Chatsworth Reviews 

I wrote a comment on Facebook but it wasn’t acknowledged and disappeared! As a Friend of Chatsworth I have been visiting the House at Christmas for years. I took a friend for her Christmas present and came away embarrassed. It was so very disappointing and totally underwhelming. Not even snow for this so called Nordic event. Pathetic when you consider the mountains of decorations that are stored in their attics. Many families will struggle to afford Christmas treats like this. They deserve better. Chatsworth have this year made huge detrimental changes to their membership. I will think hard before renewing mine.

After watching Chatsworth at Christmas on tv we were really looking forward to our visit today. But like so many reviewers all four of us were disappointed and underwhelmed by the decorations. Felt that we had paid a lot of money for a lacklustre experience. Our highlight was walking around the grounds and garden which are magnificent.

Every year you put on a fantastic theme,but tell me what has gone wrong.my friends and I go somewhere every year,so I suggested chatsworth House, wish I'd never bothered. You certainly have not excelled yourselves.
Very dissapointed.

Recommended to my family to go after fantastic trip last year. Feedback from there experience was muted and when I
asked more it appears the tour was very limited. Access to a lot if the house was shut off .... no exit through sculpture gsllery or gift shop ... what is going on, and who made these decisions to limit so much of the previous Christmas magic? When I asked what the theme was they hadn't a clue, just a limited number of nicely decorsted rooms. Whst a shame. Clearly somebody has got something very wrong this year.

Went last year to visit the Light Gardens and it was great.. Booked this year for both Christmas Market and gardens again but have to say the market was very poor but what was worse was they way the staff treated paying guests…

Gardens we were told closed at 7pm which was fine, but when we get out at 7pm we were told there wasn’t any transport to take our elderly parents ( who had arrived via their own transport ) back to their car. This is where they were asked to park some distance from market. My father in law walks with two walking sticks so as you can imagine not exactly possible to walk to his car. Note when they parked they were given transport to the market but this stopped at 7pm… How is that sensible to stop transport for customers at the same time people are leaving the gardens.. either close gardens earlier or continue transport on for additional 1/2 hour to get customers back to cars. Note I only have a 2 seater car so unable to take

After sometime we finally got the staff to address ( very unhappy customers that will never go back )

Rude staff, Poor Experience, Never Again

I have visited Christmas at Chatsworth for a number of years and the amount of work that has gone into decorating the rooms has been amazing in the past.I am an avid fan of this beautiful stately home, but this year I felt very disappointed with the event. I failed to appreciate the theme of the spell that Loki cast over it, indeed have renamed the event as Low Key. I saw a drop begin in the usual standard of decorations last year, dropping even further this year and it really will be an effort to return next year. What a dreadful shame, as this has been a highlight of my year for a number of years. The Cavendish restaurant sadly has also downplayed the Christmas lunch for Christmas Afternoon Tea instead. I am truly upset to have to write this but unfortunately in my experience the joy and spirit of Christmas has gone out of this event. I am pleased to say that the staff continue to be very welcoming and informative.

I agree with previous posts. I have been to Christmas at Chatsworth a number of times over the past 8 years and the themed displays have been amazing - until this year. Room by room was just Christmas trees and a few decorations. It was totally underwhelming. Chatsworth has changes over recent years and it now seeks to exploit the visiting public, as demonstrated by the quality of this years display. It is increasingly more expensive to park and for entry. I'm sure it will be fully booked next year but we will not be going back.

Every year for the past few years we have visited Chatsworth at Christmas. We arrived for our visit yesterday and were extremely disappointed after previous years themes and decorations. There was not much of a theme and certainly didn’t recognise we were stepping into scenes straight from Nordic fairy tales - just lots of Christmas trees which were ok but nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing unusual in the chapel and the dining room was a table with plastic fruit on it. It was here, with no indication he was present, we encountered Loki, there were no stories, music or magic tricks & no mention of the gardens. Just mischievous tales about the Duke and Duchess.
After so many years of supporting Chatsworth I think next year it will be time for a change.

We visited the Christmas market & gardens yesterday. It’s Chatsworth, so you know it’s not going to be cheap, but the market was festive with a wide variety of food, drink and stalls selling everything from copper mistletoe to secateurs. There were a variety of Christmas themed performers and all in all a lovely experience to get you into the Christmas spirit. What made it for us though were the staff. All were ready & happy to engage and helped to make the day fun. If I were to point out an area for improvement it would be communication which at times seemed lacking, but with the number of staff and the size of the site this presents quite a challenge.

Absolutely rubbish, very disappointed to charge what they did and have poor Christmas decorations I have seen better in a free garden centre. I raved about this house last year and took my family what a waist of money. I did complain and the guy told me they had done things different this year and in is words said they decorated it in 5 days instead of 3 weeks. Don’t waist your money very poor show you can see they don’t want to use there electric and cut it all back shame on you chatsworth rip off.

We were looking forward to our visit Tom Chatsworth House and the Christmas market, as we have done for the past eight years or so........ but what a disappointment it turned out to be. The market to be fair, had a good atmosphere and looked very festive. However, it was extremely expensive especially the food and drink ....... absolutely ridiculous at some stalls as was the parking charges ............We felt so sorry for visiting families especially those with children, it must have been a very costly day.
However, the most disappointing aspect for us was the Christmas decorations in the house......... they are so underwhelming this year. Apart from the usual decorated Christmas trees which, were pretty the Nordic theme was uninspiring and extremely dull. There was nothing to excite children at all..........what on earth were Chatsworth staff thinking of !!!!!. So disappointing and poor value for money. Even the illuminated garden walk was a poor show ............ our local garden centre has put a better display on.
We think Chatsworth may have outlived it’s reputation and possibly become a bit complacent and greedy !!!
Perhaps it’s time for a change with our annual Christmas tradition of visiting such establishments.
Poor show Chatsworth .........

