Thornbury Castle Hotel & Restaurant

We recently hired the Tudor Hall for a family event. From start to finish the service and care from Jess in Events was superb. The historical setting is stunning and all our requests were fulfilled. The guests were impressed with their afternoon tea and there was more than enough cake to go around. The freshly made scones were particularly popular. The serving team were really polite and the bar service was also very professional and friendly. I know it takes a team effort to make sure a large event works successfully, so we would like to thank everyone involved that day, who added to making the day go so smoothly and be so memorable for everyone. Thornbury Castle holds a dear place in my heart and it is lovely to know it's still the beautiful place I remember and more. The Tudor gardens are a peaceful sanctuary and the courtyard fountain looks beautiful by day and night. Thank you Thornbury Castle Team for your quality of care and professional and friendly delivery. I hope to return again soon.

I visited with a friend for a gifted afternoon tea for two. The castle setting itself is really beautiful but the afternoon tea experience was a little underwhelming. This started with the booking - I didn't get a very friendly receptionist when making the booking (and a little detail but despite spelling my name when asked, my feedback request shows it was spelt incorrectly). The room used for serving the high tea was very small and dark and despite a lovely feature chandelier was pretty souless and lacked atmosphere. Perhaps arriving to a huge beautiful castle on a bright sunny day and subsequently being placed in a quiet small dark room with no view is a bit of a let down. The service for the actual tea was friendly, although again small details like not providing a tea timer, forgetting the ingredients of one of the sandwiches and describing one as the vegetarian and the other as normal, isn't really in line with a 4* experience. One member of the waiting staff had to check with another when I asked where the restroom/toilets were (they were nice and clean when I got there however). Upon leaving we were also asked to pay the charge of a drink, a basic non alcoholic one that upon service at the table was a substitute for a non tea drinking guest. We repeated the explanation and there was then no charge but again just made the service that little bit less slick. The food and tea itself was delicious, there was a great variation of textures and flavours. Serving the milk in a jug the same size as the tea pot for one was a bit odd - a minor detail I know but I've enjoyed many a high tea at various venues with different budgets and feel like details like this all relate to thoughtful service. The Thornbury Castle experience is expensive compared to other high tea experiences locally so in conclusion I can't say it is particularly good value for money and I would direct my recommendation to friends to have high tea elsewhere

We visited for afternoon tea on Sunday 26th. Initially we were seated on the mezzanine level. Whilst this provided a more private experience, it lacked atmosphere. There was no music and no other guests. However, not long after being seated the poor lady serving us lost balance and dropped several glasses of Prosecco on the table and the floor, soaking the table cloth and rather unfortunately, my leg. There was also a lot of smashed glass on the floor, so we asked to be moved to the main room. The atmosphere was much better, with comfortable chairs, a lovely fire, wonderful Christmas decorations and importantly, other diners. The poor lady from earlier then brought replacement drinks for us and once again managed to spill some of them whilst tripping down a step. After this, we didn’t see her again and were served by other members of staff. Everyone was very nice and the food was lovely. Sadly, compared to other afternoon tea’s we’ve been to the actual tea selection was really quite minimal. It was certainly an interesting day out and all in all we did have good fun and have plenty to remember it by. But, for £185 for 4 people (with the optional Prosecco upgrade for 3) it didn’t feel the best value for money. Luckily, we had a voucher so not too displeased. But would I go back? Probably not.

Very polite and well mannered service that let me and my group go to rooms that might have been off limits for some. The food was very nice and delicious but it could have been a tad bit bigger. I thought the scenery was beautiful and the land around the castle was maintained well. The sight of the church and overall structure of the castle was beautiful to grasp and the thought of staying in a place with such history, it was marvelous. Very good time there and would recommend it to anyone wanting to go and learn about England and it’s fascinating history, or to just have a good time.