Accessible Britain

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the Red Drawing Room and its collection of French and English porcelain; the Chinese Room, featuring some stunning Chinese lacquer screens; and the Garden Gallery, which houses paintings by a number of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, including Walter Sickert and Albert André. If you aren’t able to climb the great oak staircase up to the bedrooms and Long Gallery, head out to the beautiful grounds, which boast an enchanting Elizabethan walled garden and a mile-long woodland sculpture walk. There is designated Blue Badge parking in the car park. The ground floor is fully wheelchair accessible, and there are rest seats in every room, with plenty of staff on hand to assist. The upper floors can only be accessed via the large staircase; if you can’t manage this and want to know what’s up there, ask for a printed guide with photos at reception. Outside, there’s a disabled toilet in the courtyard, next to the café. Most areas of the grounds are wheelchair accessible, including the woodland sculpture walk, which has a level hard-surfaced path, and the walled garden, where a ramped entrance allows you to bypass the stone steps. FOOD & DRINK aa The Courtyard Café offers an appetising selection of tea and cakes, light meals and hot dinners, with much of the fresh produce grown on-site in the kitchen gardens. 121 Harrogate, Yorkshire THE NORTHEAST AND YORKSHIRE Harrogate (www.visitharrogate.co.uk) is a prosperous, historic and classy town, packed with beautiful old manor houses, stately architecture, avenues of trees and some wonderful public gardens. The town falls into two distinct areas: upper and lower Harrogate; most of the sights are concentrated in the compact lower town, which is pretty level, and has plenty of on-street parking (free for Blue Badge holders). A good place to start a visit is the Royal Pump Room Museum on Crown Place, which details Harrogate’s rise to riches in the eighteenth century as a fashionable spa town – while you’re here, you can sample the famed sulphurous water that brought visitors flocking, convinced of its medicinal properties. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible and has a disabled toilet. If this puts you in the mood for some spa action, head to the nearby Turkish Baths on Parliament Street (01423 556746, www.harrogate.gov.uk/turkishbaths), whose grand, beautifully tiled steam room and heated chambers are fully accessible (the only exception being the plunge pool). There’s a ramped entrance, a lift to all floors and an accessible changing room. From here, you could pay a visit to the Mercer Art Gallery, on Swan Road, which has rotating displays of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fine art from its extensive collection, which includes works by the likes of Alan Davie and William Powell Frith. The wheelchair accessible entrance is at the back of the building (ring the bell if it’s not open), and once inside everything’s on one level. Further up the road, the elegant Old Swan Hotel (www.classiclodges.co.uk) is where Agatha Christie went into hiding for eleven days in 1926, prompting a massive manhunt. If you want to find out more, pick up a leaflet at reception, which you can peruse while having a bite to eat in the sumptuous dining room, or a cocktail at the bar. There’s ramped access to the hotel, a disabled toilet inside and four Blue Badge spaces available for parking. 140
Betty’s Tea Rooms, Harrogate If you’d rather stay outdoors, take a stroll through the beautifully landscaped public park, Valley Gardens, or better still, the fabulous RHS Garden Harlow Carr (0845 2658070, www.rhs.org.uk) next door, with its entrance on Crag Lane. Its gardens, woodland and alpine areas are laced with accessible paths, and there’s designated parking near the entrance plus wheelchairs and powered scooters to borrow. To top it off, there’s even an on-site branch of the famous Betty’s Tea Rooms (whose main branch is on Parliament Street). For more information on Harrogate’s disabled facilities, including parking, RADAR key-accessible toilets and provision at visitor attractions, see the council’s excellent website, www.harrogate.gov.uk. 122 National Railway Museum, York Address: Leeman Road, York YO26 4XJ Web: www.nrm.org.uk Tel: 0844 815 3139 Hours: Daily 10am–6pm Dates: Closed 24–26 Dec Entry: Free entry for all You don’t have to be a trainspotter to enjoy the country’s largest railway museum, packed with locomotives from Stephenson’s Rocket to the Japanese bullet train – all housed inside original railway buildings. Unique exhibits include the iconic Mallard, well-equipped workshops and rolling stock from every era. With hundreds of locomotives, working engineering shops, simulators, hands-on exhibits and imaginative displays covering all aspects of railway life, this museum makes for an informative and compelling visit. Through exhibits such as a replica Rocket and the real record-breaking Mallard, plus an impressive array of ornate royal carriages, the museum explores the pivotal role railways played in our industrial development and THE NORTHEAST AND YORKSHIRE 141
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THE ROUGH GUIDE to Accessible Brita
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Enjoy even more fun, family days ou
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Contents Click on any chapter to go
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About this book Designed to be good
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HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS IWM Duxford (E.
