Vindolanda

Hexham

4.3

5 reviews

Review this place

wheelingwithwords

24 Jun 2021

Amazing historical site and museum. Smooth and rough surfaces depending on route. Lovely staff. Great shop.

4.5

Date of visit: June 2021

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

Overall Rating

Excellent

As we often visit Vindolanda, it was a good place to test out the new normal. If you want to be covid secure / have been shielding, the archaeology part of the site is mostly outdoors except for the entrance porch where you pay which has screens. There are a couple of the usual access mistakes that would have been nice to see ironed out when the new museum building was designed which are listed in the accessibility statement for example the entrance to the Introduction room includes a tight turning space in the doorway and doorway lips so 'assistance may be required for wheelchair users' should probably read 'reversing through doorways spatial challenge'. Although entry is free to disabled visitors this isn't clearly signposted from the disabled access end of the site. That said, the staff are always friendly and helpful. We didn't use the museum on this trip however it is amazing although some display cases are harder to see from wheelchair height. Some parts of the site are steep so you'll want to know your brakes work if self-propelling! If bumpy surfaces are a problem for you, may want to plan your route to avoid the loose graveled surfaces but the fully tarmacked areas of the paths are great for wheelchairs or walkers with joint pain although they don't cover the whole site as yet. The paths with loose chips are trickier with a light chair. I did have to ask for the ramp for the slight lip on the entrance doorway as it was tucked out of sight for Covid cleaning reasons, I alerted them to the need to let us know the ramp exists rather than having to guess. The exit turnstile is now wide enough for a wheelchair so the fun of getting yourself locked in at closing time has been eliminated! Oh and since this is Hadrian's Wall, it can be cool even in summer - you might want to bring your coat even on a sunny day! The AD122 bus travels the tourist routes https://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/travel/bus The detail of the downloadable access information is here: https://www.vindolanda.com/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=1306123e-66e4-4c87-851f-4bc6697f393b