People with poor mobility/wheelchairs should avoid
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Date of visit: June 2022
I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment and moving around.
Overall Rating
Bad
Advertised on booking sites as having ‘facilities for disabled guests’ but I suggest you avoid this hotel if you have mobility or energy issues and/or use a wheelchair. We were relegated to use of the (seriously grotty) service entrance and dingy, tight back corridors for our visit, with absolutely no apology or shame. You will not be given the same quality of experience as able guests. Not even an attempt at one.
Disabled Access In and Around
Bad
When we arrived we clearly couldn’t use the main access as it has steps. I will say here that I had both phoned and written in advance to remind them that I use a wheelchair. A member of staff who happened to be passing said there was level access through the orangerie (spoiler: there isn’t) but I wasn’t allowed to use it because a wedding reception was being held in there. She said she’d find out what to do, and come back. Reader, we were left standing outside for many long minutes without any contact at all. Finally she came back and led us to a service entrance. See photos for the full glory of grot. Then into a tiny old lift which spat us out into a small, dingy corridor which led to a narrow door that said ‘disabled access to Reception & lounge’. My wheelchair could not fit through this door without me getting out so it could be partially lifted and turned. This was my access between room and the rest of the hotel for the whole of the stay. Had I not been ambulatory, we would have had to leave at that point. On the final day I was allowed to leave through the ‘level access’ of the orangerie. The one with the door sill too high for my wheelchair to get over without - that’s right - me getting out. Bath deep, no handrails. Shower had a step in, and was very small. Room big enough to accommodate a wheelchair easily. Corridors accessible but carpets were loose so they rode in front of the wheelchair like Big Sur
Parking & Transport
Bad
This venue is a little out of the way, so you’ll likely need to arrive by car. There are two disabled spaces marked only by signs, and for both days of our visit the other one was always occupied by vehicles without blue badges, presumably using it as a loading bay, as that was also signposted for that space. If you can’t get into the tiny car park, the overflow is down a steep gravel path some way away from the hotel.
Accessible Toilets
Bad
The toilet in our room (specifically offered when I spoke to them about being a wheelchair user) was normal height, had no rails. I never found their public loos so couldn’t say about those.
Staff
Poor
There was no apology for not knowing how to let me in or for the unpleasant state of the entrance or for the narrow door and my clear distress by the time we reached the reception. I had to specifically ask about breakfast arrangements (we were half board) and I heard them berating others the next morning for not knowing they needed to book. Staff were generally slow and unenthusiastic and if, for instance, you ordered a bottle of water, you could expect just that, and no extras like a glass or ice. As an example.
Additional Information
No Covid precautions at all.
