Nottingham Castle

"I feel absolutely ripped off" is what I said to my son as we left. £23 for one adult and a child to visit a mediocre play park, a virtual robing hood experience where part of the games are already faulty and a gallery that would be free in any other city. Also, only AFTER I paid was I told the Cave tours were sold out and they could only just squeeze us onto the Robin Hood experience (after I began to complain). Yes there was the Paul Smith exhibit but frankly I've got no interest in fashion and the display took up the majority of the exhibit space. The history of the castle is nothing more than you would read on Wikipedia and there is very little on the renovation work, which would be very interesting. I was told the views were impressive and they are if you want to see a half demolished concrete shopping centre, student accommodation blocks, multi story car parks, retail warehouses or a far off power station. Everything you can do or see would be free in any other city. The worst thing about the ticket price is you just get it for that day, not an automatic 6 or 12 month pass like many other museums. Comparing this to the Iron Bridge museums (similar price) you get access to 6 museums for a full 12 months and there is a years worth of entertainment and value. Honestly, we won't be bothering visiting again, even for the Cave tour we missed out on.

My son and l visited Nottingham castle we found it a bit disappointing in the fact no state room dressed in curtains furniture for the period mainly just art on the walls we ventured down into the caves of the castle we had to pay extra but this was the best part of the castle we had a good guide and he was very informative. The views from the castle were fab you could see right across nottingham .the cafe had lovely food but a bit pricey .the castle is under reconstruction just now so is not open to the public .gham castle

Having looked forward to the castle reopening I was disappointed by how low-key the improvements were given the duration and cost of the renovation- to be blunt I expected an awful lot more.

The new visitor building at the entrance lacks imagination and the limited range of gifts they had seemed expensive for what they were.

The galleries are so-so (with the exception of the Paul Smith one which is very good) and I found it hard to see any logical flow from one room to another.

The cafe is pleasant enough with interesting (if not attractive) views from the terrace.

With the £13 entrance charge it’s not good value and I think it’s unlikely I will return or recommend it anyone else unless they have young children.

The price was a bit steep (12£ general admission) but end of the day it was definitely worth it! All exhibitions were about Nottingham and interactive so learnt quite few things about about the city in which I live.
Not a big fan of modern art exhibitions but still loved The Paul Smith's one, very well presented.
Robin Hood experience and the cave tour unfortunately was fully booked that day and if we want to visit them next time we need to book the general admission again unfortunately.

Very poor value for money. Charged over £10, per person, to only see a collection of pictures that in a Leicester museum are free. Was not informed about having to book for visit to Robin Hood experience, which then shut at 3:15.

The new visitor centre is impressive, the 2 cafes are really nice, great for lunch (some lovely cakes) and the staff are super friendly and helpful. Someone is on hand at all times to clean and sanitise high traffic areas which is re-assuring.

However, the Castle seems smaller, meaner and darker than I remember, the rooms struggle to engage visitors, people were wondering around unsure of where to go and the labelling on exhibits was difficult to read. I enjoyed the art gallery but it looked like someone had crammed in dozens of pictures in too small a space. The Nottingham lace exhibition was enjoyable but again, the available space was far too small.

The most noticeable changes are outside, the old lamppost that was outside the main entrance to the building is gone. The flower beds and shrubberies are gone, instead there are acres and acres of grass. Grass is a monoculture, I didn’t see one pollinating insect at all during our visit. Wildlife needs diversity to survive, the castle grounds could be a wildlife and natural haven in our city, what you have created is frankly, a bit tone deaf and tin eared.

We paid £13.00 each for the basic admission, a tour of the caves or The Robin Hood Experience cost extra and in my opinion it was not good value for money. That wonderful place I have loved since childhood is gone.

