Thank you so much for your 5* review, this is very much appreciated and we look forward to welcoming you back again soon.

Thank you so much for your review, this is very much appreciated and we couldn't agree more with your lovely comments. We look forward to welcoming you back again soon.

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with feedback following your recent visit to Great Comp. We are very pleased you enjoyed the garden. Our tearoom was renovated in early 2020, in order to significantly improve our kitchen facilities and to streamline the interior space. We also moved our catering in-house, in order to improve our offer and to enable our charity to benefit from any tearoom income, which enables us to continue our work in the garden. We are committed to providing high quality food, and now source all our products from local Kentish producers. Supporting local producers does slightly increase our prices but means that our food is fresh, supports the local economy, supports the environment, and local Kentish businesses. We are however grateful for this feedback and will be discussing this with our tearoom manager to see if we can make any improvements. Any tearoom feedback can also be emailed directly to our tearoom manager at tearoom@greatcompgarden.co.uk, who will be very happy to consider suggestions.

We welcome visitor feedback, however, it appears that your description of our garden is at odds with the great majority of customer reviews that we receive. Great Comp Garden is considered a hidden gem by many, and we are proud to have retained the feel of a private garden when so many larger attractions are forced to become very commercial. Many visitors enjoy the feel of stepping back to a simpler time when visiting Great Comp, and appreciate the ethos and atmosphere this has created. The garden creators, Roderick and Joyce Cameron created the garden at Great Comp, and are indeed buried on the square lawn. They both generously left Great Comp to the public, and for this huge act of generosity and kindness, we are forever grateful and are committed to honoring their memory. The garden ruins are indeed follies, created by Roderick Cameron who found the stones in the garden whilst developing the borders. The follies are a testament to Roderick’s quintessentially English eccentricity, and also provide a microclimate for rare plants. Our tearoom COVID-19 risk assessment aims to reduce interaction with others, and as such we offer compostable take-away containers for food, however, signs on entry clearly state that visitors can request china, and our tearoom staff are very happy to accommodate requests. With regard to our horticultural approach, our Curator, William Dyson is an RHS multi-awarding winning Salvia expert, having won medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Hampton Court. The garden is home to William’s extensive Salvia collection, widely regarded as the finest collection in Europe. In Spring the garden erupts into bloom with numerous Magnolias, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, under-planted with large drifts of Hellebores and bulbs whilst Summer brings warmth and extravagance from the rich and fiery colours of Salvias, Dahlias, Kniphofias, Crocosmias, and Fuchsias; these are punctuated with ornamental grasses in great variety. We would certainly not wish to remove any of our beautiful mature plants however we regularly change many of the borders, including the introduction of a golden border to celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2018, a new bambousarie (planted by veterans from the RBLI) in 2019 and annual Salvia planting to increase our extensive displays. We are currently working on the renovation of Great Comp House, in order to safeguard the fabric of this 17th century Grade II* building and preserve this for future generations. Once renovations are complete we will be able to welcome visitors into the house and expand the visitor experience. It is necessary to have scaffolding around the house to enable painters to repair window woodwork, and to repair the roof. We take feedback seriously and are committed to providing a positive visitor experience.

Thank you so much for your 5* review, we are so pleased you enjoyed your visit and look forward to welcoming you back again soon.

Further to your review of Great Comp Garden, we are disappointed to read your comments and feel that this is an unfair reflection of Great Comp. We received many positive reviews and feedback from customers during their visit. Our annual pass ticket sales have increased by 46% compared with 2019, with more than ever visitors upgrading their day ticket to an annual pass at the end of their visit, having found Great Comp to be a beautiful place to visit and relax. Great Comp is a 7-acre garden, and the average visit length at this time of year is approx. 2-3 hours, where visitors can take time out of their busy lives, to stop and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the garden. Visiting a 7-acre garden for just 20 minutes would not be sufficient enough time to fully appreciate the planting and history of any horticultural destination. As an RHS Partner Garden, we are not reimbursed by the RHS. We offer free entry for RHS members in September, October and November during our standard opening hours. It would not be financially sustainable for us to offer free entry for RHS members all year round. Our admission prices are benchmarked against similar gardens and are low compared to many other attractions. Admission and tearoom income enable our charity to balance our expenditure. We take feedback seriously and are committed to providing a positive visitor experience.

Thank you so much for your 4* review, we are so pleased you enjoyed visiting us again. We will also pass on your feedback to our tearoom regarding your tea and ensure that this is improved. Again thank you for your feedback and we hope to welcome you back again soon.

Thank you so much for your 5* review, we are so pleased you enjoy visiting us and look forward to welcoming you back again soon.

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with feedback following your recent visit to Great Comp. Unfortunately, the weather was not at all kind to us during the summer show, and the increased footfall during our annual event did result in muddy paths – we are now caring for them to bring them back to their best. Our gardeners are working hard to manage the beds, which has been extremely challenging with the extensive rainfall this year. We have increased gardeners' hours, and are encouraging more volunteers to return now that COVID-19 restrictions have been eased. We are sorry to hear you were disappointed, however many of our visitor feedback has been positive, and we feel that there is a lot of colour and interest at this time of year from our extensive collection of Dahlias and Salvias, cultivated at Great Comp by our RHS award winning Curator. With regard to our tearoom, our team worked hard in early 2020 to renovate and streamline this space. You have provided feedback regarding the contents/décor of the tearoom, however we are unable to identify what this refers to, and if you could provide more info this will help us to improve the space. During the Summer Show this year we decided to try something new, and to provide an outside BBQ for visitors to enjoy whilst listing to the Jazz ensemble. The logistics of this meant that we reduced the internal tearoom menu in order for our chef to run the BBQ. We received very positive feedback from visitors but we do of course want to improve our offer and have taken all your comments on board and will make improvements for our next event. We are so grateful to the visitors who have supported us, visited us and championed us during the last 18 months - a very difficult time for all, and especially for gardens that operate under charitable status. Looking ahead, our team are absolutely committed to safeguarding the beautiful gardens and to renovating the 17th century manor house, and to ensuring that it is a place where visitors can find peace, calm and horticultural excellence, as well as enjoying a lovely lunch or afternoon tea.