Overview

I took my elderly mum to Bridgewater, it was somewhere we were really looking forward to visiting. Unfortunately all the disable parking bays were full when we arrived (mid/late morning), and we ended up parking a good walk away in the second carpark in order to get an end bay so wheelchair usage wasn't an issue at the end of the day. First stop was the female disabled toilet in the welcome centre. This building has won an architectural award, however the facilities fall woefully short of what I consider acceptable in a building only two years old. The toilet itself was miniscule and could barely fit a wheelchair user and carer. The door had a life of its own, swinging open and shut at will. A sign told us to "move back" but in such a tiny space there wasn't anywhere to move back to. I eventually grabbed the door, wrenched it shut and managed to bolt it before it decided to open again. This mechanism was obviously a replacement for however the door had originally functioned, and I dread to think how useless that was. (At the end of our visit, we waited for someone else to use the toilet and watched it swing back and forward as the poor person stood there hoping it would remain closed.) Once inside it became obvious that there was no way of telling from the outside whether anyone was inside or if the door was stuck. My poor mum became upset with the constant knocking and rattling by those outside, who appeared oblivious to me shouting that the toilet was occupied. It ended up by a staff member trying to free the door and alarms going off. We did have a pleasant walk around the site, which gains it a partial star, and the staff were pleasant. We visited the plant shop before leaving, thinking to buy some plants for our garden. The shop didn't have any trolleys to fit on my mum's wheelchair so we ended up leaving empty handed as we had no means of carrying anything. A very poor experience that we won't be repeating. It's almost unbelievable that this is a brand new site. It's made me rethink my RHS membership, and if I'd paid to go in I would have been seeking a refund.

Transport & Parking

Access

Toilets

Staff