Crathes Castle

I've visited Crathes Castle many times before my accessibility issues and it really is a gem, if you have the ability to climb castle stairs. For those in wheelchairs, we are inevitably restricted to the ground floor of the tower. The lower areas of gardens, however, have a level access through a new, small wooden pavilion. During the summer they are a great, colourful place to spend time, with views of the castle as a backdrop. If you have a blue badge, drive past the car park and follow the disabled parking signs up the hill. Oh, yes the hill! While in my able-bodied days, I hardly noticed there was a hill, in a manual chair you, or your attendant will soon notice that the hill up from the castle to the ticket desk and café seems to be steeper than I remember! The disabled toilet is in the spacious cafe area. It's good, with the minor caveat that there is only one and the corridor is rather tight for any queuing space! Outside the airy cafe is an open air seating area, which, unfortunately, has gravel paths which the small wheels on my chair struggle to cope with.

The paths are mainly gravel, extremely steep and feature potholes. The path from the bus stop is also awful, resulting in me wheeling down a road for 20 minutes. The staff were lovely and gave me good and helpful information on the accessibility once I arrived, but I was unable to independently navigate the entire area and I'm an active manual wheelchair user with good upper body and core strength. The cafe is lovely and has the accessible toilet but unfortunately the paths to access it are all steep, uneven and risky for wheelchair users.

This is a beautiful castle, but very disappointing for wheelchair users. Disabled parking is at the top of a steep hill. Inside the castle only the downstairs is accessible, which is fine, I just wish we were told when we purchased our tickets. We were instructed to walk on the grass to the end of the green and along a muddy path to get to the walled garden as the normal entrance is being renovated. This was not a path the wheelchair was able to complete. I left my husband in his wheelchair and went to the garden by myself. There are sets of steps in the garden which makes it not accessible for a wheelchair. Again, I wish we were told about this, ideally before we purchased our tickets. We had a steep hill to go up in order to get back to the car, although an employee drove past us struggling up the hill and parked right in front of the castle, where there is no parking or drop off/pick up for disabled visitors. The lady working in the shop seemed rather annoyed by us asking about how to find the toilets since the cafe was closed and the staff all seemed rather annoyed that we were there.