National Trust in South Somerset

Expecting a decent lunch, but only sandwiches and sausage rolls available, so we had lovely, home made cheese scones, but the coffee was only luke warm and insipid.

If I were to say this was a standard NT offering that might sound like it was a bad thing. It is not. I feel they have established a good standard which certainly can be relied upon here. There is a good selection of sandwiches and cakes to please everyone. Service was good friendly and helpful. They obviously expect a lot of people as they well organised - separate doorway for entry and exit. Seating is outside under huge parasols.

We thought there would be just a selection of sandwiches and cake options. Wrong! Lovely choices on the menu - we had loaded potato skins (bacon and cheese) - really tasty. Very prompt service - particularly in view of staff having been brought in from Barrington Court so were learning a different system! Well done!

This was probably one of the worse NT cafes we’ve been to. We had soup, chilli, chocolate cake and coffees. The soup and chilli were fine but the chocolate cake was terrible. It tasted like too much baking powder was used in it, it didn’t taste chocolatey and it looked like a child had frosted it. It was very dry. The coffees were terrible as well. I did hear from one of the guides that the scones and flapjacks were good and the cheese scones did look good. We had trouble finding utensils and were eventually given wooden ones in which the spoons which were too flat for purpose.

Although the house is currently closed due to Covid, online booking was easy as was our arrival. We made for the coffee shop first and were impressed by the way the NT were running it . Good coffee and a very tasty slice of Coffee & Walnut cake. Plenty of room in the courtyard to sit down. Clear one way direction arrows around the grounds and plenty of space to enjoy the scenery.

Had a lovely lunch in the cafe with my Daughter in Law and Grandson. The indoor part is small and a bit cramped. But if you like the outdoors then there are plenty of tables under cover, just incase it rains. The food is good, hot and tasty. We had a light lunch of soup with crusty bread. All the food was fresh. In the afternoon we had cake and a lovely hot chocolate. The cakes were moist. The only thing to be aware of is other ignorant people who use the tongues from cakes with nuts on other cakes. We witnessed this which was just as well, as my Daughter in Law has a nut allergy I informed the lady at the till who immediately removed them and changed everything so protect other people. I would definitely recommend the food.

Excellent house and gardens with a knowledgeable and entertaining guided tour by Ray. Well worth a visit to the house and the picturesque village of Montacute close by.

We often eat in the restaurant and have never been disappointed with the service or quality of food.

This was a good NT cafe with a good number of tables outside, with large parasols, to protect from both sun and rain. It has a nice selection of cakes and light foods. My only criticism is that it needs to have more servers at peak times, such as lunchtime on a weekend. There was a long queue when we went for lunch.

Visited here on a sunny Sunday morning, along with most of the West Country, it seemed. The car park was packed, with no supervision and cars moving in every direction. But, once we got parked, everything was fine!The welcome was efficient and friendly, the gardens around the house immaculate and the outside of the house is very photogenic. There are country walks (with grazing animals, so mind your feet) and picnic areas (albeit with limited seating). The house itself was splendid, a real eye-opener for how the 'other half'' lived, If you're interested, there's also a very good exhibition of portraits from Tudor times in the top floor gallery.The toilets were immaculate, the gift shop well stocked and not too pricey. We took a picnic, so didn't try the very busy cafe

Very busy the staff were frazzled. Usually really enjoy eating at NT places not this time the food was dry.

Well worth a visit for both the gardens and the house. There is a large expanse of open meadow where dogs can run. The tea rooms in the stable yard offer wholesome food - recommend the red pepper and tomato quiche,

I go every week to park run at montacute house.The coffee is always nice. The staff don't seem to be very organised every week we normally have to queue for so long for our coffee. We've waited 45mins before now that's longer than it actually took me to run the park run. It's sad as their are a lot of people there every week they should take advantage of this, as some people now go elsewhere for their post run coffee.

From the moment we entered the reception area our family and dog were made very welcome. The reception staff ensured we knew what facilities were available for our dog which was very important as it was a very hot day. The café, of which the outside courtyard welcomes dogs, was busy but we found a table shaded by both a tree and an umbrella. The food was of good quality. Though busy the staff were extremely polite and very quick to clear tables and deliver hot food. The shop was promoting a new hand scrub product by local producer Tam Mason who was on site to explain and demonstrate the product. Samples were ingeniously in both ladies and men's toilets to try .. so we had to buy! The retail Manager, Ashling, was exceptional with customer young and not so young. A short but exceptional visit all round. We want to go back to explore the house and gardens more soon.

