Mottisfont visitors criticise hour-long rainy queue

After struggling to find a space to park and get the double buggy over a ramp, Trevor Bevins and his family only moved a few steps in the queue before they decided to leave.

Mr Bevins drove from Dorset with his two grandchildren to arrive shortly before the National Trust site’s 11am opening time on Sunday, December 10 in the “pouring rain”.

He believes issues could have been avoided with a timed entry system booked online. However, a staff member said that this could be an “additional barrier” to visitors.

The team has removed its “popular naughty lists”, to reduce people congregating at the start of the display and speed up entry to the house.

Mr Bevins said: “It’s great that National Trust-run Mottisfont is doing so well – but a shame that they haven’t thought of a system to manage the crowds.

“We joined the back of a horrendous queue to get into the house. Fifteen minutes later, having moved no more than two yards we gave up, and left.

“A member of staff reckoned it would take about an hour to get in – based on our observations probably a lot more. Which is not ideal in the pouring rain with a two and a four-year-old.

“It was a shame to have to miss out on the planned trip – which might have been avoided by some thought to a timed system for entry where slots could be booked in advance.”

Queuing in the rain (Image: Trevor Bevins)

SEE ALSO: National Trust Christmas events in and around Hampshire

Mr Bevins highlighted that the National Trust website does state: “A Christmas Journey to the North Pole runs November 25 to January 7. There’s no need to book but we may get very busy on weekends and the holidays. Peak arrival times are between 11am and 2pm.”

Mottisfont’s visitor experience manager, Helen Potts, said: “We were really sorry to hear that our visitors from Dorset had a poor experience. We’ve worked hard to try and ensure that everyone has a really enjoyable time when they come to Mottisfont this Christmas.

“We discussed at length the option of a booking system for the house, but we decided against it because we know for many, it is seen as an additional barrier. We felt that this year particularly there are so many things to see and do here, which gives visitors lots of flexibility.

“The amazing installations in the garden have been designed to appeal to all ages and we’ve had some lovely comments from adults, many of whom have enjoyed wearing the elf hats. We also decided to run our Christmas offer for eight weeks, to give people plenty of time to plan visits at quieter times, which we have indicated throughout our website and on our social media posts.

“We do appreciate that at peak times the queue to the house can be long. This is because there is so much to see in every room. Part of the joy for us and our visitors is that they don’t feel rushed.

“More people choose to visit the house when it’s raining. The constant rain was also the root of the issue with our ramp last weekend. Increased wear and tear on the path meant the lip of the ramp protruded slightly so we added a gravel mix to smooth this over for visitors. However, the rain meant it didn’t have time to bind and it became loose. We have since worked hard to compact it, which will hopefully resolve the problem.”