property and began to make a call. This was again an unwarranted overreaction, not to mention would have been a complete waste of police resources.

The man who worked there then suggested we could come in but leave the dogs alone in the car (in 20 degree heat!!!). What a shockingly irresponsible suggestion. When we highlighted the danger of leaving a dog in a car on a hot day, he said we could crack a window open. Unbelievable!

I’d like to highlight that we completely understand and respect that some businesses have a no dogs policy - a blanket policy for all dogs regardless of breed/look.

We’ve checked and their website says they only allow ‘non-threatening dog breeds’ which we consider extends to our non-threatening, well behaved dogs, and as previously mentioned they were fine to visit last year.

I suggested to them that if they do not want people visiting with their dogs then they should have a blanket ban on all dogs, as opposed to an unclear message on their website. But she claimed our dogs look aggressive so we couldn’t come in. It was an unjustified assumption against our dogs, rooted entirely in their perception rather than actual behaviour or evidence.

Other patrons were also surprised by the woman’s behaviour - we really hope that the interaction and her rudeness didn’t ruin their visit like it did ours.

I want to support local businesses, but I also want to warn others about the shocking and rude overreaction of the people who work there towards visitors with dogs. We said we would leave a review of our experience today and the owner said we couldn’t leave a review because we hadn’t paid to come in. She then said ‘you be very careful at what you do next’ which felt threatening.

Having looked at their reviews, I can see they respond to any negativity in a defensive, sometimes sarcastic tone which makes me anxious to leave a review, but on the other hand I think it’s important to share our negative experience so others don’t make the trip hoping for a nice family day out with their dogs only to be rudely turned away.

——— Last year’s review below: ——— Beautiful peaceful gardens which we loved exploring with the dogs! The cafe had a wonderful selection of delicious sandwiches, cakes and teas. Will be visiting again...

I was disappointed with the cake as I came especially to find the beautiful cakes that I had seen in the pictures, but there were not any like those, and the lemon drizzle was not with poppy seeds as described.

Sadly the table cloth was a dirty tea towel.

The environment is lovely but would have preferred no jazz music playing.

The garden is nice and bigger than I expected seeing the reviews that said it was small, it's very winding and a nice place to sit and relax in nature.

Having read reviews it seems that the young couple run this place and maintain the garden themselves so I don't want to be negative but needed to be honest too.

He seemed quite stressed when I arrived so perhaps it's all hard to keep on top of but I think perhaps ensuring that what the images show is reflected in what's offered will prevent any negative reviews.

I would like to go back another time and maybe have something else off the menu because it's important for small businesses to be supported, but could only urge the owners to add the little details, clean tablecloths, maybe some cream or fruit with the cakes as in the pictures as presentation leaves a lasting impression and I would love to see this place thrive.

Edit after reading the sarcastic response from the owner...

If you are looking for somewhere that does not reflect what is in the pictures and if you make any honest comments you will receive a sarcastic, defensive response... Then this is the place to be!

No poppy seeds in lemon drizzle cake either, despite advertised as such, and no fancy cakes with fruit and cream as pictured.

Dirty table cloths but bought in France in 2018 so that's ok, we shouldn't expect them to be French AND clean.

I definitely won't return and changed my rating to 1 star as a result of the owners responses which are equally negative in other reviews.

And no, I won't volunteer thank you as the owners are far too...

Disappointing and upsetting experience — treated unfairly. **Edit The owners of this place keep changing their reply (3rd time now!) to this review to make them appear more reasonable perhaps. The owners behaviour as we walked in was shocking.

We arrived with our two gentle, family-raised staffies (on leads) and our baby, looking forward to a peaceful family day out. Instead, we were met by the female owner Anna, who loudly declared, “You can’t come in with your aggressive dogs,” in front of other visitors. The dogs were calm, doing nothing wrong, and had visited previously without issue.

We tried to explain, but were shut down, threatened with police removal, if we didn't leave. It was a bewildering and humiliating experience. The website states that aggressive dogs aren’t allowed — which is understandable — but ours showed no such behaviour. It felt like an assumption based purely on breed or appearance.

I asked if they judged people this way too, and was told by the male owner I had “crossed a line” and was “not a nice person.” The whole encounter was deeply upsetting, especially for what should have been a simple, family-friendly visit.

When I left I said that I would write a review about this. The female owners' parting words to me were that I would not be able to write a review because I hadn't paid to go in and that I should "be very careful" what I "do next".

After my daughter shared about this experience online, the owners responded defensively, calling it defamation and accusing us of bullying — an astounding reaction. I've now seen very negative responses directed at others who've left critical reviews. (Unlike many places who apologise and hope to learn from a poor review) .

I rarely write reviews like this, but felt it was important to speak up. No one deserves to be treated this way, especially by a business open...