Overview

The Ashmolean Museum is is the University of Oxford’s largest museum. The museum is very accessible throughout and has a fascinating collection. This is a review of my visit to see the Colour Revolution, Victorian Art, Fashion and Design which is on until 18 February 2024. The exhibition traces the development of new colour pigments and how their use in fabrics, clothing, paintings, stained glass, wallpaper and object d' art impacted on Victorian fashions. The exhibition is fascinating and bright. The exhibition can be enjoyed for its insight and knowledge or you can just enjoy the beautiful, colourful objects. I loved the exhibition. I also visited their excellent rooftop restaurant during my visit.

Transport & Parking

I took a train from London to Oxford Railway Station. The journey time is about an hour and the service is very frequent. In the station's forecourt there are some bus stops. Go to stand R5 and take either the S7 towards Witney or S3 Gold towards Chipping Norton. It is only 3 stops to Magdalen Street Stop C4. It takes about five minutes. When you get off the bus, turn right and directly in front of you is a crossing and the museum is on the opposite side of the road. Please note on the way back you will have to walk a little further to pick up the bus back to the station. The nearest stop is in George Street. I walked back to the station. It is a level walk but there is no where to sit apart from when you get close to the station. I had to stop a few times and it took me about 20-30 minutes to get back, but I walk slowly and rest regularly.

Access

The main entrance to the museum is on Beaumont Street. There is a short flight of stairs with a handrail or a ramp for step free access. At the entrance there is a revolving door and on either side are push button doors. The museum is step free. There are lifts but they are very small, holding about 4 people. They get very busy and you do have to wait a while for the lift to come. Alternatively there are stairs with handrails. When I arrived I took the lift to the 4th floor rooftop restaurant. The restaurant was pretty busy but I was able to get a seat without having to wait. As I am clinically vulnerable and it was a nice day I sat on the terrace outside. The door to the terrace was open. There are very nice views of the museum's roof top and the adjacent buildings. The tables and chairs are all free standing both inside and outside. Afterwards I went to the Colour Revolution exhibition on the third floor. The exhibition is step free and the areas surrounding the objects and display cabinets are spacious. The exhibition is open plan, so the only door is the exit, which is a manual one. The flooring is wooden and flat throughout. Access from one gallery into the next are wide, smooth and with no change in level. There were only 3 benches in the entire exhibition. Sometime I had to wait longer than I needed to come across a bench. None of the benches had back support and only one had a single arm to transfer with. One was tucked away in a corner and was hard to spot until you came across it. What would be helpful was if there were more benches including some with back support and arms and if there was a map which identified the location of the seating, so disabled people could better pace themselves. Each of the galleries had its own large print guide at the entrance to that space. There is also an audio guide that can be downloaded.

Toilets

There are accessible toilets but not on every floor. I used a couple of the toilets. They were spacious, clean, tidy and well maintained. There were grab rails and emergency cord reached to the floor.

Staff

Staff were very helpful and friendly. I had excellent service in the restaurant, even though at one point I was the only person on the outside terrace, the waiters did not forget about me. In the exhibition I had a brief chat with the woman on the ticket desk about the exhibition. When I was going round Vlasta, one of the exhibition staff, noticed I was sitting down and came over to check if I was ok. Fabulous, proactive customer service. This lead to a nice chat about the exhibition and also its accessibility.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Thank you to everyone involved. This was such an enjoyable day out. I learnt so much but I was also taken by all the pretty objects. It was certainly worth travelling to. Access is excellent and staff are very helpful. The exhibition and restaurant were both wonderful and highly recommend a visit.

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