Overview

Our visit was much better than we expected. Many people who know Durham well had told me it would be impossible to get their by wheelchair because the hill is so steep. In theory, you can drive up but we wanted to visit the whole city, not just the cathedral. Much of the city is cobbled so we took my mountain trike. Hubby helped push on the steepest bit but I could've managed without help if I'd had to. When we got there, we felt it was well worth the effort.

Transport & Parking

If you drive to the cathedral, you have to enter the Charging Zone. This is £2 per day and must be paid by 6pm. You can apply for exemption if you are a blue badge holder but we didn't know that in advance. We parked at Prince Bishop car park. Accessible parking is on level 1 and there are lifts to the street level (S). The lifts weren't huge and my trike is bigger than a normal chair so it was pretty tight. The route up through town was mostly easy, except for the last stretch which was steep and cobbled. There are buses that go up too but we didn't try that.

Access

Much of the cathedral is accessible. There are ramps to access most areas and just a couple of parts which have steps. Considering the age of the building and its layout, I think they have done a very good job. The cafe and toilets are via a lift and several automatic doors. The cafe was well laid out and we enjoyed lunch there. We took the outside route back to avoid the lift (which is quite small for my trike) but it was a long way round and by the time we got back to the front, we decided we'd seen everything anyway, and went down the steep hill back into town.

Toilets

It was a bit of a trek to get to the toilets and it wasn't big enough for my trike. Fortunately, I can manage a few steps so left my trike outside. Grab rails and layout were fine. If I'd used my normal chair it would have been easy.

Staff

All staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful! The guides seemed to pop out of nowhere and were full of knowledge and information.

Photos