SS Great Britain

Firstly, it has to be said that the designers of Bristol Dockyards Museums have worked extremely hard to make this venue accessible for all and for that they deserve great praise. It does still have its challenges though: cobblestones, the bane of all of us with walking difficulties! At a venue of this age though we must accept such situations. There are lifts to the Dry Dock, The SS Great Britain Experience and the mighty ship itself. Unfortunately, when I was there the lift in the Being Brunel building was out of order, presumably this is just a temporary situation. The main exhibit, the SS Great Britain itself has lifts to all levels and has been beautifully restored and is very interesting. I use a rollator and some of the internal corridors of the ship are quite narrow and would be challenging, but not insurmountable, for wheelchair users. The other sites are very accessible, although some of the floors are uneven

For an exhibit of it's age they have gone to great lengths to make it accessible. The best feature is the volunteer staff, the gentleman working when we visited assisted us getting onto the ship (there is a ramp but a little bit steep to get up and then you fly down the other side. You can get around the decks quite easily, but not in some of the rooms unless you get out of the wheelchair. There are a couple of lifts which take you up onto the decks - they are quite small but we managed the wheelchair and 2 people in the lift, and you have to hold the lever all of the time to get the lift to move. It's also possible to go down beneath the hull of the ship again in a lift. My only criticism would be that the doors on the lift are very heavy so it's quite difficult to open the door and push the wheelchair out but the volunteer realised the issue and accompanied us when we wanted to go around areas with issues such as doors. There are cobbles outside but there is a sign for a cobble free route to the entrance which is great. They seem to have thought of everything. Entrance was free for the carer too. I highly recommend a visit - very interesting and more accessible than you would expect for a ship of this age.

I did the sensory trail which was really good and fun. I learn annd process information better using my senses. The whole ship and museum is rollator accessible (so should also be wheelchair accessible as well). I was surprised how accessible the ship actually was. It wasn’t just the standard access but it also went above and beyond with things like sensory trails, communication board, quiet space, ear defenders, tactile model of ship and so much more. I also liked that they made the effort to make access feel part of the ship. Like the lift on the ship didn’t look out of place or ugly or anything like that. Free blue badge parking and carers tickets.