Barnsley Resort

I have been traveling and staying at Barnsley Gardens since it opened in 1999/2000. Literally dozens of times, to include family events, scheduled corporate retreats for my company on several occasions, visited the shooting grounds and played countless rounds of golf and dinner reservations. Barnsley has always provided first class service and the amenities are 5 star. Unfortunately, I scheduled a trip in late December 2024 and had to cancel due to sickness. Because I was not within their 14 day cancellation policy, I was charged $288 of a $399 stay. the resort was not at capacity and had rooms freely available. I called to discuss the charge and was told I would be called back. After a week with no call, I called back to speak with "Terra", the on site manager. She informed me that Barnsley was unwilling to give any kind of consideration. Most disappointing and short-sighted given my travel history with the resort. I have taken my last trip to Barnsley and am sorely disappointed in their policy and diminished culture of customer service.

We have been going to Barnsley for over 7 years now. Our bathroom was clearly not cleaned before arrival (hair, soap scum, etc on walls, in corners, etc.) We had no paper goods (cups, toilet paper or tissue) and were not given extra pillows as requested. Calls to remedy this were ever fulfilled. We were in a house and the living room never got above 45 degrees. While the physical updates to decor are nice the service & cleanliness are subpar. Food was cold, old, or often "out." We have loved this place but probably won't return.

The grounds are lovely but don’t go just to see the holiday lights. It is pricey $25 and there aren’t that many. When we went some of the lights weren’t even on. Apparently the timer wasn’t working. One website listed them as a top place to see lights. I don’t think that’s true.

My family of 6 stayed here for four days and nights. You have to request housekeeping, which is ridiculous. I requested housekeeping on the morning of day 2. We left to head to Atlanta for the day. When we returned at 7:30pm, housekeeping still had not come. We called and complained. The next morning, housekeeping still had not come by noon. We complained, and they finally came. They changed our towels, but didn’t even open the door to the water closet because a towel was still on the floor from where the shower leaked all the way across the floor due to a huge gap in the shower door. Housekeeping made the bed, but the shams and a blanket were still on the floor. Our water and coffee cups were not changed out, nor were we given any additional coffee pods. On two different occasions, we ordered a bottle of wine from Woodlands only to be told they were out. Also, they add a 20% charge to EVERYTHING, so the prices are actually more than what is posted. Kimmie in the Outpost was great as was the staff in the bar. Other than that, we were not impressed for paying $5,400 for three rooms for four nights.

We drove an hour for the holiday lights, only to be disappointed that the house ruins was lit but not the gardens. We called the reservation line and they said that the garden lights were on a timer and they should come on. Based on that, we went to dinner at the Woodland Grill, in hopes that the lights would be on by the time we were done eating. We went back and there were still no lights. We walked over to the inn, and they said that apparently some animal ate the lights sometime the day before and they were trying to fix it. We didn’t see anyone trying to fix it earlier. Also, we called the reservation line hours before and no one said anything about half of the lights not working. We were supposed to receive a call today from the manager regarding the issue and still nothing. $50 for two adults to see only half of the lights is a rip off. They should have called those who bought tickets for that evening to let them know about the lights not working. Most of the employees seem to downplay the whole issue. So, if you go to see the holiday lights, you may want to call beforehand to see if they are working! It’s also geared for adults. You won’t see many holiday light displays for children. They also said we needed no reservation for the Woodland Grill, that there was plenty of room for the evening. This was the reservation line that said this and the Outpost confirmed no reservations were needed. We were surprised when we went to the restaurant around 6pm and was told that they were booked until 8:30 and that we could find a seat at the bar, if available. Luckily, we found a table. The restaurant tried to make it right by buying our second round of drinks, which was nice (they previously offered a dessert on the house but we said no thank you for a dessert). The food and service were good, but being told no reservations were needed and insisted this, it was a bit disappointing to find out otherwise. Also, for the past two weekends, their reservation system has not worked on their website. For a resort, they need to fix their website and make it easier for customers to navigate and reserve.