woburn abbey and gardens

The café is also really lovely. The house is huge and a joy to walk around. The gardens are well maintained and make for a lovely walk from the house back to Woburn village (1.5 miles)

Our son recently held his wedding at Woburn in the Sculpture Gallery. What a stunning room. It was in January so we were worried about the weather. But we were blessed with clear blue skies and were therefore able to take the photographs outside in the beautiful grounds.The staff were fantastic and all really at the top of their game.Everything ran like clockwork, we had absolutely nothing to worry about. Having stayed the night at the Woburn Hotel we went back to the Abbey on the Sunday morning for a walk round the gardens, and enjoyed teas and coffees in the cafe, where again the staff were very friendly and enthusiastic.

All three Woburn golf courses are worth a visit. Try and grab a member for a reduced green fee. Oh, and forget a treat for the friendly fox on the Duke's course.

There is a lovely circular walk around Woburn Abbey, surrounded by deer. This walk is okay to do anytime of the year and is suitable for most age groups

We came to Woburn expecting much and left completely flabbergasted. Having visited many of the great country houses before (Chatsworth, Blenheim, Burghley, Kedleston ...) we sort of knew what to expect. But if Woburn Abbey is not up to the same architectural merit as some of those grand names, it more than makes up for with its art collection. The famous Canaletto dining room, gorgeous library and Van Dyck room just blew us away. We actually visitied the house twice, as there was just so much beauty to take in on one visit.What I personally found particularly pleasing, is that this is a privately run house, as opposed to a house run by the national trust. This shows as each and every room is hosted by very knowledgeable guides who have a personal affection for the Duke of Bedford's family. The Duke's family obviously puts a lot of effort in making sure all the people working at Woburn are a part of their extended family and present this meticulously maintained house to the greatest effect.

Attended wedding in the Sculpture Gallery for the day. Beautiful surroundings and the building is amazing. Lovely day, food was tasty and waitresses attentive. Drinks were reasonable.

The abbey (or stately home as it is now) is stunning and large. We spent 2 hours visiting all the rooms and speaking with the friendly and well-informed room guides. The gardens are absolutely stunning. The tea-room is fabulous and sensibly priced. Allow at least half a day for your visit.

Thank you for your recent review, I am however sorry that you didn't enjoy our Luminaries Woburnensis event. Whilst there was queuing into the venue, given the uniqueness of this event and it only being a 5 hour event it was almost inevitable. The rain earlier in the week left the car park boggy in places, our contingency plan was to get everyone parked as quickly and as safely as possible. A few cars did get stuck however we had a team of people with tractors at the ready to assist. We did ask all visitors (via our website) to wear appropriate footwear and clothing for this outdoor winter event. Visitors of all ages were very welcome at our event and all of the varied and unique activities were welcomed by all ages; ice sculptures, interactive ice wall, fire sculptures, Oriental lion dances, fire performers and tree of dreams to name a few. Many thanks once again thank you for your feedback.

Had a lovely experience in the Duchess Tea room. Was treated to afternoon tea which was lovely.The place was welcoming, the food great, staff friendly, all round a great service.The Abbey gardens were lovely to walk around in the afternoon sun after drinking my weight in tea.I would recommend the afternoon tea to everyone. If its not your cup of tea, the Tea room is still worth a visit for a piece of flap jack and a coffee.

Thank you for taking the time to post and to let us know your thoughts on our Luminaries Woburnensis event, we do appreciate all feedback received.I am sorry you felt the event didn't exceed our usual high standards. We do have a large car park that can cater for events, however we are planning to review the car parking system for future after-dark events, as it is possible that some visitors who parked incorrectly were unaware they had done so. It was also unfortunate that rain during the week leading up to the event had left the ground a little boggy in places and this limited our usual car parking area.This particular event takes our team of gardeners over 2 weeks to set up and we hire a huge amount of various lighting to ensure that there are varied features around the gardens. Led tea lights in candle bags, fairy lights, various lanterns, spot lights, moving gobos, over 800m of festoon lights, mirror ball with pin spots, floodlights, up lighters just to name a few.We strongly advised on our website that visitors should bring a torch to assist their journey around the gardens and wear appropriate footwear for this winter event.As well as the fire performers you have mentioned, other event highlights on the night were: 2 Oriental lion dances, 2 fire sculptures, 5 ice sculptures, an interactive ice wall and the tree of dreams.We always aim to enhance the visitor experience year on year and I do hope that you will return to Woburn Abbey & Gardens in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to post and to let us know your thoughts on our Luminaries Woburnensis event, we do appreciate all feedback received.I am sorry that you felt the event was disappointing. This particular event takes our team of gardeners over two weeks to set up and we hire a huge amount of various lighting to ensure that there are varied features around the gardens. LED tea lights in candle bags, fairy lights, various lanterns, spotlights, moving gobos, over 800m of festoon lights, mirror ball with pin spots, floodlights, up-lighters just to name a few. Other event highlights and many new for this year were: Oriental lion dances x2, fire sculptures x2, fire performances x3, 5 ice sculptures and an interactive ice wall.There are signs (including brown tourist attraction signs) for Woburn Abbey in the local area but for the event additional signage was installed to assist with directing people to the event entrance. New for this year, upon entry to the gardens we provided visitors with a map and event itinerary leaflet (for timed and non-timed activities) to help with planning of their event experience. Large location maps with itinerary were also installed at two locations within the gardens, one upon entry and one half-way around the trail route. We have deliberately not used a loudspeaker/PA announcement system as we believe it would interrupt the atmosphere of the event. It is unfortunate that rain during the week leading up to the event had left the ground a little boggy in places and where possible we treated the ground with bark chippings. We had encouraged visitors via our website and marketing materials to wear appropriate footwear for this outdoor winter event. I do hope you will visit Woburn Abbey Gardens in the future.

We enjoyed Woburn's lovely gardens.The Abbey itself is large and interesting, although one of the rooms was closed for a private event, and another area housed a seemingly half-finished exhibition, in a vast and largely empty room, with more than its' fair share of dead flies on the windowsills!We used Tesco vouchers which made our visit more affordable, and we would probably look to use them or another offer if we came again rather than pay the full price.

Live relatively local and had been here many years ago, so thought we would re visit. We allowed a whole day which you will prolly need. Was great for kids to run around and lots for them to see and do. For adults it was a relaxing day in beautiful surrounding. A lovely way to spend a day, we also took a picnic and are in the main grounds

Had a lovely afternoon in the gardens of Woburn Abbey today, also went into the gift shop and tea rooms. The gardens really looked wonderful, and the staff in the shop and tea rooms were very pleasant indeed - as was the lady at the entrance. They all made me feel most welcome.Altogether, a lovely visit, one that I shall certainly repeat.

It was a wet day in late October, and we spent only a few minutes in the Gardens. The House Tour, however, kept us occupied for a couple of hours. With audio information, and pleasant and very knowledgeable staff in every room, we learned a great deal.And, just when we thought that we had finished the House Tour, we were guided into the Crypt, with its Grotto and wonderful displays of porcelain, silver and gold.Well worth the cost of entry.The Tearoom and Shop are of a high standard.We hope to visit again next Summer, for a few hours in the Gardens.