Like any similar places the mansion and grounds are best visited in the summer months and the cafe is okay for a quick coffee (although they have been insisting on paper cups only ever since Covid ended...why?). I hear the annual Christmas lunches are excellent, but they were fully booked when we asked - a good sign. There are a couple of dozen deer to be seen in the field nearby and an advertised walk named 'The Dalemain Loop' which sends you out of the grounds onto the very busy A592 for 400 metres directly in front of the mansion. Here there is a thin uneven grass verge that is very dangerous to negotiate for anyone, let alone with children. Sadly there is a much safer clear path just inside the grounds that they will not let you use unless there is a showfield event day. They must have their reasons. The event days are often great fun and well attended. The Marmalade Festival is renowned.

Good points. The tour of the house was really interesting, and my mobility issues were no problems as there was a chair in each room where I could rest. There are no lifts though, so someone who can’t manage stairs wouldn’t be able to complete the tour. The guide was friendly and reasonably knowledgable. The gardens were absolutely stunning. Down sides. 1. There is no visitor reception or ticket office, only the cafe. So you will need to arrive in good time for your tour as you need to queue in the cafe queue to show your booking and get your ticket. 2. No signage for car parking, disabled or otherwise. I had to search for it and eventually found disabled parking through an archway. 3. Unhelpful staff. When we sat down on a bench to eat our picnic, my sister went back into the cafe because she realised she had accidentally left her own personal fork in there when we had cake. She was then asked in quite an abrupt way what she needed her fork for, and after answering was then told bluntly that we shouldn’t be eating our own food on site. There is no signage to this effect and nothing on the website, so we weren’t sure why the staff member was so abrupt. I sat and ate my lunch anyway, being careful not to drop litter and no-one said anything to me. 4. The shop had lots of different marmalades. There was orange and whiskey, orange and yuzu - what even IS yuzu - no information, orange and lemon, and more, but apparently none that was just orange, and the staff member that was there didn’t know. Also lots of the marmalade in the shop had labels in Japanese and no information at all in English to say what it was! I want to know what I’m eating. 5. The ladies disabled cubicle had a sink but no soap or dryer. The main ladies toilets had empty soap dispensers and a broken paper towel dispenser with no towels, although there was 1 air hand dryer. I awarded 3 stars because the house and tour WAS interesting, and the gardens lovely. So if that is what you want to see then you will enjoy it. Don’t take a picnic though!

Driving down from Scotland yesterday we decided to spend a bit of time at Dalemain Mansion and we were so pleased we made the effort. After tea and cake in the courtyard we took the 1 hour tour of the house. The guide was a mine of information and very entertaining and professional. The house is FULL of fascinating history, objects and displays. The gardens are a delight, crammed with plants and beautifully maintained. There is also a woodland area with stumpery and walks down to the river. We had 4 lovely hours at Dalemain and will be back.

Really enjoyed the guided tour of the house. It is privately owned and still lived in so you can't just wander around. We had an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guide who explained the history and some of the characters that have lived there through the centuries. The garden is also nice with informal planting. The shop sells the marmalade (expensive!) that the place is now famous for. In the shop there's one queue for everything including entry tickets, shop purchases and café orders, which meant quite a wait and this could be better organised. Dalemain is not National Trust but they take the Gardener's World 2 for 1 card which makes it better value.

Having found that out my 5x Great Uncle & his Family worked on the Dalemain Estate, I was keen to go & see the property & learn about the Family they worked for. From my initial email contact to the actual visit the people were extremely helpful & exceptionally polite. I booked a Secrets of Dalemain Tour, which included a Cream Tea (or Coffee & Coke in my case). Upon arrival we were made to feel welcome by the staff in Tea Rooms & when I explained that one of my Party had been unable to make it they arranged a refund for the cost of that person (which I didn't expect as I had prepaid & it was a last minute cancelation). We then strolled around the Gardens, which were very beautiful (even in the rain) & the Topiary Dragon is absolutely fantastic. We then had our tea before the tour started, The Scones were obviously home made & delicious. Our Tour Guide was a very Polite & Amiable Gentleman whose knowledge of the House & it's owners was stunning. I have, in the past, toured many historic houses, but I have never before had a Guide that was so knowledgeable. I was made to feel special & a valued visitor to the property (very rare) & I would thoroughly recommend a visit. I bought some really delicious Marmalade as well, so maybe another visit when the Marmalade Festival is on next year. Thank you to the Family & Everyone at Dalemain for a most Wonderful Day.

Had a lovely visit. Our tour guide Cath was extremely knowledgeable and professional. As a couple of our party found stairs difficult she managed to accommodate them so they did not have to negotiate the spiral stone staircase. Well worth a visit.

Fantastic afternoon out. We dropped in on a very busy Sunday afternoon without making a booking. Dalemain readily accommodated the extra people and we just had to wander round the wonderful gardens for half an hour to wait for the extra guided tour they put on. In the event, our tour guide was John, the Head Guide. He was the best guide we have ever experienced, and we visit a lot of these places. He had incredibly in-depth knowledge of the house and its owners over the centuries and he imparted this with enthusiasm and humour. The history of the various stages of Dalemain's development is fascinating and visible. A great tour which lasted well over the advertised hour. Although we didn't meet Lady Marmalade, we did buy a few jars of this years world wide champion marmalades to be savoured later. We thoroughly recommend visiting Dalemain.

The highlights of the tour were the fabulous tour guide through the mansion. Genuine and real rather than reading a commentary and the informal talk to one of the gardeners in the grounds. Not so great was the 'reception' by the cafe staff. Their attitude was a little underwhelming and not conducive to a 'service' role. We seemed to be distrubing their day.