Fascinating history and delightful series of ' Garden Rooms ' each so different. Allow at least two hours for your visit. Two pubs in the vallage can cater for lunch too.

Relatively small cafe area with the maximum furniture fitted in which made it very cramped when at capacity. Nice cup of coffee and scone with jam and cream.

The cafe setting in a courtyard was lovely, or would have been on a fine day . The food looked pretty standard, we just had tea.

I've visited NT properties and land all over the country, and Montacute House is presented up to normal NT standards. It's worth taking a walk into the extended grounds, as long as you don't mind sharing space with the sheep.

We visited Montacute House yesterday and had a lovely day out. The Gardens were outstanding and immaculate. The house was beautiful. All in, we had a great time.

On a fine day in February 2019 we visited this location as we are trust members and live nearby. We wanted a pleasant walk for an hour or so and then visited the restaurant for Brunch. WE were well served by the staff and enjoyed our food and drinks in this very historic location.

We paid a visit to 'MONTICUTE-HOUSE, while'st there we visited the restaurant, where we ordered a 'Savory Tea', this I can well recommend, the scone was 1st class, and our 'Amerricano coffee' was as good, if not better, than any of the top chains. My question is , --------'WHY ARE YOU SERVING THE CHEESE IN PLASTIC CONTAINERS ?', surely the 'NATIONAL TRUST', should be a 'front runner' in the war on plastic waste and the harm it is doing to our environment !, we picked-up 'THREE' of these container's FIVE lids in the flower bed's !!! ------ Come- on National- Trust it's tine to get your act together and help us all to save the whole planet for future generation's !!!!!!! ------------

Never had beef in a bowl before. Absolutly delicious. The staff and cat are so friendly it makes the place.

Extremely polite and friendly service, BUT, service was extremely slow, we had to queue for 26 mins. to get our drink's --- and then they were served in paper cups !, There was just one young lad on the coffee's, and one girl taking the order's and working the till !., this was on a Sat, management need to sort this out !!! ------

We often stop on journeys along the 303. This time it was to meet up with friends. It is always relaxing and busy. This is expected when visiting a popular NT property. I agree that service can, at times, be slow and that the staff can appear to be doing their best under trying circumstances. I’m sure that the NT could anticipate service speed, food supply and staffing at busy times, that is holiday times and weekends! Common sense suggests that you pick your time to visit the cafe wisely, although this isn’t a solution ideal to all. Perhaps the trust tend to become complacent when knowing that popular sites will always be visited in numbers despite the concerns of their visitors.

Staff all very young but friendly. We visited on a busy day as there was also a farmers market. Only fault was that we waited for at least 30 minutes for coffee and cakes after ordering. The staff were working hard & doing their best. They should however have stopped taking orders at the till for a short time to catch up. At one stage myself & 14 other customers had placed orders & paid but were all waiting inside for our orders to be made up. There didn't appear to be a supervisor controlling the situation. Coffee & cakes were very nice once we got them. This left us less time to explore this lovely NT property. Cafe in general was reasonable but needs updating and possibly enlarging. Also on the expensive side.

Very busy when we visited but staff were friendly and efficient. Food looked good and cakes were delicious!

Just a morning coffee stop. We were a bit wary as the last time we were here we just managed to get in ahead of a cycling club outing! NT bean-to-cup coffee may be nice but fast it ain't! The queue stretched 1/2 way around the courtyard and they were SO noisy! No such problems this time and we had a very enjoyable cup of coffee and a cake in pleasant morning sunshine. NT refreshment at its best!

Thoroughly enjoyed our first visit we joined the tour of the grounds and believe me there was nothing that guide did not know, excellent. The house was full of interesting items with knowledgable volunteers on hand. On all levels, thankyou to the lady volunteer on top floor of paintings, you made history come alive and now we understand about the pearls.We had lunch in the courtyard and all was very tasty with a lovely cup of tea. We had a lovely day and would recommend a little wander around the village.

We called in before the 12 noon lunch menu became available. The staff were pleasant but the queuing / door arrangement was tight. All was ok for us but we decided to skip planned lunch as the place seemed stretched even before lunch.

Had the homemade carrot and corriander soup with gluten free bread roll, delicious and far better than I could have made. It is so nice to be able to go out for lunch and there be something I can eat, not that easy as a coeliac.

