Shustoke Barn

wendy37

11 Jul 2022

Good on the inside

4.5

4.5

Date of visit: July 2022

I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment, hearing and moving around.

Overall Rating

Excellent

Visited for my son's wedding with my husband who generally uses either a manual wheelchair or a mobility scooter but is able to walk with a stick if all medications are working properly! Mostly accessible with good disabled toilet but one of the function areas which might be more needed in poor weather (we had blazing sunshine and dry weather) was upstairs with no lift access. Didn't locate any designated disabled parking spaces and the car park itself is surfaced with large gravel which I'm glad I didn't have to push my husband's wheelchair on. The whole downstairs venue once you get in is smooth and mostly level, including the courtyard area but there is one bump at the entrance where the gravel transitions to flag stones and the change is enough to knock the steering on a mobility scooter out if you hit it wrong. The party also included my brother who is temporarily using a walking stick/walking frame and my elderly father who is a hearing aid user.

Disabled Access In and Around

Excellent

The downstairs part of the venue is level and generally smooth (even though it is flagstones) throughout. The accesses to and from the courtyard are well ramped/smoothed. The only bump that might cause issues is right at the front entrance where there is an unramped "step" of about 2cm. Doorways are generally sufficiently wide but where there are two doors to a doorway, you might need both to be open. The upstairs area will be inaccessible to anyone who cannot walk and manage stairs - there is no lift. There is plenty of seating in the courtyard: the venue was obviously set up for a wedding reception/breakfast so there were lots of chairs.

Parking & Transport

Good

We travelled in our own vehicle. The location is quite distant from the nearest town. The parking area is surfaced with large gravel. I didn't locate any designated disabled spaces

Accessible Toilets

Good

One accessible toilet with grab rails. Both of the people in my party who needed to use it said that it was good with plenty of room. Neither of them were in a wheelchair or scooter when using the loo so I cannot comment on the turning circle. The downside to the toilet is that it is also the baby change room and a lot of the wedding party with children (who probably didn't actually need changing as such) were using it so that they could assist their children because there was more space. This means that if there are urgency issues you may have a problem with being able to get in there when you need to )

Staff

Good

We didn't really need to engage/intereact with the staff - mostly self-sufficient in this venue. I did talk to one lady when we went for a look around a week or so before and she was most helpful.