Overview

Nervous of visiting old houses, it transpired that Abbotsford is one of the few that have created an accessible experience throughout the house. The welcome we received was great and the information available before we visited made it possible for us to decide to visit with confidence.

Transport & Parking

Getting to Abbotsford was easier than we expected. We arrived by car but it was great to see that Abbotsford have a courtesy minibus service that runs from Tweedbank railway station to the house and back. It is also possible to walk from Tweedbank if the weather is fine and you don't mind a country stroll. We swept in the gate and the car parking area is set out in clearly marked areas with hedges and good surfaced road. The accessible parking bays were the first we encountered and we parked in a bay closest to the gently sloping path that takes you down to the visitor centre. It was about 100m and fairly easy to get along - bit of a push going back up but with a hand from my accompanist we managed easily.

Access

It was a great experience from beginning to end. Visitors with mobility impairments need to be aware that it is a fair distance from the visitor centre to the house and whilst the paths are very good they are on an incline. It's a fabulous roll down to the house but you have to climb back up on the way back to the visitor centre. We took the view that we'd roll down to the house and gardens first. On the way back we would take the hill gently and in stages with a reward of coffee and cake once we made it to the visitor centre! The visitor centre was on two levels with a good sized lift serving both areas. Downstairs was the ticket area, the shop, and exhibition space; as well as the toilets. Upstairs was the cafe and a further accessible toilet. The house was fronted by a beautiful garden area and although the paths looked to be gravel they were a resin bonded gravel which was great to wheel over. The house has glass entrance doors and once inside you entered the hallway. A delight in itself with a host of curious things to behold. A warm welcome was given by the stewards and we were offered the audio guide sets with a choice of dramatised tour or a more factual one. I am not a fan of headsets so I opted to take the printed transcript which was fantastic. Our tour took us around the main rooms of the ground floor. All easy to wheel around and see everything. From the study where Walter Scott wrote much of his work through to the magnificent library housing a collection of curios second to none with locks of hair, religious artefacts, texts and so much more. Names like Nelson, Mary Queen of Scots, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' and Flora MacDonald to name but a few - all housed in an octagonal display table which was easy to wheel up to and see everything. The views from the low windows were fabulous - no peering up and over something here - as it was easy to see the beautiful gardens, the meadow and the River Tweed winding its way to the sea. The tour took us into the dining room with a massive table and beautiful china, a splendid bay window with amazing views and the feeling of history as this was Walter Scott's final resting place before passing away. We moved on to the anti chamber near the front hall where we imagined folk would sit and rest a while before going to meet Walter Scott. Again, amazing pictures and curios as well as beautiful stained glass with depictions of the Stirling Heads from Stirling Castle. Leaving the house we meandered along to the gardens. Here there are some steps but we found the wheelchair accessible route that runs along a well surfaced path parallel to the gardens where, at strategic points, you could wheel into the different levels of the garden. Once in the garden the paths were a little more rustic but perfectly fine for us to wheel along. We were rewarded with beautiful shrubbery, a kitchen plot, amazingly aromatic roses, and so much more. At the top you can sit a while and just look down across the walled gardens and the house nestling in the distance. After the gardens we took the path back to the visitor centre and from here we took one of the woodland paths. Nicely surfaced and offering some welcome shade on a blisteringly hot summer's day. Time for us to break out the picnic!

Toilets

The accessible toilet I used was in the visitor centre on the ground floor. It was clearly signposted, had a wide easy to slide door, plenty of space and was spotlessly clean. Just as things should be!

Staff

I'm only allowed to award five stars maximum but I'd have liked to have given two sets of five stars for our visit and the folk we met. The ladies on the desk at the visitor centre were fabulous - not phased by my usual question of how accessible the experience is for wheelchair users. They talked through the visitor journey, where the loos were, what we could see, and how the tickets worked. Finishing by giving us a handy map to plot our way! When we arrived at the house two cheery stewards met us. Explained how the tour route was accessible all the way through, the options for the audio guides and when I said I didn't 'get on' with audio guides offered a beautifully printed and easy to follow transcript for me to use. They were friendly, amusing and made such a big difference to our visit. Well done to team Abbotsford; particularly as all of these folk were volunteers!

Anything else you wish to tell us?

I enjoyed our visit immensely and will return again; as well as tell my friends what a great place it is to visit.

Photos