Our visit to the Gardens today was ok although not...

Our visit to the Gardens today was ok although nothing special.

The gardens themselves are well presented and the water features are stunning. However, customer service we felt less to be desired.

There is no warning on the website that the car parking is Pay & Display and is Cash only to the attendant, this meant we had to make a detour into town to withdraw some cash, an ordeal in itself.

Then, when we finally got to the ticket booth, staff assume you're able to gift aid and try to charge you the higher price which we refused given the parking situation. They treat Gift Aid as an opt out rather than an opt in.

Tea Room in the garden is clean and tidy, however food was poorly labelled, we had to ask what the muffin flavours were and staff gave us the impression they didn't want to be there, looking and sounding relatively moody.

When we went to wait for the Poison Garden Tour, we knew the tour was 15 minutes later, and were going to wait, the tour guide was quick to say "Its 15 minutes to the tour" in a blunt way, we promptly left and decided not to look in there. No sign to say that the poison garden was guided tour only until you're stood outside. Although loved the 'giants adventure' installation.

Gardens and grounds presented immaculately but if you're travelling 100 miles to visit the site, make sure you're prepared for hidden car park costs and poor customer service.