Disabled Visitors
Disabled Visitors
Access
Most of the main areas of the gardens are accessible to wheelchairs and mobility scooters, with paths made of either tarmac or firm cycle path material – the 2 exceptions being the Cottage Garden, with a narrow bark path, and the Rock Garden, with a winding soft gravel path. Some peripheral and newer areas, such as the Conifer Garden, the lake and arboretum and the May Blossom Walk, can only be accessed over grass.
Entry Fee
Standard entry fees apply to all disabled visitors and carers.
Many other attractions, including all National Trust properties, RHS gardens and most stately homes such as Harewood House and Newby Hall, are registered charities able to claim Gift Aid on visitor entrance fees, which amounts to an extra 25% on income. Unlike these other attractions, Breezy Knees, as a small family business, not a charity, is unable to use any of this government subsidy towards giving free entry to either disabled visitors or their carers.
Furthermore, we wish to welcome as many disabled visitors as possible, and the best way of doing this is by making all new paths with tarmac. Unfortunately, this is much more expensive than traditional gravel and so, were we to allow free access, our ability to improve access this way would be greatly diminished. The latest improvement saw the upgrade from cycle path material to tarmac of 400m of paths around the lawned garden in 2023.
