I used to visit Finlaystone on school trips and with my grandparents when I was younger. Decided to take my wife (and dogs) to show her a place that I used to go to in my youth. Was a bit late for the snowdrops as they were all passed, but there was a good showing of daffodils in their place. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the experience. Maybe my memories of the place have been corrupted by time, but I felt the Estate was looking tired and run down. The trails could be doing with better signage. Some of the wooden directional stakes were either rotted, missing, or the painted arrows too faded to see. The trail paths could be tidied up to make it easier to walk on, more so for elderly or those with poor mobility. The cafe and it's surrounds again were looking tired and neglected. A lot of the garden area, too, was looking poor and neglected. I know that it takes a lot of money to keep these places running but I feel that a bit of investment is required to bring it back up to the standard of my memories. It could be such a great place again with a bit of money spent on it.

Beautiful!! The woodland is great for walking the dogs, lot of playgrounds for Kids too. I absolutely love the garden! Well taken care off, very beautiful and quiet, with a nice Cafe to relax!

I had high hopes for Finlaystone given its pay to entry, has large grounds and its summer time so lots in bloom to look forward to. The experience was disappointing and the area is very tired and seems neglected. There was a small area of flower garden but overall it was no better than just walking to my local woodland or park. The staff were mainly sitting about outside the tearoom and were not very friendly. The building itself was pretty dated and unloved. My pictures make it look a lot more lush than it was because I'm a good photographer and this was all in a contained area. It has great potential, such a shame. Definitely not worth the money. As a haiku: My high hopes were dashed, Blooms few, grounds tired, charm bygone, Neglected treasure.

I have been visiting the park for more years than I care to remember, firstly with my children and now with my grandchildren. I have given the Park 5 stars primarily due to the lovely memories that I have. However the Park and it's environment are badly in need of some TLC. The 'dolly mixture' where there is a wonderful collection of antique dolls is badly in need of refurbishment. The day we visited many of the light bulbs were not working and many of the exhibits were in darkness. The display cabinets look as though they have not been cleaned for years. The reception area could be more inviting and again the rear of the reception area was in darkness when we visited. The Big Pirate Ship which was for my sons and grandchildren one of the highlights of the visit is now cordoned off due to rotting timbers. Such a sad sight. At the time of our visit the 'old laundry' was cordoned off due to a BBC production being filmed with a 'sentry' on duty to ward off uninvited visitors. Maybe we will see the laundry on TV!!! The cafe was nice and the food was ok nothing special and in my opinion, over priced. Had to wait quite a while to be served but I suppose on the bright side it is freshly cooked. We will visit again but please, please, my message to the owners is 'dip into your pockets and spend some money on improvements to the park, surely a worth while investment for the future.

Really good entry price PS6 for adults PS4 for kids/concession. The car park is really small but it's free. In the visitors centre is the dolly mixture. This is the dolls museum and shows a lot of dolls the family collected all over the world and It's based over 2 levels. The gardens are well looked after and very relaxing to walk about. There is lots of benches so you can sit and enjoy the gardens. The paths are well maintained. The smelly garden as the name suggests is small area where you get to smell plants. The cafe is located as you enter the garden area. There is picnic tables located about the park. The play area is large but there also different play items located at different area in the walking trails. The walking trails are fairly easy to walk about. The toilets are across fro the visitors centre.

Beautiful gardens, nature walks, tearoom and park area for children 10/10