Lovely place, free to go in just pay for parking it's a brillaint day out, thw stick man trail is good for the kids

Absolutely blown away by this place. We had no idea what to expect and were not disappointed.
Superbly thought out environment. The symbolism palpable.
Beautifully manicured environment, despite the adverse weather conditions of late.
Eateries on site good value. Little coffee shop has lovely coffee and equally lovely barista.
All the staff very friendly, chatty and clearly enjoy their jobs....unpaid!! Their enthusiasm and regard for the place very obvious.
It felt like a hallowed place where those who have given their lives in service to others are fittingly and respectfully remembered.
I can only imagine how those who have lost friends and family in the services feel when they spend time there.
Thank you for a great and thought provoking day.

I have visited this lovely site on numerous occasions and always found it to be very moving expression. Last week I took our Australian visitor along to the Anzac Day Service and Laying of the Wreath which both of of enjoyed very much. What I did not enjoy as much was whilst walking around the Arboretum afterwards was coming across two deposits left behind from dogs, surely the owners should be made to clean up after their dogs. Sadly I spoke to one of the lovely volunteers who said this is happening all to often, I believe that now the Arboretum are encouraging dog walkers to visit this lovely site, if this is the case more needs to done to make sure the owners clean up after the dogs, it's not the dogs fault

Beautiful place- hundreds of memorials, the entrance building has a toilet, gift shop, restaurant/coffee shop and a couple of galleries and the bulding itself feels very modern and looks stunning. The memorial grounds are peaceful and would probably take 2-3 visits to cover fully so there's plenty to do. For kids, there's a Stickman trail, so anyone of any age can visit. There's a land train covering the key memorials so you can also do that. Thoroughly recommend, fantastic family day out.

Main building contains restaurant toilets a gift shop and a museum. Outside large gardens yo walk and contemplate

Beautiful gardens filled with trees and numerous stunning memorials to well known and lesser known organisations and people. Heavy rain the day we visited so took the land train trip which is about 45 mins with a recorded commentary which allowed you to see a large area and was a good introduction to the place. Walked around the main central monument which is spectacular and the blank area of wall obviously left for future inscriptions to those killed in action seemed especially poignant. The Visitors centre is lovely and there is a facility to search the records if you want to find a memorial to a group or individual person. Restaurant good too. Will definately return on a drier day to explore more on foot.

Excellent staff & a moving experience and will definitely visit again

Such an important and needed memorial for the country. It was so much more than I expected, and the staff were fantastic at explaining the background to some of the memorials. Everyone should go.

Great and moving experience would recommend to any one and all ages .

April 2024
Had a great time here, arrived with 6 motorbikes we all paid on line beforehand £2. Immediately greeted and ushered towards the motorcycle bays. All staff very friendly and professional just a very cool vibe about this place. Made a point of visiting the memorials which were personal to me, see my YouTube Chanel if you want an idea of what its like, (Im not beyond a plug please subscribe)
Great venue if planning a day out on the bikes. Large seating area with Cafe. Good parking be prepared to walk its a large site.

Amazing place to visit, even more so on Ride to the Wall days.

Hundreds of fascinating memorials, many of them less well known regiments as well as some spectacular monuments to regiments like the kings and the paras

The Wobbly Wanderers visited here to view the monuments to the fallen service personnel.
The area is very well laid out and is mainly flat.
Where you need to climb the area is gradually ramped and is not steep making access very easy for the disabled and people in wheelchairs.
The site offers a gift shop cafe and easily accessed toilets facilities.
If you don't want to eat in you're able to picnic outside.
As it's so vast there are buggies to hire and a land train that takes about 45 minutes to get around the site.
If you're able enough then it's possible to wander at your own pace.
It's easy to find along the A38 just past Derby.
Entrance is free but there is a charge for parking.
The whole site is exceptionally clean...no litter/cans/cigarette butts to be seen.
Allow a good day in the museum.
Then go back again to view what you missed the first time.