In summer it's best to sit outside in the courtyard and enjoy the food prepared by the kitchen team who do a good job on this property. We also had cream tea and a gluten free chocolate cake (there could be more choice on gluten free food).

Good quality National Trust food that is well worth the money, served quickly despite it being a busy day. Recommended.

Only had a snack of coffee and mouthwateringly delicate shortbread. Lovely courtyard setting, very tempting plants for sale all round as well!!!!

As always we had tea and cake at the National Trust cafe, a trip to one of their attractions wouldn't be complete if we didn't, and as usual it didn't disappoint !!! Flapjack was lovely as was the Victoria sponge. The outside eating area in the sunshine is glorious and the whole place is so relaxing, would recommend.

Cafe is great with tasty locally sourced food, english afternoon tea at its best! Can eat outside or in. Free parking. Dog friendly.

Went to Montecute today with the dog. Dogs allowed in country park. Not allowed in house but can walk around the gardens. Off lead when no sheep and cows in country park. Went to the cafe for the first time. Full but managed to find a table with another family. Shared with them. Had a full cream tea with clotted cream and jam. Lovely warm fruited scone. Beautiful purple wisteria in flower at the front entrance while visiting today. Amazing. Would recommend anyone to visit.

Another well presented National Trust property, well presented and close to the village, which is not the case with most. This added an extra dimension to the visit. Knowledgeable volunteers and a good tea room. A good visit.

Great place for a walk as this charming house has large grounds and garden you can stroll around. The oranges was charming and the wiggly bushes were kind of fun you could almost see faces in them. At the time we went the gallery was closed for refurbishment when open would be nice to see the artworks

Excellent ...well worth a visit...relaxing yet educational. Trust membership brilliant. Out in the country and lovely views.

good choice of cakes to accompany the coffee; well served and supported with the cost being in line with other establishments

As is usual with National Trust visits everything is well organised, and high quality. Even the November weather was perfect. Lunch in the cafe was simply perfect. Fresh and tasty

Really enjoyed the tearoom at Montacute. The staff could not have been more welcoming. There was iced orange and passionfruit cake available on our visit and it was outstanding. Good coffee too. Lovely surroundings both inside and in the adjacent courtyard next to the house. A lovely setting and a memorable visit.

A really good house with terrific gardens and surroundings. A well furnished property with a good collection of art work.

We visited the gardens and house in sunny weather, ideal. excellent all round, although the cafe menu was a bit lacking.

This is a lovely place to have coffee and cake if you avoid the Saturday park runners who tend to take over the cafe and you can wait for a very long time to be served. The scones are delicious and very good value and if you have time for lunch, the portions are very generous indeed.

Lunch was of the standard we've come to expect from the NT when we stopped for a quick very tasty soup and roll.

Una vez visto nunca olvidado: la primera visión de esta obra elizabethen. Además de la fabulosa colección de muestras de buena hart agujas en la exposición en una sala especial.

Montacute House es una joya arquitectónica ubicada en un entorno de hermosos jardines. Mucho que ver dentro de la casa con habitaciones amuebladas y un montón de obras de arte en las paredes.

Ambiente agradable pero limitado por normas menú nt. Ofrece una selección de tartas sopa & roll, galletas, té y café. Al final de una visita guiada en una mañana ajetreada la cola construye muy rápidamente.

A wonderful place to visit with a good place to eat at sensible prices. The staff are really helpful and when I phoned to book a wheelchair for my wife it was no trouble. The house is magnificent and the gardens a delight with good wheelchair /push chair access.

If you like going out, experiencing nature's beauty, enjoying the history and culture, relaxing in gardens and landscape.. the national trust is the place to be.. the best thing for a family, is to be a national trustee and enjoy hundreds of places across the U.K. There is something for everyone

We have been to many National Trust properties, and many National Trust tea rooms, and Montacute House is definitely among the best. The staff are friendly, sitting inside on a cold day or outside on a warm one are both nice experiences, and the chees scones are the best ever.

Always good to use catering facilities at "houses and gardens". Soup was very good but bread rock hard (it was a Monday). Coffee good

We came whilst visiting the property. There was quite a good selection of food. We chose the soup and weren't disappointed. The place can become noisy when there are lots of people.

