Westonbirt Arboretum had been on my wish list of places to visit for a long, nearly 30 years! And this year we finally made it! And it was worth the wait to.
Westonbirt is located in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, a 45 minute drive from Gloucester. We decided to have lunch first, which arrived very quickly. I ordered a smoked salmon rillette, with bread and watercress salad.
After lunch we headed off to the Tree Top Bridge. The views were amazing, as the name suggests we were in the tops of the trees, a completely different perspective. This is completely accessible.
We then wondered around the Old Arboretum. This is where you would go to see the Autumn colour. There were acers, rhonderdendrum trees which were really beautiful, a rich pink. We also saw Red Wood Trees and blossom. We were treated to carpets of bluebells too which came as a nice surprise and a camellia bush.
We didn’t have time to visit the gift shop (a first for me, I love a gift shop!) but from the outside there were lots of plants for sale, which was very tempting.
The staff were very friendly and accommodating, even storing my powerchair securely while I used their tramper. I was very impressed with their tramper. They have 11 for hire. The steering is very easy as you don’t have to twist the handle bars and that makes it much easier for your hands. There is a basket for your bags. You cannot take the tramper into the cafe, you can only eat outside.
Paths
The paths were accessible using a tramper or your own powerchair. The paths was compacted with a sprinkling of gravel
Blue Badge Parking
There was ample blue badge parking. There were spaces at the entrance or further back in the second car park, which is where we parked. Parking was free
Loose
I found three accessible loos, two by the cafe and one at the main entrance. Both were very spacious.
Cafe
The entrance to the cafe was hard gravel but lose and easy access into the cafe. Your not allowed to take your tramper into the cafe, your only allowed to use it in the outside seating area. We had lunch first in my own powerchair so I could eat inside and then we went to pick up the tramper. There was lots of room inside the cafe
Benches
There were benches dotted throughout the park. I lost count as to how many there were. Some in the bluebells areas or by the red wood trees. There are some lovely spots to take a breather and breath in the nature.
