Wakehurst

Reviews (1)
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Location:

Selsfield Rd, Haywards Heath RH17 6TN, UK

Ratings:
  • Staff Helpfulness
  • Ease of Access

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Features:
  • Accessible parking spaces
  • Accessible toilets
  • Changing Places
  • Help points
  • Lifts
  • Personal assistance
  • Step-free access

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Travel links: (reveal)

Reviews (1)

matt85 matt85

When you arrive at the car park you come across a barrier which will open after you take a ticket, this isn’t ideal if you arrive on your own and can’t reach the ticket. There’s 15 disabled parking spaces on hard standing in the closest rows to the entrance. Car parking is free for members and included in the cost of your gardens ticket. Charges apply to National Trust members who get in to the gardens for free instead. It’s £5.50 for 2.5 hours and £10 all day which is expensive but then you’re saving money on the free entry. You pay on exit in either the shop or at the ticket desk. You have to put the card in the barrier to exit the car park.

You travel down a gentle sloping tarmac path to the visitor centre which has a level entrance. The visitors centre is mostly just the shop and where you purchase tickets (carers go for free). There’s also an accessible toilet here and further more by the stables restaurant, beyond the walled garden and in the Millennium Seed Bank which was the one I used. It was an okay size and would allow for a left side transfer if the bin wasn’t in the way.

Most of the main garden is accessible to wheelchair users with tarmac or hard compacted gravel paths, however some of these paths have slight to middling slopes. Other paths especially those at the top part of the garden are made up of grass or bark with very steep slopes and are deemed unsuitable for wheelchair users. The nature reserve is inaccessible.

The mansion is wheelchair accessible but the entrance off of the courtyard which we used is probably the hardest entrance to get through as there’s a 1inch stone threshold to get over. The two other doors don’t have this and have little concrete lip ramps. It’s all on one level once inside as the upstairs isn’t open to the public, there’s stone or wooden floors with lots of space so it’s easy to get around.

The coffee shop was accessible via a short, steep stone slope but I managed to get inside okay, the restaurant had a level entrance with a long, gentle slope to get down to the food counter.

The last stop was to the Millennium seed bank. I made the mistake of taking the left hand path which is the main path down to the entrance which has two steps at the bottom. The accessible path is straight on, is signposted and is flat with a hard surface. You then travel down a gentle stone zig zag slope down to the entrance level. The entrance doors are automatic sliding ones leading into a single level building with stone flooring. All the displays and information boards are at a height so they’re easy to read from a wheelchair so you won’t miss anything.

I found it to be a really good day out with pretty good accessibility.

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