Arley Hall & Gardens

What travelers say:

Towards the end of March I had some friends visiting from the east coast and decided to take them to view the gardens at Arley. They are keen gardeners and so absolutely loved it with all the spring flowers on display. At some point we decided to stop to enjoy a coffee from the cafe barn. There was a queue of people at the food counter but nobody at the drinks counter so we proceeded there to order one espresso, one latte and one cappuccino, only to be told that we had to go to the back of the food queue. We insisted that we didn’t want food but staff said that there was one queue for all and that was it. We then queued for 30 minutes for the three coffees. It seemed to me that staff in the food counter were run off their feet and stressed to see the lengthening queue, whilst the drinks and payment were twiddling their thumbs, waiting for customers. Surely, there must be a more efficient system. It’s easy to see one. Fortunately, the sun and the gardens counteracted the frustration.