Overview

Level access garden centre with childrens play park outside that you pay to visit.

Transport & Parking

Due to not not being from Brechin I don’t know anything about the public transport nerby however,there are plenty of disabled blue badge parking spaces available beside the entrance of Brechin Castle Garden Centre. I’d say about 7 or 8 parking spaces in total.

Access

There are 2 entrances to enter Brechin Castle Garden Centre, the main one where you can enter or exit the gift shop area and they’ve opened another entrance through the back of the garden plant area which I think they have opened to reduce crowds during the pandemic. Each entrance is level access but I felt the ground was a little bumpy whilst going around the back near the garden plants. Outside in the garden section I found the width of the aisles to be okay for my wheelchair however, inside in certain areas the aisles were quite difficult to get around. Especially in one section where more fragile items were on sale including candle holders, lanterns and vases. I didn’t buy anything whilst I was there so I cannot comment on the height of the tills. I visited the café whilst at Brechin Castle Garden Centre, it was my first time eating out since the second lockdown and I was a little nervous. We sat outside though, the tables were nicely spaced out and at a good height for a wheelchair user. You have to go through the inside of the café to get outside so I noticed that the tables were also nicely spaced out inside. I can’t comment on the height of the till in the café either as my parents paid and I can’t fully remember what the height of the counters were selling cakes, but I do remember being able to see the cakes so it must have been at an alright for my wheelchair.

Toilets

I’m not sure how many accessible toilets there are but I saw one just across from the food court area. It was beside the the male and female toilets. The accessible toilet was a decent size and a wheelchair user and someone to assist them would be able to fit in however, if you need to transfer from the left side of the toilet you would struggle as the toilet is closer to the wall at that side. See photo below. Also I didn’t see an emergency red cord hanging down and there was a big black bin in the accessible toilet taking up a lot of space, a smaller bin would make it easier for customers to move around and transfer from the right side of the toilet if they needed to.

Staff

I didn’t interact with any staff whilst visiting so cannot comment in this section.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

As I mentioned above there were two entrances to Brechin Castle Garden Centre which I’m presuming is to help with social distancing. There wer some arrows on the ground but I didn’t notice too many as I struggle to see the ground if I position my wheelchair tilted more back. In the café all their cakes were individually wrapped in plastic packaging and I was really impressed that their cutlery was also individually wrapped so other customers aren’t touching the actual cutlery. Track and trace was available to do by scanning a QR code or you were also able to do it by filling in a piece of paper, a table of the paper and a box to put it in was positioned as you enter the café. I did feel COVID confident whilst visiting Brechin Castle Garden Centre but it was difficult to social distance in some areas where the aisles were very narrow and someone was coming towards you.

Photos