Absolutely brilliant and the weather was good for me

Went for the Monte Casino 75 ceremony, such a moving service.<br>Military from Commonwealth countries a brilliant place to visit and to pay respect to all those brave men who gave their lives for our freedom.<br>RESPECT.

Incredible. Every time I visit there is something else to see. Always moving.

Fantastic place to visit.

Beautiful and touching. Well worth a visit. Give yourself a few hours though as it's a large site.

Great place

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

Brilliant!!

We visited on a bank holiday weekend to enjoy the scheduled activities associated with the 1940 era. Have heard so many wonderful opinions that I was eager to experience and learn for myself. Yes it lived up to all the positive attributes of praise. It is truly a remarkable place. Considering the awful unlimited sadness and trajedies surrounding the act of war, it really is a moving tribute to all the many who we owe so much to. If someone were to talk about a war memorial, I myself might think it to be an area I should not visit, not being worthy of the honour or it would be a dry, barren place with old sad headstones. I must admit I have hesitated so often to visit, honestly because I didn't think I would be able to cope with the tremendous heartbreak surrounding these heroes and their personal stories. This is such a contemplative place, somehow it manages to celebrate all the heroes in an elegant, quiet and reflective way, so richly deserved, possitively enforcing how much we all owe them. The National Arboretum is so much more powerful and moving than any written words or film could ever possibly be. Everyone should visit, if only to remember the personal cost of war and its consequences but mostly to say from the very bottom of their heart 'thank you'.

Have been here a couple of times and never been disappointed, I intend to visit again when the poppies are out. There is an excellent dogs walk. One thing it always brings to mind is how much has been given for our freedoms of today. It is also the only place I don't mind paying for parking

Very tidy food brilliant well worth a visit

Peaceful and a nice walk round. Very interesting memorial statues

Amazing

It was suggested that this might be a good place to take young children to play and enjoy themselves. The advertised Stick Man trail and children's play areas on the map seemed to bode well.<br>I was disappointed to be quite abruptly accosted by a uniformed teenager on arrival at the car park asking for cash for car parking - especially when the place is so poorly served by public transport. The car park itself is badly laid out with no segregated footpaths for walking from your car to the visitor centre, and barriers between the rows of car that mean we have to walk in the path of cars. A few minutes after arrival, the car park was signed as 'full' (it wasn't) and people started to parking (for free) on the road outside...<br>Once we got in, the friendly welcome from the staff was really great. However, was disappointed to be told our 3yr and 5yr olds wouldn't be allowed to use their balance bike and pedal bike. It's a big place for little legs to walk around! I can kind of understand that bikes zooming around the place might be considered a hazard, but given that there are good wide surfaced roads, a road train and golf buggies, I don't see why children can't be allowed to cycle responsibly.<br>Our children enjoyed the Stick Man trail, and the chocolate eggs given out as prizes were more generous than we expected.<br>I was hoping to see some more mature trees as it's an arboretum. I suppose that can't be helped though as the place isn't so old. I was disappointed that the layout of all the trees was so formal.<br>Neither of the chidren's play areas is terribly good for very young children.<br>Our children had lots of energy to burn off, which is why we had chosen to take them to a large outside space, but I felt letting them run around and shout was not appropriate as the place seems more for quiet sombre contemplation, not for celebrating lives.<br>We only stayed a couple of hours, and then left and took our children to the woods instead... which was more what they wanted and needed!<br>I'm glad this place exists and provides a suitable place for quiet reflection for those that want it (and it seems that plenty of people do appreciate love the place), but we won't be going back any time soon.

Very peaceful and though provoking place

Loved it

Very moving experience

I was slightly surprised by the retail activity going on as one enters - stalls selling all manner of goods, for the most part little to do with the business of remembrance. Still, I suppose money has to be raised for maintenance and upkeep.

There's a good walk to be had round the footpath which leads you round in a big circle, taking in a huge variety of information, memorials and personal remembrance along the way. Many of the memorials are deeply moving for the circumstances in which people fought and died, for their bravery, and in some cases for the statuary which illustrates the nature of the combatants' roles.

The centrepiece is the Remembrance wall with the names of those killed in action since the end of WW2 engraved. Some years are bigger than others - 1982 was one of the big ones, of course. Brave people all.

I'd been meaning to visit the Arboretum for years but for most of that time was living at the wrong end of the country. Rewarding to be able to do it now.

i visited this site last weekend its full of everything that you could wish for,it was sunday the weather was good there was so much going on on the site side shows ,dancing,stalls the gardens are a tribute to every army airforce and memorials to forces personnel that died after the war,entry is free there is a land train that stops at all the memorial stone on the way around the 150 acre site the train costs £6 for concessions £7.50 for adults and takes 45 minutes,there is a coffee bar and a restaurant there and the prices are not extortionate children 5 and under free,at midday a spitfire did four great flypasts over the hill with all the names on the walls and did he put it through some fantastic flying,the place is like most of these sites with great volunteer staff giving talks all the staff were wonderful and informative,we spent 4 hours there and will go back there later on in the year,the site is well signposted on the a38 between Litchfield and burton on trent,there are two carparks which charge £3 for the day which to me is not breaking the bank but as usual the tight idiots would rather leave their vehicles in the road outside,i would rather leave my car in a safe car park,one more thing that you don't usually see if you get short of cash there is a cash machine just by the toilets in the entrance hall,i had a really enjoyable visit and will return.

Amazing, Emotional, Needed a longer day.

A wonderful moving place

Was a little disappointed with the overall care and maintenance of the memorials. The brass plaques there in a poor state. And the general areas around a lot of stones was unkept some looked lost in the undergrowth. I feel that the money raised should go into the upkeep of the memorials and not new buildings and cafeterias. As a veteran I was not inpressed. I'm sure if the military associations where to visit the site, I'm sure there would be looking for a new home to move too.

l<br>Lovely day out for all the family. Very touching and emotional. Excellent in every way.

I try very hard to not quote Gary Neville, but this place is unbelieeeeeeeeevable

Excellent and reflective experience during our recent visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. There is so much to see and do. The memorials themselves come in a variety of shapes and sizes each representing an individual or group of service men and women. The trees and landscaping is also impressive with many areas to reflect and explore. We will be going back as we didn't have time to look at everything. Paths are all pushchair friendly.