Montacute House is a huge place but very interesting, made more so by the knowledgeable volunteers in most rooms. We learned a lot! Lots of parking, most of it close to the entrance. Used the cafe for a cuppa and that was fine, it's fairly big so tables were being cleared quickly. If you're in the area, this is worth a visit. Half a day is enough.

As with most NT properties we've been to, the food and drinks are very tasty. Not the cheapest, but good quality,

A truly amazingly preserved house and park only a short distance from the A303. The house dominates its setting with the formal garden immediately surrounding it, leading out to the parkland which is wonderful for dog walking and children seem to like it too.Inside the house is sparsely but well furnished with interesting artifacts and fabulous paintings. Much of Wolf Hall was filmed here and at other nearby properties so spotting the locations can be fun. Definitely worth a visit.

Came in here on Sunday evening after seeing Montactute House all lit up, needed a hot drink to warm us up! Nice to see Ales & Ciders & wine available, my husband had one of the bottles of Ale. Unfortunately they had run out of 'extra's for the hot chocolate but i think it had been busy! I was just glad they had some cakes left! I tried some apple cake, flapjack & Coffee & Walnut Cake, yummy!

We were so engrossed with the house it was well after 2.00.p.m.when we arrived for lunch and it was not a problem.We enjoyed delicious, freshly prepared light snacks.

The best bacon butties every Saturday after parkrun. Served with a smile by the staff who are run off their feet with a possible 200+ runners.

I knew nothing about this place or the family who lived there. Volunteer staff made the visit memorable - very informative and they created a wonderful, friendly welcome - each and every one of them.

The food is very nice freshly cooked and well presentedThe service at the till really needs to be speeded up tho, we waited were waiting at least 15 mins to order with only about 6 people in front of us

excellent service excellent food people very friendly and when the sun is shining a lovely place to sit out

We were delighted with the quality of food and excellent service here. I was especially pleased with having a vegetarian choice of foods and herb teas , the cream tea was delicious.

Great sight - a group of young (very young) actors playing the 3 musketeers around the grounds. Good crowd too. Followed by a "nice cuppa". What more could you want? Well the house - magnificent of course

This is a typical National Trust cafe, serving good coffee and tea, great cakes, and all at a reasonable price - in any case your money is going to the national trust, so a good cause. The cafe has a pleasant interior part, and beautiful external tables set in the courtyard of the servant / working area of the house. Well recommended.

A smaller restaurant than many other National Trust properties, serving a reasonable selection of food and drinks. The sausage and onion bap for lunch was splendid and just what was needed having darted in from the rain. Service can be on the slow side, but this is more down to the space (or rather, the lack of it!) that the staff have to work in. I confess that I couldn't resist a cream tea before leaving for the day.

Fair selection of hot and cold food including some lovelly cakes!Try avoiding lunch times on busy days, if you only want snacks and drinks.

An excellent cream tea at £5 per person was very good value....and we shared one between two of us....just ordering a second cup of tea. Fresh scones with marg, jam. and clotted cream - delicious!

Friendly waitresses, great homemade cakes and the most gorgeous fluffy cat in the cafe courtyard who felt the need to enjoy a corner of my apple and sultana cake - what could be better

This place does basic NT food and is smaller than those at some of the other properties but it offers good quality simple meals and cakes.

Montacute is an Elizabethan house built in local stone with beautiful gardens and extensive parkland. It has been used as the set of films, the most recent being Wolf Hall and the Long Gallery on the top floor houses a magnificent collection of portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery. The house stewards were friendly and helpful, the restaurant served delicious food, the sun shone and the icing on the cake was the excellent "outside tour" given by a knowledgeable guide who set the scene of a visitor to the newly built showpiece country home of an influential gentleman.

Fascinating house with a wonderful collection of portraits and paintings set in delightful grounds with superb views. Lots of interesting artefacts and helpful guides as one expects from the National Trust. Really well worth a visit.

Fresh, but without fantasy. The NT public is generally elderly and often obese. Yet, it is difficult to impossible to find anything low fat/low sugar on the menu. Even the lonely salad comes with a fatty, mayonaise-based sauce.

Enjoyed the house and the tour, most informative. We also sampled the delights of the coffee room, cake and more cake. It's not a large cafe but plenty of out door seating, weather permitting. The green tea came with an extra pot of water.....more time to spend drinking.

My wife and I had a snack meal here which was very good. No gourmet menu sadly, but ideal for a lunchtime light meal.

