Venue Description

The Museum of Carpet is based in Kidderminster, the Woven Carpet Capital of the World. A centre of heritage, art and industry, we celebrate the history of carpet weaving and Kidderminster’s global contribution. Once a thriving carpet factory, Stour Vale Mill, is now home to the Museum of Carpet. The Museum galleries tell the story of the carpet industry from its roots in the 18th century to modern times. Production processes are brought to life as skilled volunteers carry out demonstrations on our original power looms. Hand loom weaving volunteers demonstrate the carpet’s early craft skills roots, producing beautiful hand-made goods for sale in the Museum gift shop. There are a wide range of interactive exhibits, films and audios throughout the galleries providing further insights into the industry.

Accessibility

The Museum of Carpet building has two floors: the ground floor contains the public exhibition space and the first floor offices and rooms for hire. The main entrance is a glass double-panel automatic sliding door. All of the ground floor is on level access with no steps or ramps. Access to all the exhibition spaces is through open archways, with doors to the lift and toilets. All areas on the ground floor have minimum of 800mm clearance with most areas having at least 1000mm gap. The lift is on the left hand side of the reception area through a door of width 1020mm and is a Schindler width 900mm and length 1430mm. Inside the lift all the buttons are raised and light up red when pressed. A bell sounds when the doors open and close, and when the lift changes floor. The Museum has an audio loop throughout its galleries, audio videos in three galleries with large print transcriptions attached and plenty of objects for touching and/or handling. The volunteer demonstrators can give talks about the hand and power looms to blind/partially sighted visitors. Introductory information is available in French, Polish and Bangladeshi.

Accessibility Guide

Accessibility Guide Link: https://www.accessibilityguides.org/content/museum-carpet

Toilets

There are disabled toilets on both floors, with door width 870mm. Both toilets have grab rails and easy turn locks.

Staff

The Museum staff and volunteers do not have any specialist disability training

Assistance dog facilities

Assistance dog exercise facilities

The Museum's back yard is the only area within walking distance that would be suitable for exercising assistance dogs (The Museum is in the middle of Kidderminster with heavy traffic flow).

Other assistance dog facilities

We can offer assistance dogs a drinking bowl.