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.

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.

Went there to pay respects to my uncle and Dad

Lovely attraction. Could easily spend a day. Refreshments reasonably priced. Stick man trail entertained the children. Well worth a visit.

Excellent place to visit.
Stickman experience for the children too.
Good prices re food and drinks.
Staff Excellent.
Extremely helpful,approachable and friendly.
Very dog friendly.
Would return.

Really special place. So we'll maintained and family friendly. We went as a family to The stick man trail and loved it xx

Playground: Lovely spaces

Restrooms: Clean and tidy - well cared for

Picnic area: Lots available

Cafe area spotless as usual. Wide variety of of meals. Cold tap at hot drinks counter to top up flask/water bottle. Food reasonably priced. Hot drink, soup+roll and flapjack for about £11.

Excellent buggy tour to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday,special thanks to Jo our guide ,such a lovely lady and very informative

A beautiful place: restful and somewhere fir quiet contemplation.
Have been going there since it opened so more to see every time. Highly recommended.
On a slightly negative note, and being vegetarian, ordered a five-bean chilli with Jacket Potato: even asked for confirmation that it was a vegetarian dish. On arrival, the chilli was meat-based so had to leave it. Didn't complain because it is a charity when all's said and done but the order just showed jacket potato with chilli, so maybe a quiet word with the volunteers on the counter to write down exactly what was ordered (I didn't notice until it was too late). Any other time you would get five stars. We will be back, as I say, it it a wonderful place and we often recommend it for a visit.
On a plus, why not go into the accommodation business? One day isn't enough to take in entirely. We will return I assure you.... and thanks.

Always a great place to visit

Cafe pretty good too.

Always a lovely place to visit and reflect