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The cottages are not suitable for anyone who is wheelchair bound, but may be OK to those who still have some mobility. Given the limitations of the lovely old barn we converted and building regulations, we did what we could as explained below and illustrated by some photographs.

Access to all the main doors except one can be achieved by wheelchair. The other requires a small amount of help to get over a curb. Both cottages have normal stairs with hand rails to get between floors.

The normal car park for visitors is at the end of the garden area. There is a path with a wheelchair friendly ramp from there all the way into the courtyard (about 40 metres see photos) from which there is access into the main living area of Barn Owl Cottage, the bedroom/bathroom area in Swallow Cottage, the utility area and the disabled shower room & toilet in the visitors' centre. From the car park, you can go up the house drive and into the upper door into Swallow Cottage - i.e. into the kitchen. There are two ways to get between the floors of Swallow Cottage by wheelchair. The shorter one would require the use of a rather steep ramp from the drive into the courtyard from this higher level, which would require someone to assist a person in a wheelchair. The second way is a long smooth way around - about 70 metres down to the car park and back around into the courtyard.

Swallow Cottage is an upside-down house. The top floor, into the kitchen and then lounge and stairs can be accessed by wheelchair with a small amount of help over a small bump from the house drive. It is possible to park close to this entrance by special arrangement. There is no toilet on the top floor. Downstairs can be reached by the stairs which have a handrail, or by wheelchair as mentioned above. On the lower floor are the two bedrooms and the bathroom - the bedroom with the two single beds also has a small step to get into it.

For a detailed access statement for Swallow Cottage click here to download a pdf file

Barn Owl Cottage is more suitable, but it is not possible to park close to an entrance. Both floors have a toilet, upstairs has the bathroom and bedrooms this time. You can access the entrances from the car park, via the courtyard. The disabled shower room is accessed from the courtyard.

By special arrangement we can give access from the courtyard to the ground floor of the Visitors Centre which has a large disabled toilet, which includes a disabled shower facility. We have had guests in Barn Owl Cottage use this very successfully where the person could not use a normal bath. We can also allow parking in other places if that helps.

For a detailed access statement for Barn Owl Cottage click here to download a pdf file