Hensol Castle — Restaurant in Wales

Fantastic venue but marred by personnel issues.

We had our wedding here last summer and whilst we loved the venue, the operations unfortunately dampened the experience.

The amount of things that went wrong on our day and the lead up were countless, and what was worth is that there was no recognition of this throughout.

Wedding coordinator whilst we believe meant well was the source of the majority of our issues, with a raft of false promises and failed communications. We met our ‘on the day’ coordinator (Ellie) as the time would suggest, who was actually lovely and tried her best to right many wrongs of who we had invested 100’s of hours planning with. We thank you for efforts and compassion throughout the day!

Examples of mishaps include: no music license outside discovered on the wedding day, 9 months after we had hired our entertainment and confirmed this with our coordinator. Shortage of seats at ceremony and error on reception seating plan Significant delays throughout the day, over 1 hour behind schedule which eventuated in evening guests turning up before dessert was even served. Stations not set up as planned, for example the Gin station at reception. Agreed and paid for Gin condiments were absent £000’s variance between expected and final invoice which took more than 2 weeks to finalise, and only finalized a day before check in! breakfast to bridal party not delivered on wedding morning Staff absolutely horrible to us throughout our stay, especially Georgia. Meanwhile the day after our wedding was when our wedding coordinator decided it was appropriate to chase for an outstanding value, ironically not realising that she actually owed us money… no apology as became expected from her behavior and incompetence. guests of the castle were chased for outstanding invoice when all rooms were prepaid. plenty of issues on check in, rooms not ready etc. (both castle and vale) music end time (12pm) was different to what was on our contract (1am) - thankfully this was granted in our favour due to how many other things went wrong during the day)

The list could double… but the point I believe is made.

The venue is stunning, food was great and the rooms superb, however the service, care and compassion for your day is low.

We had a 3 day wedding event with over 120 people, with a fully prepaid bar, all guests staying onsite, and an event in the distillery the night before. If we aren’t getting top service for that… I’d hate to think what your standard wedding would receive.

If you are in the area, I’d consider this venue but if you are international and have your pick of venues - go where they will make you feel special on your day and not cause you migraines.

Final note, we were reached out to by the marketing team to try and access our images because of the event we put on. The reality is we were waiting for someone from Hensol Castle to formally apologise or understand where they could improve for future, whether that be the coordinator, or the management team we had a direct line to - however it never came and hence why...

My husband and I got married here, May 2024. It was a magical day. I cannot recommend this venue enough!

I first visited the venue when I went to their wedding fayre. The staff were excellent from the first enquiry at the fayre right through post the wedding day. The regular wedding fayres are really good to re-see the venue and book other vendors that you had not done. This really helped the wedding planning!

My wedding coordinator Laura B was outstanding. She was at the end of every email, and there was a lot! She was quick to respond and I felt that no question was a silly question and nothing was a bother for her.

The night before the wedding we stayed at the vale. The rooms were great proximity to each other for the videographer and photographer. This made everything easy. Room service was very helpful and it was a beautiful spread. Unfortunately, my grandfather was unwell in the night and required a&e. The night manager was exceptional and took him to a&e and picked him up, which really helped what could have been a very stressful morning. Thankfully, he made the wedding, thanks to the kind staff at the Vale!

The wedding day at the Castle was superb. I couldn't have asked for more. It rained on our wedding day but the venue is so beautiful that it didn't matter that the majority of our pictures were inside. Everything ran smoothly. Staff tried to keep us on schedule... the day really does fly by! The staff were very accommodating. We had a surprise slideshow that we didn't know about. One of our guests was breast feeding and they offered her a room to be more comfortable. The food was excellent. I had a number of guests say it was the best wedding food they had tasted and I would also agree! The staff really did go above and beyond for all guests!

On the night of the wedding we stayed at the castle. The rooms were beautiful! The breakfast the next morning was as good as the food the night before!

A huge thank you to everyone who were involved in our wedding. We had the best day and would do it all over again in...

A beautiful location for An Event - especially a wedding. Kind, friendly staff. HOWEVER, there needs to be better accommodation for guests arriving before an event. We struggled to get our cases into a tiny cupboard with steps on either side of the access door! And no assistance was offered... ALSO, there were no facilities to sit & relax with a coffee, etc, prior to the event. We were told to go to the Vale Resort (where we had just come from!) via shuttle bus. We waited 15 minutes for the shuttle, then waited over 15 minutes for the coffees to be served at the Vale Bar before turning round & and heading back to the Castle!! Everyone was perfectly nice, but this is a massive gap in customer services. People are generally travelling long distances, so hoping to arrive spot on time for an important event would be foolhardy at best. Ergo, a guest drawing room with light refreshments IN THE CASTLE would make good sense. Two of our party were elderly/disabled so being told to mess around with a shuttle bus was really an effort too far. The rooms are gorgeous, BUT we were put in room 102, which is in a peculiar situation - sort of between levels with no lift access! I'm 71 & my husband is 82, so it was something of a challenge getting our case up two flights of stairs! Thankfully, I managed (not a very elegant sight!!) as staff to give assistance were thin on the ground, to say the least! Our room could also do with having the shower checked as it floods the floor mainly due to the inability to alter the direction of the shower head. A few extra shampoos, shower wash wouldn't go amiss either! Despite the above, we thoroughly enjoyed our...