An amazing place ,from the car park attendants thru reception cafe and restaurant every one was cheerful,pleasant and very helpful. The food was well prepared and tasteful.To be recommended

Brilliant day out for all the family, very friendly, helpful staff.
Beautiful memorial to our servicemen/women, in a beautiful setting. Plenty there for children too, the stickman trail.
Excellent restaurant too.

A very interesting and moving land train journey to gain some measure of this wonderful tribute. The volunteer staff are very friendly and helpful. A very nice café and restaurant. Very good gift shop.

Went here for a walk, didn't realise it was such a big place. It's very beautiful and very well kept, had a lovely visit

Playground: The place has parks for kids to have a good play, there was also a stickman trail with activity sheets to keep them occupied.

Dog-friendliness: Allows dogs but of course you have to be respectful of where you walk them. No dogs are allowed on the main memorial.

Picnic area: Lots of benches around for a lovely picnic space.

A great place to spend the day and wander around the manicured gardens. A place to reflect, always humbled to visit the Arboretum and pay our respects. The volunteer staff at the site exceptional.

The only downside was the coffee, absolutly awful. I did mentioned this to the cafè manager who took my comments onboard. Friendly nice staff

What a place! Loved it!

Brilliant place of remembrance.will visit again si

Amazing historical adventure.
Staff are very helpful.
Food is nice ( G kids) enjoyed it
Well worth the visit.

My wife and I had been keen to visit the Arboretum for many years, having a mutual interest in military history and war graves. We stayed overnight nearby, so spent two days walking around the Arboretum over the Easter weekend.

We first took the road train around the site, which was very interesting and gave an overview of many of the memorials, as well as allowing us to get our bearings for the site and what was approximately where.

We had a very good look around many of the memorials, but even with the guide book, it was still hard to identify exactly where some of the memorials were, as some are located well off any metalled path and require you to walk across grass / mud or through trees to get to them. This struck us as a bit nonsensical, as if we, as able bodied people struggled to get to some of them, how would elderly or disabled veterans manage to get to them?

The second day we went straight to the main memorial and spent some time there, before walking around the south part of the site near the shot at dawn memorial and 'The Beat'. Once again we struggled to locate some memorials we wished to see and several, when found, were located across boggy grass which was hard going.

It was also noticeable the number of children who were at the site, and families who clearly were local and used the place to walk their dogs, or just for an afternoon out, as it is free to enter. While I am all for educating children about remembrance, it was sad to see that quite a number of parents were allowing their children to run about, jumping on the memorials, shout and scream etc, without telling them to stop. In my view, this should not be allowed and as the site is full of national war memorials, there should be a greater degree of reverence and larger notices at the entrance and around the site, asking visitors to control their kids and animals while visiting the site.

Ultimately, the place is in a pretty nondescript and miserable part of the Midlands, so I suppose they have to attract as many visitors as possible to keep things going. The large restaurant and conference facilities also demonstrate that.

Overall we enjoyed our time at the Arboretum and would return. Some improvements and development of the existing metalled path network would certainly benefit the place, to allow those with limited mobility to get closer to many of the memorials.

Visited yesterday for the first time - what a beautiful place. Visited mainly for the Stick Man trail for our 3-year old, but would definitely visit again to spend more time looking at the memorials and the gardens, wildlife aplenty too. Volunteers all over the park who are extremely helpful.

A dog-friendly venue, but must be (rightly) kept on leads.

Dog-friendliness: Dog friendly but keep on leads at all times.

Always something new to see, and new emotions to process. A wonderful place!

Fantastic place for a day out. From the moment we entered the car park, we were greeted with friendly and welcoming staff and this was the same with every staff member we spoke to. This is a real asset.

There is so much to see - both interesting and humbling. The site is huge and always so peaceful. Our 1 year old really enjoyed the Stick Man trail. Great range of items in the gift shop.

We’re already planning our next visit.