If you haven't been to Hestercombe for a few years it is worth a visit to see how it has changed. The industrial mill has been restored and there is a cafe and shop. The gardens are a mixture now of restored formal and meandering paths around less formal areas. Worth a visit.

Our visit greatly exceeded our expectations - interesting walks,beautiful gardens,really good cafe!

We'd known of the gardens for some years when staying in Somerset with friends however never made the effort to visit, I only wish we had - a really enjoyable few hours.

Of particular note was the welcome,in the lower lake,from the resident kingfisher!

So good also not to feel 'ripped off' in an attraction's cafe - here we met friendly,helpful staff serving very good food at reasonable prices.

We'll be back!

(Our Somerset friends were so impressed they took out a season ticket!)

Firstly, Hestercombe is not owned by the National Trust but by its own small independent charity. It is a lovely, somewhat undiscovered, gem with a mixture of landscape gardens, formal gardens and woodland walks. At each turn there is a different view, something else to look at and a variety of plants to explore. It is different at every season so it does not matter when you come here - there are always delights to see. I have brought family members of all ages here ranging from age 5 up to 85 and all have enjoyed the experience.
For the young there is a small play area, witches hut, swan, ducks and fish to feed and plenty of space to run around. A lot of the gardens are wheel chair friendly, although it was not designed with accessibility in mind back in the 18th century so there are some areas that are not accessible. You are able to borrow wheel chairs and there is also a motorised cross country disabled scooter for hire.
The house is now a contemporary art gallery with varying exhibitions on. Sadly it is suffering from the ravages caused by previously being owned by a local authority and only slowly managing to get back to a little of how it may once have looked. There is a second hand bookshop, and a most excellent tea room which is open for lunch and afternoon tea. This is the Column Room restaurant and serves a more upmarket menu than that available in the cafe at the main visitor centre.
The visitor centre has a gift shop, plant centre and an excellent cafe serving hot and cold food, all prepared to order, and excellent home made cakes. My wife and I had lunch here and she declared that the food was "just as good as on the Orient Express" - high praise indeed!
This makes for a lovely day/afternoon out no matter what the season and what I like is the friendliness without the "educational" element that you get at a National Trust property. Very much recommended.

This is a great place to visit for people of all ages, whether it's a sunny day or a crisp winter morning. It's also good fun at Christmas and Halloween.

The restaurant is also good, although it can make for an expensive visit if all four of us go in for tea and cake. I wish they'd make the cakes a little smaller and charge a little less.

We had a lovely walk up winding pathways, with several follies and amazing views across the gardens and valleys. Garden influenced by Gertrude Jekell

Reminded me of Helligan, as this garden has been lovingly restored. Good plant shop, plus garden related items for sale. Also enjoyed tea in the courtyard, plus scrumptious chocolate cake.

This is a lovely place to visit and browse plus the fact you can have a coffee and a slice of cake or other choice of food

Beautiful gardens, no matter what time of year, the views are stunning. Cafe lovely, as is the shop.

This is a beautifully laid out garden, a lovely place to visit on a sunny day. There are laid gardens and a lot of walks through trees and lakes. The views are great and when we were there they had a wedding in progress The old house had a gallery showing an exhibition of photographs. They have a nice cafe at the entrance for refreshments and in the house they have a formal restaurant serving afternoon teas.

nicely kept. tidy gardens but not an attraction i would come back personally for as i found it a bit boring

We have been numerous times to the gardens. They are worth the entry fee but if you are more than a couple of visits I would suggest an annual pass as its more cost effective. There is a great cafe that is dog friendly and the gardens are flea pot for dogs as long as on leads.

After a late lunch in the rather expensive cafe (£6 for an albeit very nice baguette and £2 for a small bottled water), we decided to walk around the gardens. However, as it was by then 3.30pm, we decided against paying the £10.50 per person entry fee! Surely later in the day the rate should be halved?

Shame, as a walk would have been nice and at least the charity would have received some entrance fee from us but not at over £40 for the four of us for a couple of hours visit.

If you visit, ensure you go for the whole day, and if on a budget, take a picnic.

Nice place..nice walks. Nice coffee but the price of the cakes takes the piss

Great for dogs and would recommend but still not the cakes

Very enjoyable experience, and the formal gardens are stunning. We we a little shocked at the £10.50 entry fee per person though . .

Hestercombe is fantastic, its a slice of heaven, i wandered around and found myself very relaxed, all the staff were very welcoming from the entrance hall to the gardeners, the food is very good in the cafe. Why did i wait this long to visit ?

Well worth a visit to the gardens, the house let it down even though there was a art display but the gardens more than made up for it.

It is several years since we have been here but we found it was disappointing as I could only access a small amount of the gardens in my mobility scooter which I have to use now. I could not see very much of the Edwardian and Victorian Garden at all and only a small bit of the landscaped Gardens. There was also a wedding party in the gardens which made us feel as though we were intruding when they were taking photos and I'm sure the guests did not want random members of the public wandering through. I understand the gardens are listed and therefore can not be altered for disabled access but this should be pointed out on your website that very little is accessible and I even had rang up for advice. I understand it is run by a charity and why you need to make money with weddings but I think you need to rethink how the wedding guests can be separate from the paying public. I was also very disappointed by the lack of flowers on show. Alot more could be done. Also the paths that were available for mobility scooters and wheelchairs was covered in large plants in several areas. I suggest someone uses a scooter themselves to check the paths regularly and you need more signs to show where they can go as it is not always clear.

Interesting gardens with fabulous views. There are several guided routes depending on how far you want to walk. The formal gardens in front of the house are stunning.

We spent a very relaxing day meandering around the gardens and grounds here.
There were lots of landmarks to find to keep us entertained (although we didn't really get the "Turkish" tent, which was a mucky bit of canvas on a hill).
We did have a couple of niggles - the cafe is very expensive for what you get.
We wished we would have waited and eaten properly at the column restaurant, which was of a very high standard, with great views and a lovely waiter.
The other thing was the admission - I always choose to gift aid but this should be a choice not an assumption and all admission choices should be advertised.
All in all a lovely day.

I really enjoyed our visit so much that we brought a season ticket, the food was good enjoyed the gardens and the walks and the art exhibition was an added bonus. Dog freindly too.

We came here as our friends and family recommended for to go there for a walk as it was a beautiful place... and they were right!
The flowers were beautiful and it was a nice sunny day. It really relaxed but our youngest was really bored unfortunately!

I would recommend these gardens to anyone who wants a nice, relaxing and stunning walk but I would recommend it to people who have young kids

This a beautiful place and you should not miss it next time you are in Taunton. It is peaceful and great for picnic. the kids had a great time running and playing around. and the cafe/restaurant had a good selection of cakes, teas and coffees. all source locally and very tasty too.

A 2nd visit and it is still as lovely as we remembered. The formal gardens were full of plants. More so than u have seen in other gardens. It informal look so natural, with lakes and a waterfall. We took a wander round stopping and looking here and there. Found we spent 2 hours in the formal gardens alone. Very dog friendly.

Excellent gardens and some lovely walks, different levels of effort so good for all. Watch out for the water as green so doggy just stepped in, was ok but wet.

Beautiful well kept gardens, dogs welcome in the gardens and in the restaurant. Excellent food available, good choice and reasonable prices. Lots of planned events on throughout the year, so check their website for details.

An excellent stopping of place and very dog friendly. When gardens of this quality welcome our four legged friends it demonstrates that other gardens are often just being difficult.

The formal gardens are brilliantly designed and perfectly structured whilst the long woodland walk opens up to a range of surprise views and fascinating little follies to rest awhile.