Servery is small. A cafe rather than restaurant. For lunch, Tuscan Bean soup came with a large cottage loaf for £5.25 and was substantial . A savoury tea of 2 scones, cheese and chutney and tea was very good value at £4.75. My husband was disappointed that the chutney was not available in the shop. No full meals available. Lots of outdoor space but not much indoor sitting area.

We visited late afternoon on a week day. As always, I headed straight for the coffee shop! Good choice of cakes and very good coffee.We were too late to explore the house - last entry was at 4pm but we walked round the gardens and found them very pleasant and well kept.We will return earlier in the day when we have more time.

I feel mean giving 4 rather than 5 stars. I had an excellent bowl of soup and my coffee was as good as can be found anywhere. The café is clean and well presented and the staff (volunteers?) were very friendly.Why 4 stars? At 11.52 a.m. I was told I would have to wait until 12.00 noon for soup. Why? No commercial café would operate like this. Maybe there is a licensing rule but I have come across this type of thing time and again in NT and charity catering establishments. Quite apart from anything else, this approach irritates and causes unnecessary queues.

The food we had was lovely just not enough on offer imo. We visited in October and it was not warm enough to go outside which made it a bit tight for space inside. I can imagine it would be lovely on a warm day.

The food here is great. You can either eat outdoors in the courtyard or sit down in the restaurant. We generally eat outside if the weather is dry, as it's lovely to see the birds that frequent there.

This is a brilliant place to take a family. We ranged from disabled, young children, teenagers and us old but fit fogies! The house is just about short enough for young children. The rooms are interesting with helpful guides. The garden is flat and easy with a disabled child or adult and there is a park area with sheep and metal 'horses' to swing on. Adults and kids all enjoyed this. There is seats for picnicking too and if you can't join in then the level surface means that you can watch the others. The car park is easy too. We stayed all day.

Typical NT place - we only had a quick look at arrived just before closing time - and volunteers nice

A lovely pit stop in the gorgeous courtyard at Montacute House. Tea and biscuits all round on in a lovely setting.

We tried to avoid eating at the National Trust as it is usually busy and swarming with wasps. We had some tea, a scone and a piece of short-cake. The tea-pot leaked all over the table, the scone was good and up to NT standards, as was the shortcake.

I recently went with a large group of colleagues and we enjoyed quite a tasty cream tea. The cheese version was particularly good with tasty scones and a nice chutney. It would have been improved with a bigger chunk of cheese included. The fruit scones with the cream tea were large and tasted good but some were still frozen inside which was not great. The staff did their best to be quick and efficient in the face of a growing queue so well done to them! It is a lovely place to sit and chat and look up at the beautiful gables of the house against the blue sky on a sunny day.

The food available for our visit of two couple was very restricted. The coffee was very good but lunch was slightly disappointing. Jacket potatoes, cream teas, and savoury scone with cheese were the only choices. The selection of cakes was disappointing. This eatery really needs to up its game. The National Trust at many properties have a far far better eatery.

Service excellentGreat tea and cakeWonderful setting, Montacute House is well worth visiting, and the gardens are beautiful

usual bog standard National Trust catering -expensive and poor service by amateurs at top end prices -surely there must be someone in the organization with a business brain?

Decent tea room with very pleasant, friendly and helpful staff. Well worth a visit whether or not you are visiting Montacute House.

Montacute House and Gardens is a very interestng viisit. The staff are very well informed and the gardens are very good for strolling around.It has a good cafe/tearooms

Just had coffee and cake before a walk in the gardens the apple cake was simply fantastic. My two girls had the kids lunch which was well present and of good quality. My wife had the chicken and bacon sandwich which was deep filled and appealing.

We visited Montecute House with our two children today. We had a lovely day looking around the house and gardens but soon needed nourishment. So we headed to the café for the obligatory cream tea. Often these can be pretty ropey!! So it was hit and hope ;) There's dining areas both inside and outside. Inside a few staff and a small menu with several options on. Soup, quiche, cakes and ploughman's. The children had a kids meal (ham sandwich, fruit, a very small brownie square and juice box). We decided to try the ploughman's. It arrived really quickly considering it was very busy. We got a beautiful warm home made cob roll, three good sized slices of beautiful glazed ham (or a good chunk of cheddar), salad, homemade coleslaw and a homemade chutney. It was absolutely beautiful. Would recommend for everyone, with or without children, old and young alike. Skip the local pub lunches and head here instead, you won't regret it x