We didn’t book parking for Christmas market so got turned away by a woman who was so miserable and rude that I won’t bother to return. I appreciate it was my fault not to book but a friendly approach and smiling face would go a long way.

Had afternoon tea in the Cavendish restaurant which was amazing, the staff at Chatsworth from the car parking attendants to the restaurant and gift shop staff are a credit to the business. Despite them being exceptionally busy we were treated with respect and consideration, the setting and food was top class and we enjoyed every minute. Highly recommended

I've been visiting Chatsworth christmas market and house for a few years now with family or friends, always loved the experience every year up until this year...Sadly very disappointed 🙄
The Christmas market was ok however I feel alot of the items for sale are well overpriced and lots of too simular stalls aswell. Definitely not as good as previous years. Also due to experiencing paying £4 for a hot chocolate made with water in previous years and extortionate food prices, we do take a flask of hot chocolate and snacks from home to eat in the car. Don't mind paying good money for something that's extra special but that hot choc is awful, so not bought any for the past 2 years, lesson learnt! It would also have been nice to be entertained by a choir or something special especially how much it costs to visit. OK we found the faults over the years, hence bringing our own food and drink ect. and knowing we can't afford half the stuff on the market but...we still go for the highlight of the day. TA DA!!! CHATSWORTH HOUSE AT CHRISTMAS. The excitement of approx one and a half - 2 hours of gobsmacked amazement 😍🎄 WELL...
Totally gutted, so so disappointed. Apart from a few nice trees, a walk through the corridors and a couple of rooms to see that was about it. The magnificent dining table wasn't it's usual impressive self either, just decorated with some artificial fruits. In and out in 30 mins couldn't believe it 😳 No effort at all this year, very minimal and very disappointing. Of all years to not make the effort for the public when we are all trying to be careful of what we are spending, everyone wants to see something special when parting with that kind of money. I don't think The Duke and Duchess are feeling the pinch are they.
Sadly...We definitely won't be returning next year, I think we've seen the best of Chatsworth House in previous years unless... hopefully this is a one off it will be better in future, who knows?

Xmas market was nothing special and the stalls all overpriced. £25 per vehicle too much. Food in Carriage restaurant was bland and again overpriced. Will not visit again.

It was our first time visiting the Xmas market and garden of lights. They charged £25 per car for parking to go to the Xmas market only or £16 each to see the lights including parking per person. So for 3 of us we paid £48 to go to the market and lights. For this cost I expected something more than I can see and do for free in any town or village at Xmas. The cost wouldn’t have mattered at all if I felt i had had my money’s worth but we didn’t. The market is just stalls no different to any others in towns selling over priced items and food and also a lot gave very bad customer service as were very grumpy when serving you. We got a supposedly special hot chocolate at a stand as you arrive which was over £6 each which was just normal chocolate powder and mine was awful and so watered down it was just water with cream on the top and two marshmallows, I had to throw it away ! Also the girl and boy serving were very grumpy just stood complaining about their boss whilst serving us and didn’t even speak to us as we gave our order! When you effectively pay £25 to go to the market I expected more than just stalls such as a choir singing carols or a brass band playing Xmas songs and a Christmas tree ! Anything to give it that extra special feeling of Xmas but there was nothing ! The only Xmas music came from three men playing instruments walking around not even in costume, something you wouldn’t expect at Chatsworth ! There was no atmosphere at all and the worse Xmas market we have ever been too. The lights in the garden were awful just lights up trees mostly. A lot of what’s on the video were not in the garden and again all very disappointing and underwhelming! As I write this review it gives me great sadness especially with what’s going on with the cost of living crisis at the minute I feel that the organisers are not giving value for money and I wish we had not gone. We we all felt that we paid our money in good faith and paid it willingly thinking that an event at Chatsworth would be money well spent. Cost charged and effort put into event did not equal out and I can no longer look at Chatsworth with a favourable light anymore. Very disappointed.

Very disapointed with the house visit. Expected to see more period rooms only saw one bedroom which still had modern art in it and the library. Most of what we went through were corridors leading into large empty rooms and although the ceilings and walls showed some spectacular period art work they didnt reflect how the house would have looked and been occupied in times gone by. I would like to say the staff were helpful and knowledgeable. The gardens are beautiful but the cascade wasnt working which was a shame. Having visited other similar places it was over priced for what you got to see .

Very disappointed with a very over priced chatsworth house. Having paid £29 each I at least expected to see fine furnishings and many period rooms. In reality what we got is a modern gallery, which is not to our taste at all, and many hideous modern ceramics and pieces of modern furniture!! I could not believe we only got to see one bedroom and the library and the library could only be viewed from the ante library and then you exit via the statue room and the tour is over and your left thinking is that it? The gardens are nice and the afternoon tea was lovely which is why we had come, but wow what a shame about the house!!!!

Chatsworth House is now forcing Disabled drivers to pay £5 for parking. Pure greed and profiteering. This family is one of the richest blue bloods in the country. The money they make from the estate and it’s various enterprises must be staggering. It’s obscene and disgusting making the disable pay for parking. They should be ashamed. I for one will never visit this estate again.