Saltram

niall

15 Jun 2021

A lovely, relaxing day out

4

4

Date of visit: June 2021

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair

Overall Rating

Good

Saltram is a National Trust house and garden that is mostly accessible with a wheelchair and has relatively easy routes around the garden.

Disabled Access In and Around

Good

The entrance to the gardens and the edges of the courtyard used for the outdoor cafe tables are cobbled. Some of it is narrow, deep cobbles but some of it is square brick-like cobbles which are easier to get across with a wheelchair. Most of the courtyard has a thin layer of gravel. The outdoor cafe tables have the benches fixed to the tables, but some of them have wheelchair-accessible spaces. The paths in the garden have relatively fine gravel, but the gravel isn't deep enough to cause a problem. We were told at the entrance that some of the paths are not accessible for wheelchairs and we were offered a map. I did notice a few sets of steps as I was going around the garden, but I didn't find there were many areas I wanted to get to that were inaccessible. I only encountered one slope that I would describe as steep. There are some benches in the garden, but mainly in the more open areas. I didn't notice many along the paths. When we visited the orange trees had been taken out of the Orangery so were easily viewable without having to go up steps. I didn't go into the house but I did notice a ramp up to the front door, so the ground floor at least is likely to be accessible to a wheelchair.

Parking & Transport

Good

There is a car park with several disabled spaces. At the moment, some of the spaces are taken up by a temporary toilet block (presumably due to Covid), but I counted about six disabled spaces that could still be used.

Accessible Toilets

Good

The main toilets are closed, presumably due to Covid, but there is a temporary toilet block including an accessible loo located in the carpark. I did notice a sign to toilets in the garden but I don't know if they were open and there was no accessible toilet with them. The temporary loo in the carpark was quite long but not particularly wide. It was reasonably clean but the sink appeared to be a bit leaky. There were several bins and a fold-down changing table, but only large enough for a child.

Staff

Excellent

The staff were all very helpful.

Additional Information

Covid precautions include having to wear face masks inside, sanitising hands (provided) and giving your name and phone number on entry to the cafe. We didn't have to book in advance and there weren't many people there. If you go on a nice sunny day, I would recommend having a picnic underneath the large tree next to the carpark. There are a couple of picnic benches there as well.