Rufford Abbey in Mansfield Woodhouse

Rufford Abbey is a beautiful park, with woods, and lawn, a big outdoor play area, mini golf, a sculpture garden, and more. They hold regular events such as this years Halloween trail, and Light Nights in the winter. I knocked a star off because getting food there means long queues for very expensive (for the qualityfood. Id recommend taking a packed lunch.A walk around the lake will take you to Rufford Ford where you can watch brave drivers tackle the river crossing. Theres a pasty shop amongst other things at the old mill that has shorter queues and outdoor seating.

Visited this wonderful place Rufford Abbey Country Park. £5.00 parking all day, great walks 2 nice cafés reasonably priced. A bit busy today as its half-term and Halloween 🎃, but none the less a great days walking. Avoid the Ford on the way if you can, a couple of cars were stranded so a 5 minute detour. Note that the car park is CARD only, so are the café s.

Me and my husband got married at Rufford Mill last Saturday, I cant say enough words on how amazing they were towards us!From start to finish the team made sure we were all organised and ready for the big day. Also, the food was amazing! Thank you so much everyone xx

Favourite walk around the lake. Reluctantly decided against ice creams at the mill. Our party didnt want to row either. They preferred walking through the shady woods on a lovely day. Squirrels, ducks and statues entertained us. The sundial, roses and a bold, singing robin gave a grand finale. Were simple folk.

Absolutely amazing only pay £5 to park then you can stay all day, everything for kids big and little, even a zip line. Beautiful gardens and lake picnic advised but cafe lovely and ice cream parlour to die for. Must visit.

A beautiful area to walk with dogs and to socialise with friends and family. I took my granddaughter for an afternoon. Car parking is £5 for the day, with plenty of spaces. You can take picnics or enjoy hot food in the cafe. Chips, sausage rolls, pies and pasties too, amongst jacket potatoes and salad. If you walk to the lake there are geese and ducks and another cafe to enjoy an ice cream. You could spend longer as there is much more to see. Well worth a visit.

Rufford Abbey, on the right day with right weather is a great place if you want to take your family for a nice walk. We went over the summer holidays and tried out their latest attraction "Abbey Tales". This immersive experience tells the tale of the long history of the site. It was a wonderful little experience which I would recommend. My only gripe with Rufford Abbey, at this time is the fact that English Heritage still hadnt completed its work on the actual Abbey so my children can go inside otherwise it was still a nice day out of fresh air, rowing and wildlife.

Love this place met up with family members was great. Turned out to be an amazing day, lovely walk to water splash(kids enjoyed cars whizzing through water), around the lake to the main field to have a picnic, kids then enjoyed the park then we all enjoyed made up games on the field. What an eventful day 😉

Lovely grounds, excellent childrens play area, nice restaurant and gift shop. Great for a day out, having a picnic or just a few hours for a walk and drink. Very scenic strolling past the lake.

Pros:- Great place for the family. Nice big place with lots to do.- Really good park for children including slides, long pulley, swings etc.- A few places to eat and buy ice cream along the park.- Can do archery, which is very reasonably priced at £5 for 15 minutes with unlimited arrows.Cons:- Would be nice if they had the pizza places opened for longer.- Sometimes if the car park is full, you will be turned away. Always check on their Facebook as they seem to mention it there when the car park is full and that they are no longer accepting anyone guests to the park. Always do this to avoid travelling far and being disappointed.Hope this helps 👍🏼

The ruins were closed for maintenance, but still a good place to visit & walk around the gardens + lake.I’d recommend the boating lake, where you can get either a pedalo or rowing boat.Parking was £5 card-less payment only.

I was unsure about visiting but lots to do. £5 for parking and free entry to property and huge grounds. Pay extra for some activities but still reasonable. Friendly staff.

Huge park 🏞 with lots of open spaces and lovely paths for walks. The park no cycling policy. The lake is huge and the boats are ducks are nice attraction. There is garden & nursery, multiple cafe and a restaurant. Parking 🅿 is available but £5 for a day is bit expensive in my opinion. Overall a best place for picnic with family.

Very very busy during school holidays. Parking cost £5. Limited food offer in the old stable (sausage rolls, pasties and chips). On the positive side, its a nice stroll around the lake and at half way you can take a break and watch people drive through the famous water splash.

