Santa experience at Gibside- December 2024 Gibside beautiful as always we come here a lot, and also came last year for the santa experience when it was very snowy and it was very very good and good value for money. This year a child ticket was 25£ - I have three children, under 2 free and unfortunately was a little disappointed, we came to a quieter sessions and the santa was just as magical as last year but there wasn’t much time for any time for the children one on one with santa like last year , especially for children with ASD may find it daunting stepping up infront of a crowd and getting a photo took, so only one of my children got up, would have been nice if it was like last year and more relaxed time to have 5 minutes with santa without the audience or pressure of a photo, and the elves were lovely helpful and great characters in the little workshop where they made paper - wooden small keyring or a christmas card and that was the gift. I just thought doubling the price this year- on top of the membership was a bit steep and unfortunately will not be returning next year.

We've spent two full days there this summer and the kids have loved it. The first time we came was before the summer hols kids ranged in age from 1-12 they loved all the different aspects of play within the woods from the tree trails to the den building- nature scape to the play parks. They were all exhausted by the end. The second visit was a bit more sedate but still kept two children occupied and busy for the day where we enjoyed summer of play activities and the play area. We will definitely be returning!

We visited around Easter. There was a spring trail with games at various places. It was more like a country garden than a normal NT house with good walks around the grounds. The nature trail with wooden animal sculptures along the path was good for children. There seemed to be a lack of information boards telling you about the place other than one in the ruined orangery and we didn't find one near the ruined house. The children's playground was much better than average with a pump and Archimedes screw and plenty of other things to do.

Really enjoyed our visit, thanks to all the extra touches to make it really family/child friendly. The main play park was huge and amazing, and there were other smaller play areas throughout the beautiful grounds, a sculpture trail suitable for children, and a den building area too! The cafe offered a good range of children's food including children's sized baked potatoes which worked perfectly for us. The cakes and coffee were also delicious! And there were baby changing facilities in both male and female toilets - I used the female ones and they were brilliant - a larger cubicle with a changing table and a toilet with an extra fold down seat small enough for little ones to use the toilet, and a low sink for them to wash their hands. And on top of all that, staff were all absolutely lovely, and there were 6 electric car charging points so we managed to fully charge our car whilst we were there. We spent most of the day there, and would highly recommend!

We had a good day out here bar one or two things which could be easily improved. We walked all the way to the labelled Column of Liberty to find that there was absolutely no information on it at all which was really disappointing. We never did find the Ice House yet despite following the sparse signs and the map which was provided. The tables outside the cafe, which had very little on offer, were dirty with bird droppings. They needed a good scrub! Other than that it was a really interesting place to visit.

We were travelling up to Berwick upon Tweed and this proved to be a good place to break our journey. It had the usual NT cafe with a scone to revive us. The house and orangery are in ruins but there are several waymarked walks. We chose the Purple route and took a little longer than the hour it said. A refreshing walk with several "up" sections. Just what we needed before setting off again on our journey.

Easily one of the best NT properties out there. The grounds are immaculate. There are new things to explore every time you visit. The buildings are incredible, especially the huge abandoned ruins of the old house. Hopefully NT figures out how to save the ruins, as they're too beautiful to lose. Every time we have been, the staff have been very helpful and friendly. The food is a little expensive but plenty of places to have picnics. Be prepared to walk a fair distance as everything is very spaced out. But you'll have tired kids at the end of the day!

The hall is beautiful and the vast gardens and woodland walks make for a great day. The staff are brilliant and friendly and the cafe serves really good meals and snacks. Well worth a visit

We decided to drive to Gibside for the last couple of hours before it closed for the day. It was so much easier to get a parking space at this time. We had a walk through the gardens but no flowers were blossoming yet. We then walked around the grounds where we did see some flowers. We just came for a walk really and that’s what we did.

Great place to walk your dogs, chapel is lovely. Toilets clean and tidy only gripe was that all the bins were overflowing so we took our rubbish home. Loved the walled garden my favourite bit.