Wednesday 29 April 2015

Wookey Hole Caves

This is going to be one of those rare blogs where unfortunately its not going to be praising the attraction.....far from it!

We decided one day that we would like to take the 2 disabled adults i support to Wookey Hole Caves - obviously we knew we wouldnt be able to go into the actual caves which isnt accessible but after a bit of research on their website we found out that the rest of the attraction was ok for wheelchairs......this turned out to be far from the truth sadly.

We arrived on the day after a long drive and got shown to the disabled parking spots - there are two parts to the car park. One bit up by the entrance with a couple of disabled spots and then a bit a couple of minutes walk away which is where we got directed, only we discovered on parking up that to gain access to the entrance we would have to go up a very steep hill - we asked for help from the staff who said no so in the end two random blokes came over to help us. Not a good start to the day.

We queued up to pay and got told where we could go with the wheelchairs and then made our way in - once again up another steep hill! Once in we headed to the gift shop where you cut through to the old style arcade but this was extremely difficult to get round as the floors seems quite uneven and nothing was sign posted so we got lost a couple of times and walked round in circles. Staff said they would show us around but this never happened.

After wandering round lost for ages we started to get hungry so headed to the courtyard area where they had a 'restaurant' but before we could enter that area we had to go across a rough and uneven road which was very difficult. Once inside we ordered our food which can only be described as school canteen food....I had jumbo sausage and chips and it was cold and rather tasteless. The people i support picked at their food and said they wasnt enjoying it so we gave up.

The bit we did enjoy though was the Wookey Hole Circus -  they made sure we had good seats right at the front and it was very entertaining! They got loads of people in the audience involved and at the end there was a chance to have your photo taken with the Wookey Hole Witch.

After we saw the circus we headed to the gift shop and then realized there wasnt much else we could see. By this point everyone was fed up and we felt like we hadnt got our moneys worth so we asked to speak to the manager to ask for a refund. The manager was reluctant at first - it was only when a older couple came over and said they had over heard our conversation and said they had had difficulty too and the website wasnt correct that we eventually got our refund.

We all went home that day feeling very deflated and the people i support were upset about their experience. 
I wrote to the manager after our visit to ask them to change the website and to tell them how disappointed we were but we just got the usual generic response. Ive checked the website since and i cant see any accessibility information on there anymore apart from about a bit blue badge holders paying less. If we hadnt of asked for a refund we would have spent quite a lot of money to see a circus and to go in the gift shop.....

**If you are thinking about visiting Wookey Hole and use a wheelchair or have difficulty walking i really recommend you to think carefully about your trip there in order to avoid disappointment. **


Photo credits: tripadvisor / heart / fiveringcircus


Mummascribbles

3 comments:

  1. How rubbish and what a disappointment for M & M! You won't be going there again in a hurry then! x

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  2. How unfortunate that they were so unaccommodating! You would think that the manager would take the feedback and do something about it! I feel so bad for both you and those you support. Thanks for linking up at #TwinklyTuesday.

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    1. Yeah it was so disheartening to know the staff really didn't want to help! We won't be going back

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