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Brockholes Nature Reserve (Northwes
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London 001 The Roundhouse 002 Wembl
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It’s the colour of the pitch - su
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On the site of the London 2012 Olym
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LONDON ZSL London Zoo FOOD & DRINK
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The tour starts in the MCC Museum w
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LONDON Royal Opera House FOOD & DRI
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LONDON London Transport Museum ther
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Ideas aa Art and sculpture Tate St
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016 Westminster Abbey Address: 20 D
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hop-on/hop-off at any stop along th
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the Painted Hall and chapel. There
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023 Horniman Museum and Gardens Add
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024 Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire
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Parents of any disabled child will
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If you’d rather go sightseeing, h
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FOOD & DRINK aa The sizeable Studio
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In 1842, when the young Charles Dar
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grotto and birds of prey centre 10a
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populated by grazing sheep and the
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available on request, subject to av
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Beach: Address: The Estate Office,
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Emirates Spinnaker Tower THE SOUTHE
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043 Brunel’s SS Great Britain, Br
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and the tidal pools, as well as aro
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centre whose residents range from d
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Temple of Flora and Palladian Bridg
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051 Haldon Forest Park, Devon Addre
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you can pre-book bikes with trailer
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Weymouth and Portland National Sail
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Octavia the octopus always draws a
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Trengwainton Garden THE SOUTHWEST p
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Lincoln Cathedral 059 Lincoln Cathe
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Ideas aa Animal sanctuaries Bolderw
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Holkham Hall Reserve: in summer you
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FOOD & DRINK aa The T&D café bar o
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a wheelchair, while benches provide
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Southwold Pier side and in all the
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Wicken Fen is one of Britain’s ol
Page 89 and 90: depending on what you most fancy se
Page 91 and 92: field Cavendish AM LE field Pentlow
Page 93 and 94: floor has a large step up to it, bu
Page 95 and 96: M6 M1 Barrow-in-Furness The West Mi
Page 97 and 98: A619 080 Peak District Scenic Drive
Page 99 and 100: a boat across it or admire it from
Page 101 and 102: 084 RAF Museum Cosford, Shropshire
Page 103 and 104: Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museu
Page 105 and 106: FOOD & DRINK aa The on-site café i
Page 107 and 108: Severn Valley Railway Northwood), a
Page 109 and 110: 091 Royal Shakespeare Company, Warw
Page 111 and 112: Hereford Cathedral FOOD & DRINK aa
Page 113 and 114: WWT Slimbridge mile. To take the wh
Page 115 and 116: M18 The Northwest MID LOTHIAN Berwi
Page 117 and 118: South of Grasmere you’ll pass the
Page 119 and 120: it’s a fairly steep hundred-yard
Page 121 and 122: 103 Brockholes Nature Reserve, Lanc
Page 123 and 124: Southport Pier 105 Airkix Indoor Sk
Page 125 and 126: the whole site (even the sewer syst
Page 127 and 128: installations in a converted docksi
Page 129 and 130: Anderton Boat Lift Blue Badge holde
Page 131 and 132: M18 The Northeast and Yorkshire 113
Page 133 and 134: smooth, solid surfaces, although it
Page 135 and 136: Designed by Sir Norman Foster, the
Page 137 and 138: fully accessible bus, with a wheelc
Page 139: efreshments, call in at the friendl
Page 143 and 144: Roundhay Park of here sits The Mans
Page 145 and 146: (book in advance). The museum has a
Page 147 and 148: Yorkshire Wildlife Park 128 Magna S
Page 149 and 150: Families are particularly well serv
Page 151 and 152: 130 Callanish Standing Stones, West
Page 153 and 154: Fort George (twenty degrees) onto t
Page 155 and 156: which you can reserve in advance. A
Page 157 and 158: Sitting in the heart of the Cairngo
Page 159 and 160: St Andrews itself isn’t easily ac
Page 161 and 162: (with a disabled toilet) about a hu
Page 163 and 164: all but the most limited hand funct
Page 165 and 166: 143 Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh Addres
Page 167 and 168: provide a stunning backdrop to the
Page 169 and 170: yards away from the house are the t
Page 171 and 172: M6 Wales ISLE OF MAN Barrow-in-Furn
Page 173 and 174: Electric Mountain landscape of Snow
Page 175 and 176: 153-154 Llangollen Wharf and Pontcy
Page 177 and 178: Benar, turn off the A496 just befor
Page 179 and 180: Celtic Quest Coasteering When swimm
Page 181 and 182: 159 Garwnant Forest Visitor Centre,
Page 183 and 184: some of the concrete surfaces insid
Page 185 and 186: 163 Wales Millennium Centre, Cardif
Page 187 and 188: Northern Ireland Oronsay Colonsay J
Page 189 and 190: mobility. If you want to visit the
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(June-Aug Sat & Sun & bank hols), a
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the lives of more than 1500 passeng
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Grand Opera House, Belfast with dis
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Ulster Museum Discovery Zones - nat
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Ideas aa Heritage Fountains Abbey (
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Useful contacts This chapter featur
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advice on available facilities for
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than state what is possible. Predic
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Credits Reviewers: Claire-Louise Ba
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Accessible Britain

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