Hardwick Hall

Without fail every person we saw could not do enough to help me with accessibility - many of them without me asking. From reception, to various people in the house, the virtual tour as I couldn't go upstairs, the person keen to find me a warmer place to wait for those who had gone to look upstairs, and the assistant in the cafe who went out of her way to find me a table I could get to. (And of course the chunky cutlery you provide in the cafe - that is a real game changer for eating out). Everyone was so helpful. There is leVel access throughout the garden and ramps up to the ground floor. There are plenty of staff/volunteer around to show you where to go and where the secret accessible doors are. The upper floors are only accessible by stone stairs, but there is a virtual tour available and large print copies of all information was available in the hall. There is both an accessible toilet (clean and warm!) and a changing places toilet. I came away feeling like I more than mattered and having had a lovely experience.

We like National Trust properties as you can usually guarantee a reasonable level of access to the ground floor of the house, the formal gardens and some of the parkland. We didn't do the parkland on this occasion, as there was a sign warning of wasps' nests but we spent a very pleasant morning looking round the gardens and some of the house. There was also a nice virtual tour of the upper levels of the house, which we had a go at.