Charnwood Museum

Loughborough

1 review

Review this place

darrylrichard

19 Jul 2024

Great day out and close to town centre shopping

Date of visit: July 2024

I have experience of challenges around: moving around

Loughborough town centre is completely free from traffic except delivery vehicles. There are markets on Thursday and Saturday and a collectables and specialist market on Friday. Other markets of a specialist nature happened on occasional Sundays on the information can be found on the Charnwood Borough website

Wonderful radar key toilets in Queens Park kept in tip top condition by Charnwood Borough Council

The pavements in Queens Park are a little bumpy but easily doable in a wheelchair. They are down for refurbishment but no firm date has been set.

Loughborough Carillion and bandstand in Queens Park. The Carillion is a peel of 47 bells played from a set of levers set out like a piano keyboard. Recitals regularly on Thursday and Sunday at 1:00 PM. The Carillion Tower opened in 1922 and was constructed to remember those who died during World War I. Some of my relatives names appear on that tower. The area around the tower is wheelchair accessible from three sides but there are steps on the 4th.

The view showing Queens Park Cafe and Charnwood Museum

The outside area of the cafe has recently been refurbished with a splendid new access ramp. Where else are you going to find a ramp with it’s very own arch

The cafe is simple but more than adequate, the staff are absolutely lovely and it has a disabled toilet of the highest standard.

I don't think I've ever seen another museum with an underfloor plesiosaur. If you are a wheelchair user don't worry about going over it, i have done it hundreds of times and if it takes my weight I am pretty damn sure it can take yours.

Lots of local history in the museum, but it will be of interest to everyone. Note the Ladybird books in the case on the counter. They were designed and printed in Loughborough until the 1990s. When I was a kid everybody knew somebody who worked at the Ladybird factory, so we all had a huge collection of Ladybird books.

I used to have Airfix planes dangling from my bedroom ceiling when I was a kid. Charnwood Museum does it for real.

I hope you're all remembering that I am doing this trip entirely in my powered chair. I have to do that because I'm a bilateral amputee so am certainly not cheating. This chair though, is entirely different. This is the Beaumanor Chair, called entirely from a single piece of oak by my cousin eight times removed, who was a Carpenter at Beaumanor Hall.

A final view across the park, I hope you found this useful and that you will visit Queens Park Loughborough and indeed the town centre. Very very accessible and with a lot of free parking for those with the appropriate badge.

Overall Rating

Excellent

Made my way through Loughborough Town Centre to Queens Park and visited the Park Cafe and Charnwood Museum. The only thing it cost me was a pot of tea and the wheelchair access is wonderful. Queen's Park Café For a park side cafe it is excellent. Recently refurbished outdoor area which is now fully accessible for wheelchair users. The cafe is a proper cafe, so nothing spectacular but a lovely retreat next to the incredible Queens Park. When sitting outside has wonderful views of the park itself. The cafe also serves the customers of Charnwood Museum, which is also fully accessible and has excellent disabled toilets (as does the park itself). The museum is well worth a visit and is set out excellently for wheelchair users that also offers services for people with varying disabilities. Free entry and with some incredible exhibits. Staff in both the cafe and the museum or absolutely wonderful and extremely friendly. Car parking is available on the opposite side of the park with a large number of disabled parking spaces with excellent wheelchair access. The car park also offers access to Loughborough town centre which is entirely pedestrianised and easily usable for wheelchair users.