As a Nottingham resident since birth it had been quite a while since I have visited the castle so when my 7 year old granddaughter stated that she really wanted to go and see the caves I decided now would be the perfect time to book and take her.
I was astonished at the cost, and then learnt they charge more for the cave tour, so booked the whole lot, my granddaughter was so excited, come the day I was quite impressed on entry, and the museum was interesting and had been cleaned up well from my last visit, but the highlight of the day was the cave tour, when our allotted time came my granddaughter by now was excited beyond relief as we waited to go through.
When we went through the door imagine our disappointment, we were led through to the wine cellar, ok I thought this is just the beginning, it was when we lead into the second we were told that we actually only seeing 3 rooms! Yes they were cut into the rock under the house but in no way were they caves! The whole thing lasted less that half an hour and that was mainly taken up with a very nice gentleman trying to jazz up a disastrous so called cave tour!
This was NOT A CAVE TOUR by any stretch of the imagination, it is a 3 room tour!
This part of the visit was so disappointing and a total waste of money!
If anybody is planning a trip to the castle please don't book this tour expecting to see caves because you actually don't, ask a local to tell you where in Nottingham you can see them for free, also take a picnic as the price of food/ icecreams are extortionate.

I hadn't visited the Castle since I was a teenager & having seen a feature on BBC news was keen to return. It was a little underwhelming. The building is beautiful but oddly uninspiring. The staff were friendly but some very new & seemingly inadequately trained so couldn't respond to questions. Paul Smith exhibition was interesting & nicely done. Enjoyed the Art gallery but shouldn't these pieces be available to the general public without a £13 entry fee? We paid for caves tour which really was not value for money - tour guide was very pleasant but there was not much to see/ experience. I'm struggling to imagine why I would make a return visit given the overall price. The grounds themselves wouldn't encourage me to linger.

I visited with my family (2 children aged 9 and 7) and have given 3 stars due to the variable quality of the overall experience and the confusing pricing.
The interactive Robin Hood experience was by far the children's favourite part of the attraction with the bow and arrow competition and interactive tabletop game. However we only had 25 minutes in here then were ushered into the Ducan palace art gallery. The Rebellion section was interactive and informative but I felt the rest of the gallery was similar to city galleries that would usually be available free of charge.
The children also enjoyed the excellent new play area which is styled in a castle and rope bridge theme. We then moved on to the cave tour, led by a great guide called Jenna who was really engaging. The tour was rather short but I understand there are plans to open more caves in future.
We paid £58 for the entry fee (the cave tour and Robin Hood experience were extra) and overall did feel it was overpriced for the package compared to other attractions. The gallery was similar to others that are free to enter and the other parts were an additional charge but over too soon. I couldn't help but wonder what the £30million had been spent on. This could have been a quality immersive interactive historical experience such as Bodmin Jail instead of a slightly confusing assortment of disparate activities. Worth a look but not a 'must see' attraction due to the cost.

The Paul Smith exhibition is brilliant, how I wish that the rest of my visit was the same. First off the website has no discount available for Nottingham residents - good start. I arrived to see just what the £30 million pound input had done. A new visitor centre and cafe that reminded me a little of a new McDonalds store that would be put up in about a couple of weeks. The rest of the grounds appeared to be pretty much the same apart from the new play area which looked pretty good. The "castle" has been cleaned up and some glass fitted at the front but apart from that it is the same old mansion that the building really is. They have put in a rather small cafe/restaurant to order your food but have gone overboard with the amount of covers available inside and outside. The food is very pricey also but slightly cheaper at the cafe in the visitor centre. The inside of the mansion has been revamped but it still is pretty much the same as before albeit with interactive displays. You would think that an entrance fee of £13.00 per person that would be it but no there are tours you can go on for an additional fee for each one. I did the Robin Hood experience or rather it did me. We walked up a tunnel to basically a gaming room with large video screens. A story about Robin Hood was played but it was near on impossible to follow the story as it was on one screen then on another etc. If you sit down you will find it very difficult to follow on all the surrounding screens. Also when we whee there a school party was there so we could hardly hear a thing due to their noise level. You then get to have a go at basically very large video games. What they do not tell you is that you only have a very short time in there so after having a go at the archery and a table top game it was time to go. A complete waste of time and money and this should be included in the entrance price. The next tour was the cave tour. Our guide did her best to gee us all up about the 160 steps and off we went. Down to a cave which was a wine cellar and down to a small cave that was an old kitchen and finally into a cave with a long bench then back up to the exit. This was a complete waste of time and money. I have done the cave tour before and went all the way down from the castle down to street level through a myriad of caves. This tour was an insult to credibility. I did the visit to the whole thing with my wife and this cost us with the tours and some food the best part of £60, take the zero off and a price of £6 each is all this is worth in my opinion