I went there this morning with my daughter & both grandchildren, Joey nearly 1 Dylan 15. There were supposed to be teddy bears picnic at 12 midday but got to 12.30 people starting to get fed up bored starting to walk around . Didnt see any thing going on that was previously mentioned in the info, only a couple of games for older children, not little ones, no story nothing a couple of tunes on that was all, we were quite disappointed to say it cost £5.00 entry fee, payable by card only. However enjoyed the place & the walks & lake. Do think this could be organized a lot better. 🤔

Fantastic walk around this place you can adventure into the woodlands and explore, visit the ice Cave or a nice stroll around the lake to see the nature and birds. Plenty of places to get abit of food as well as gift shops available.The Abbey is lovely to see and they have a kids area that is fun for younger people and the whole area is dog friendly. Only down side I would say is that the parking has increased over the years but for the location and the amount of time youd spend there its still a nice place to explore with friends or family members.Also in winter time they have a light display on like alot of heritage sites that is amazing to view and the experience is beautiful to see.

Beautiful place to take the kids or pets for a lovely walk.Has a family we always enjoy a few hours walking around the lake, playing in the park and reading the history of Rufford Abbey.Being out in the fresh air is good for the kids rather than sitting on technology. its a 40 minute bus ride from Nottingham which is definitely worth it.The stagecoach bus from Victoria centre Bay 9 will drop you off outside this beautiful place.We went again yesterday and after leaving the house without our already done packed lunch we had to have lunch at the Coach house I think it was called? Next to the ice cream parlour.We had 2 sausage rolls, 2 hotdog sausages and a steak bake pastry and 2 Caramel slices. With a white coffee, it was around £24 +The children then had 2 pots of ice cream with 2 scoops in each the cost was £7.90 from the ice cream parlour.Overall I do think its all very overpriced than on the other hand the upkeep and staff wages.However the. The food we had was delicious I honestly couldnt fault it, the staff in the food court was amazing and went above for my child with Autism.So next time I definitely wont be forgetting our packed lunch has a cheap day out ended up costing a bomb!!!

After some time away it was nice to return here at the height of the summer heat. The car park is £5 and not too busy towards the later afternoon. We specifically went for the garden centre, which despite its size, has some great items on offer. The couple that run it are very helpful and even offered to look after my purchase while we walked around the grounds. Mini Golf, Archery and Boating available (got to pay for it). The Abbey is worth a check out as well. A spot for ice cream and food should you wish, toilets and seating/bench areas are also available along the walk. Would recommend to anyone looking for a relaxing afternoon. Ice cream was good, dairy free option too!

We went to this park to fill in a couple of hours and could have spent the whole day! Really great for walks with the grandchildren, the lakes and cafe were really great - good value.

Lovely place to visit. The Abbeys history tour is well done and very immersive. The grounds are very well kept. All staff members were very nice and happy to assist with any query. The mini golf was a laugh especially since the 2 of us havent done anything like that since we were kids. The archery and boats were unavailable to us on account of it not being busy which was a shame but if thats the only negative point I can muster then spot on!

Not been for some time due to covid so was really surprised by the changes that have been made. It was lovely. Ice cream, coffee, lunch, lovely shop and you can buy plants at the orangery. All reasonable prices. Toilets all lovely and clean. Card payment only for parking and purchases but I must admit I prefer that than dealing with cash these days

Large site to explore with nice gardens and lake to walk around. There are activities on site to do like archery, boating and mini golf. Store on site for flower and garden equipements. Nice ice cream shop and food available and not overly priced. Museum is fun and very informative. Only reason I an rating the site as 4 out of 5 is that it comes up as a national heritage site, however membership does not offer anything we could find, have to pay for parking, pay to visit the museum etc, so if you are a national heritage member looking to visit this site, be prepared to pay for entry and parking. Still worth a visit to walk around the grounds with a humorous error on sign stating Rievaulx Abbey is in France lol

Maybe its nostalgia from childhood and going here practically every week, but its one of my favourite parks. Very dynamic history surrounds the Abbey itself, a journey around the park revealing little details about he life of the old occupants. Nice cafes, dog friendly, child friendly with a park further in, lovely picnic field just on the left side of the Abbey.Id recommend it to anyone looking for a fun day with family.

We have visited rufford abbey several times. It has a lovely ruin in a really nice park with a big lake to walk around. The ducks and swans are always eager to be fed so come prepared with water fowl food and they will be your friends for life. There is a cafe, a tea room and a restaurant. We have only visited the main cafe but this is good value with nice food. Havent tried the others but the menus look good. There is also a nice little garden centre and gift shop to browse in. Over all, a lovely place to visit.

Beautiful place, I love to feed the ducks and going for a walk through the rose garden.

Gorgeous country park. Very dogfriendly..although dogs do need to be kept on leads. Lovely lake and woodland walk, sculptures, cafes and activities for youngsters also in place ( but check in advance for details!Historic Abbey too. Parking only 5 pounds all day and no entrance fee! We went on a rainy, miserable day, and had a great time! Highly recommended!

Love this place, been coming for years. Its easy to spend a whole day here. Reasonable options for food and drinks. Well kept gardens and woodland, the Abbey itself is interesting. Would recommend.

