Overview

A visit here will be well rewarded, and a very interesting and historical few hours awaits. The castle opens at 10.00am midweek, 11.00 weekends. Entrance fee for 2022 is £11.50, £10.00 seniors, and registered carers have free entry The disabled visitor is well looked after, and although this is a grade 1 listed building, they really have tried to help and you can see almost everything you need. There are ramps where needed, and even a lift, which is unusual for grade 1 buildings. A very comprehensive accessible guide is available to download for you to view at www.hartleburycastle.com. Scroll down to Visitors guide, THEN accessibility guide. Hartlebury Castle was built in the 13th century, on land given to the Bishop of Worcester by King Burgred of Mercia and built as a fortified Manor House. Then later on it became the Bishops main residence, from the 13th century up to 2007. The gatehouse was added by Bishop Carpenter during the time of King Henry V1. The Hurd library was built in 1782, with an unique collection of books, and later, the avenue of Lime trees were planted, and by 1890 some of the moat was filled in to become flower beds. In 1964 parts of the castle came under the control of Worcester county council to open up as a museum for the public in 1966. In 2008 the Bishops residence was moved to stand close to the Worcester Cathedral, then in 2015 Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust (HCPT) bought the castle and 43 acres of land to make the historic palace a visitor attraction. The grounds include a cider mill and a transport gallery with old fire engines, Hanson cabs and gypsy caravans. The old servants quarters has become the Worcester County Museum, focusing on local history, with a variety of museums to be seen. There is a lot to see, so allow yourself 3 hours to see as much as possible. OUR REVIEW. A pleasant winters drive lead us to Hartlebury castle (photo 1) just 10 minutes or less from Chaddesley Corbett, and we arrived at the carpark, with Four disabled bays. (2). Our first port of call was the little cafe, which you reach at the side of the building up a very steep ramp (3) and a little uneven, a bit difficult and not very easy to push the wheelchair up. There is a small counter (4) where you order your snacks and drinks, and the tables and chairs gave plenty of room for wheelchair, and it was very clean, but very basic. (5). Down the ramp again, and on the corner is the reception to purchase your tickets (6) Walking along outside, you pass the cider mill (7) with its old millstone for you to see. Next you come to the Transport museum. Very interesting old gypsy wagons (8) in which people actually lived, and other old wagons used for deliveries etc. The old fire engine, and other wagons are well worth looking at, (9) and the building is fascinating to help you look back at history. Next along, the old wheelwright (10) where wagon wheels were once made and now maintained, but we were told they no longer make the wheels, and that was just recently decided. Across from this is the main museum (11). The first museum you are shown is the Bishops Residence, with quite a few rooms to view. (12). From here, the lift will take you up to level two, then down to level one, (13) and on the second floor there are little windows to look in holding various articles of interest (14) and one showed us how food used to be wrapped up (15). A lovely old Hornby train set will delight the big kids (16). There are other rooms to explore before you head down to the first floor. On this level we came to the old school room (17) and that brought back some memories for us. Then we had an old Victorian living room (18) and next to this the nursery (19). We found disabled toilets but very basic, although it had pull cord and grab rails (20). OUR FINAL THOUGHTS We both thoroughly enjoyed the visit, it bought back so many memories, and younger people will see how living was like back around 100 years ago. It is wheelchair friendly through out, and we would recommend a visit here, allowing yourself plenty of time, maybe two to three hours, so as not to rush it.

Transport & Parking

A lovely driveway leads to the house, with reasonable parking, although we only saw four disabled bays.

Access

We give four points, although we found the ramp up to the cafe a little steep and uneven, but thereafter it is very wheelchair friendly. We did not find any steps, but they do have a modern well looked after lift. We saw everything we needed to see, but few resting places.

Toilets

It was very basic, but clean enough, with pull cord and grab rails.

Staff

Everyone went out of their way to help all visitors, and really took care of us, when needed, and not over the top, allowing us to do our own thing.

Photos