3
A little effort would make it very much easier
This is a five star place however a little extra effort on behalf of English Heritage would make it very much easier for wheelchair bound users. I accept that it was built around 1100 and they did not consider the needs of the wheelchair bound (nor did Henry 8th) but EH should try a bit harder.
Parking was easy - although they were turning cars away from the carpark in front of the entrance, we were immediately pointed to a BlueBadge space once they saw we had one. It is flat into the visitor centre, the staff there were welcoming and explained the site and its topography to us. The disabled toilet is in the centre adjacent to the cafe but unfortunately many able bodied visitors use it as well (I will only be a minute !) rather than walk the 20metres out of the centre to use the ordinary clean toilets.
There is an uphill gravel path towards the abbey, manageable for pushing and easy for electric buggies. The door into the museum is electric and it is easy to get around it. Getting onto the abbey site however requires determination - most of the paths are grass (a few gravel), and the grass is steep in places and also slopes alarmingly in places - manageable though with determination. Where more effort is needed is when the paths cross the foundations of an Abbey wall. There are quite a few places where it would be perfectly easy to put in a low ramp to take chairs over the foundations so that one could get inside the ruins. Doing so would not spoil the site but would make it more accessible.
We enjoyed our visit but felt they could have made a few adjustments to make it more wheelchair friendly.
This is a five star place however a little extra effort on behalf of English Heritage would make it very much easier for wheelchair bound users. I accept that it was built around 1100 and they did not consider the needs of the wheelchair bound (nor did Henry 8th) but EH should try a bit harder.
Parking was easy - although they were turning cars away from the carpark in front of the entrance, we were immediately pointed to a BlueBadge space once they saw we had one. It is flat into the visitor centre, the staff there were welcoming and explained the site and its topography to us. The disabled toilet is in the centre adjacent to the cafe but unfortunately many able bodied visitors use it as well (I will only be a minute !) rather than walk the 20metres out of the centre to use the ordinary clean toilets.
There is an uphill gravel path towards the abbey, manageable for pushing and easy for electric buggies. The door into the museum is electric and it is easy to get around it. Getting onto the abbey site however requires determination - most of the paths are grass (a few gravel), and the grass is steep in places and also slopes alarmingly in places - manageable though with determination. Where more effort is needed is when the paths cross the foundations of an Abbey wall. There are quite a few places where it would be perfectly easy to put in a low ramp to take chairs over the foundations so that one could get inside the ruins. Doing so would not spoil the site but would make it more accessible.
We enjoyed our visit but felt they could have made a few adjustments to make it more wheelchair friendly.
