Castle Fraser

The disability car park is well signposted and is close to the entrance of the house, but has a barrier to entry in a flood of granite chips which are hard/impossible to get through. The disability car park is too far from the walled garden etc. so park in the public car park to reduce distance if you want to enjoy outside. But the tea room is also barred by a huge area of granite chips which are impossible to wheel through and the tea room itself is down 2 further steps and seem worn going back up so very hard to negotiate. The tea room is in the old kitchen and every sound echoes around so very uncomfortable for the hard of hearing. I did read reviews from 2018 but took a chance that by 2025 they my have improved things but no. Don't go if you need wheels, struggle with steps, or don't like every clink of china to echo around you.

The walled garden is ok for wheelchair users, and some of the other paths. The courtyear is dreadful - very thick gravel that is near impossible to push through. The tea room and toilets are through the gravel so not good. There is a ramp into the gift shop but it is very steep and short. Unsure if there was a disabled toilet - I did look but I don’t think there was.

We travellled here with my children and grandchildren after reading that the ground floor of the castle was wheelchair accessible. I was fully aware that I couldnt get upstairs but (mistakenly) thought there’d be enough to keep me occupied whilst everyone else explored the upper floors. Wrong! The ground floor basically consisted of tea room gift shop and entrance hall. Even then the tea room was difficult to access with a powered wheelchair as it was so cramped and narrow. I ended up sitting outside in the courtyard (with one tiny, rickety metal table!) waiting for everyone else; the access of which was over gravel (any wheelchair user will tell you how awful gravel is to traverse) Both bookshops were innaccesible too. It was a nightmare for me, and I felt was very misrepresented in the NTS brochure.