The grounds were great to have a walk around. There is a large Sculpture Park to explore. The Abbey was closed for renovation but was still very impressive. The cafes food was very good. There is lots to do and well worth a visit.

Such a lovely place to walk around, gorgeous scenery, lovely cafes and even ventured into the orangery mini garden centre!

Lovely park land, but gift shops tacky and where has all the amazing art and ceramics gone? This place was such an amazing creative , natural wonderful place to visit .There is an awful plant shop in the wonderful orangery , the Peter Hayes sculpture dirty and surrounded by plants to purchase ( like a rather rubbish garden centre).The staff in the cafes were very friendly . I just wish i had a time machine and visit when it was the old rufford it was truly wonderful , this version is a pale imitation.

Lovely area. But a lot of it was under maintenance, so was not possible to go near the abbey itself. Pizza van is nice spot for food.

Beautiful place to come and relax with the family. We absolutely love the walks and taking the kids to the play area (amazing by the way!)Lovely little shops for one off items, plants and the confectionery is on point.Really lovely day out with the family, you can always just pay the parking and take your own picnic for a cheap day out!

I was so upset we travelled for nearly an hour to visit the Abbey which was all fenced off so we couldnt have a look inside. The gardens were beautiful and the children had fun in the play area

great day out, always love coming here, beautiful gardens, walks and loved the lake with the boats on and the pizza in the boat house was yummy.

Rufford Abbey & Park is a wonderful place to.visit. We often meet friends & family here . Wonderful parkland and lakes. Cafe and restaurant are excellent. Child and family orientated with good disabled facilities too. The little Garden centre is packed full of goodies very reasonable prices lots to choice . The shops are great lots of gifts choices and Rose Garden little tea room area is quaint within the shop area

A other great choice for a family day out. Took my 5 little ones and my friend and her 2 little ones come along. The Ford was enjoyed by the 7 kiddies. We did the egg hunt that kept then entertained. We had a fab pizza from the pizza place and again kiddies really enjoyed. Would definitely recommend for kids of all ages ( we had from 2 up to 11). Places for kids to build dens and explore but still be safe and withing eye contact. Park is big but again safe and for all ages.

Really lovely gardens, loads of space, nice ruins to walk around, a lovely lake, even dogs aloud, what more could you want when its all FREE, the mill car park machines were out of order as well, bonus.

The abbey ruins were closed due to maintenance. We enjoyed a walk and tranquility in the excellent country park. There are lots of pinic tables in good condition, so bring your tea and sandwiches and have a wonderful day as we did. Theres also a play area for kids. Parking is £5 for the day. We will be coming back soon.

Great park lots of different trails to walk. Car park not badly priced either.

Beautiful place, nice and flat to walk round and lots to see.

Rufford Park is a beautiful place, lovely walks for all ages, and a play area, small garden centre and cafe.

After researching places to visit in Nottinghamshire, I found Rufford Abbey, just a short 30min drive from Nottingham. It was fantastic. Really beautiful gardens and country house, enjoyed being out in nature and exploring somewhere new. Its a huge place and you could easily spend the day here. The food was good and very reasonabily priced. Loved it!

Lovely walks even in the winter looks like there will be plenty to do once summer comes some nice cafés as well.

A great visit as usual, great facilities and Covid advice. £5 a car to park so not bad. At least money seems to be reinvested in the place.

For the etrance price which is only 4 pounds. Its totaly worth it, and i could even recommend it. It have: beautiful gardens like with all kinds of unique, interesting statues/objects. Beautiful and huge park to walk around with beautiful trees and decorative bushes etc. There is even a lake you can sit and enjoy a view near by... highly recommending this place and take your family and friends :)

Really nice place to have a walk around. The kids loved the archery for £5 and had plenty of goes

Its a beautiful place to walk around, there are plenty of paths to follow, some go through the woods, some around the lake. There are herb gardens, a garden centre, an adventure playground for the kids, sculptures and coffee shops. You can try your hand at archery or go boating on the lake, or just take a leisurely stroll and enjoy the surroundings. For me, a highlight was the cheese and onion pasty from the cafe near the mill, it was the best Ive ever tasted!

Definitely family place to visit. The Totally Roarsome was amazing, our childrens absolutely loved it! The place has massive park for picnics on grass or benches with tables. The cafe has everything from hot and cold food and beverages, we loved it 🥰🥰🥰

What a place for a day out! So much do so and with the exception of parking, completely free. Took my baby son and spent a good four hours there. Amazing playground. Stunning grounds. Some beautiful walks and routes to explore

Lovely place. Very peaceful and plenty of shaded areas when warm for dogs. £4 to park an the grounds were free to walk round. Nice little cafe in the stables and one near the watermill. Which was a lot busier. But definitely would go back.