The Cloisters Castle — Local services in Timonium

I went here for afternoon tea, and I had such an incredible experience. I thought that the tea was an amazing value for the amount of food we got & the quality, as well as the sampling of three different pots of tea. My group had a couple of picky eaters in it, and we were all able to find so many delicious things to enjoy in the beautiful display of food that we were given - four different types of tea sandwiches (two vegetarian), muffins, scones, pudding cups, fruit, cheese, brownies, and little blueberry pastry bites, along with delicious spreads for the scones and sandwiches. We tried our best to finish everything, because it was too good to waste, but it was just so much food! The three different teas were all amazing, and it was fun getting to sample all of them. We also enjoyed browsing the crafts vendors that were present over this past weekend, and we were able to find some really cool, unique items to purchase!

The castle is also so beautiful, and we loved exploring both the interior and the grounds. It felt like stepping into another time & place! Definitely a really unique location, and I'm glad I got to experience it. If you get a chance to visit, you definitely should, and I very highly recommend the tea event if they do it again!

We did have one disappointment, though. My brother and his fiancee thought it would be fun to dress up for the spring bazaar, especially since it was his birthday, and I have a really simple mirrorless camera that I take with me everywhere, so I was enjoying taking a few photos of my family in the castle. A woman came up to us and asked us to stop, saying that professional photoshoots were not allowed without a permit. There was nothing "professional" about this shoot. I was simply taking photos of my own family, and I did not have any professional equipment with me (no big cameras, no tripod, no lighting, nothing of that sort). The photos were just for our own enjoyment and would be going absolutely nowhere beyond our personal social media accounts, because we wanted to share our fun day with our friends. We tried to explain that we were just taking photos of family, and she refused to listen to our explanation. It felt especially unnecessary given that we had supported the vendors with many purchases and had attended the tea as paying guests. Her tone toward us was not particularly kind, either.

That put a damper on our day, but we didn't want to argue. However, I was surprised to then look online and see absolutely nothing about any kind of photo policy. I read through their entire website and also did a Google search of "Cloisters Castle" and various terms like "photography," "photos," "permit," etc. Zero results mention anything about it, so that made her rude tone a little worse, in my opinion. And there was no signage in the castle.

Anyway, I feel like it's unusual for a family to have to pay for a permit to take photos of each other, especially during a fun springtime tea event. So just something to be aware of during your visit. But despite this encounter, I'd definitely return, and I've been telling everyone how...

If I could put O stars I would!!! I flew over to see the place, and they were so cold..The rooms are ALL EMPTY except for 2 and they don't keep the place clean and up to date. The "bridal suite" had a few chairs and an old couch... I was scared that if I sat on it flees would jump out. It looked like they kept it from the 80s. I was scared to even use their bathroom. The courtyard was beautiful, but they have so many restrictions that as a bride you can't decorate or do practically anything. The woman working there showed me their calander for that summer and let me take a picture so I can decide on the exact date... I was the ONLY bride in the month of August. When I called them that Monday, they didn't answer the phones ALL WEEK. After many voicemails from my bridesmaid and I, I finally got a call back on Friday. She didn't apologize for it getting back to me after a whole week. I told the lady that there's barely any options for me to plan a wedding and I would just like to have the ceremony since I can pay by the hour instead. She told me they are overbooked and I told her that it's not true, she can't lie to customers. I saw the calendar and I was the ONLY bride that month. I explained that the reason why they won't get brides is because of all the restrictions , horrible customer service , and that they won't work with them at all. She was so angry she blew up and hung up the phone. That's the manager of the location. I wouldn't go there for my wedding even if they payed me to. WORST VENEUE. The city owns the castle . They need to replace the management with someone capable of handling it and professional enough to not lose it and blow up at brides after the...

We had our wedding here and the venue itself was absolutely magical. We had high hopes. Unfortunately the staff and costumer service was not ideal. Mind you, we are not argumentative people or people who generally make a fuss. We were promised clear communication and responsiveness from the director, but many of our emails regarding important information went unanswered by the director. On top of that, our event manager assigned to us by The Cloisters seemed completely in over her own head. She was yelling at the wedding party while they were getting ready, including scolding the groom for holding a beer (given to him by catering) and cursing at bridesmaids who were walking down the aisle. The worst part, however, was the miscommunication concerning clean up the day afterwards. We were initially told to arrive early morning, about 9am, to clean up. However, a staff member came up to someone in the wedding party (NOT myself or the groom) and told them that the gates would be locked at 9am, and to come instead at 10:30am. The day after my wedding, I awoke to a multitude of upsetting voicemails from both my sister and The Cloisters staff stating that we were late, despite having been told the night before to arrive late. On the phone with the director, I tried to explain that a member of her staff misinformed us. She was extremely rude and condescending and did not apologize. Overall we still had a beautiful wedding, but I would be lying if I said the day wasn't at least partially ruined...