A guide for visitors who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters and those with mobility issues.
Glastonbury Town – Access All Areas?
Glastonbury proudly boasts of being a centre of ‘Unity Through Diversity’. When it comes to points of view, particularly where they concern religion or spirituality, the community is very accommodating. However, I’ve been finding out how the town is perceived by those whose diversity comes in the form of differing physical abilities. Sadly, it seems we are not scoring very highly, with wheelchair users in particular. A lot of the town’s charm comes from its mediaeval buildings, narrow cobbled alleyways and small independent shops, but sadly these, plus the proliferation of A-boards on the pavements, make it hard to navigate for anyone with a mobility issue.
Back in 2019, I was around at Abbot’s Leigh, when it first opened up as a B&B, Mary-Liz showed me around the wheelchair-friendly bedroom and accessible bathroom they’d installed which gave me the idea of compiling a guide to accessible Glastonbury. I was surprised to find that one didn’t exist already, then I was further surprised to find out how few places in the town were accessible. I put a shout-out on the Normal For Glastonbury Facebook page which gave me a few leads for shops, accommodation, cafes etc, but also revealed that many people were put off from coming to the town by poor accessibility.
Consequently, I started compiling this guide, then Covid came along, and the world turned upside down. Since then, It seems that awareness of accessibility has improved. I suspect that part of the reason for this is the growing visibility of disabled people. Improvements in battery and electric vehicle technology have seen mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs proliferate in our streets, giving their users freedom and independence.I’m also receiving more messages from disabled visitors asking for recommendations, so I’ve decided it’s time to publish this post. I’m aware there is much more to say and plan to add to it as I come across more accessible facilities.
I hope this post encourages everyone to think about the needs of visitors and residents with reduced mobility and do what they can to accommodate them.
Accessibility Overview
Glastonbury is quite a small town built up around the Abbey, with most of the attractions fairly close together. Most of the buildings are old, some medieval, few of these have been adapted for wheelchair users. The High Street is about 400 metres long with a slight incline. The kerbs are very high in places so you need to look out for dropped kerbs to cross from one side to another. The Town’s pedestrianised area, around the Market Cross and the start of Northload Street is easy to get around, so the pubs and cafes in this area benefit from the patronage of disabled visitors and locals. Magdalene Street where you will find the entrance to the Abbey and the Town Hall and several cafes, benefits from wide pavements. For those who can walk short distances, there are benches dotted around the town, but not nearly enough of them! The great thing about Glastonbury is that people are generally very kind, helpful and accommodating, if you need help, just ask.
Euan’s Guide is a good first stop for finding accessible places in Glastonbury, but please note that it includes reviews for places that are no longer open. Glastonbury Information Centre have put together a basic guide to accessibility, which includes information on getting to the town by public transport:,
Have a look at the Visit Somerset website as well – it is accessible now with hearing loops and site aided format.
If you are coming to Glastonbury for an event, or on a sunny weekend in the school holidays, please note that the town can become very full, even when the High Street is closed to traffic for an event there is often not much space to move around.
Accessible Parking and Toilets
It’s generally possible to park nearby to shops, cafes and attractions in Glastonbury, either in a disabled parking space on the town’s car parks or, with a Blue Badge on double yellow lines for up to 3 hours. If you are doing this please consider other disabled people and do not park blocking dropped kerbs!
St Dunstan’s car park in Magdalene Street offers free parking for blue badge holders. There is an accessible toilet adjacent.
St John’s Car Park.free Blue Badge Parking and disabled parking spaces. Disabled toilets including a Changing Places toilet
Mobility Scooter and Wheelchair Hire
You can hire mobility scooters from Mendip Mobility in Street, which is about 2 miles away from Glastonbury. They cost £10 per day. You can get a small one that you can put in the boot of the car (if you have one) or a big Class 3 one that you could drive back from Street (it’s a busy road but with pavement down the whole length of it and crossings). Or you can pay them to deliver to Glastonbury, which would be an extra £25 on the total hire price. More info and wheelchair hire info here: https://www.mendipmobility.co.uk/hire/
Accommodation in and around Glastonbury
I could only find one accommodation provider advertising wheelchair-accessible rooms right in the centre of town and that is Abbots Leigh, ideally located in the centre of Glastonbury (next to the current Abbey entrance) they have a ground-floor wheelchair-accessible room with a fully accessible shower and toilet. Email them at contact@abbotsleigh.co for the availability of their Accessible Garden Double / Twin room with the dates you are interested in and your contact details. As with all accommodation providers in the town please book direct when you can.
Old Oaks Camping and Glamping Site (adults only) has accessible accommodation and facilities available.
Middlewick Holiday Cottages are a short drive from the town, but have their own cafe, farm shop and spa. Owner Jill told me “We have had wheelchairs stay with us as long as they have helpers to push them across the gravel paths. Many of our cottages are on one level with showers with grab rails. We are a nice safe place for families to stay with children with autism or Aspergers. We have had families stay with elderly parents and they bring carers in to help them while on holiday”. See their Access Statement.
Double-Gate Farm B&B & Tea Rooms tell me they are well known for their accessible accommodation, I hear their food is pretty great too! They can be found a few miles outside Glastonbury at Godney. Their accessible cottage, Swallow Barn sleeps 6.
Premier Inn Glastonbury hotel and the Travelodge Glastonbury have wheelchair-accessible rooms. They are located on the outskirts of town.
Places to Visit in Glastonbury with Accessibility
Glastonbury Abbey has very good access for wheelchair and mobility scooter users, the outdoor cafe is accessible and there are disabled toilets. They have a comprehensive Access Statement.
Somerset Rural Life Museum is very accessible, see their accessibility information.
Churches: St Benedicts is fully accessible for events, soup lunch etc as is St Johns. Both of these churches offer a programme of music and other events.
Chalice Well has disabled parking spaces and a mobility scooter available. “Please be aware that we have areas with uneven terrain, cobbled paths and steps. The gatehouse at the entrance to the garden is up a cobbled path which is steep in places. If the slope is too steep, call into the office and we can arrange access via a level route. Most areas of the garden are accessible with a wheelchair (a motorised buggy is available upon request)”.
St. Margaret’s Chapel & Magdalene Almshouses told me: “We have a ramp to get you down the path. Small step into chapel – maybe 1-2 inches that most wheelchairs manage. All the almshouses have a low step and door frame but the tricky bit is the width of the doors”. I visited the Chapel with Jon and we found that the ramp is OK for a wheelchair but getting a Class 3 mobility scooter around the corner onto the ramp is tricky, particularly as the pavement is very narrow there and the road is busy.
Other Accessible Attractions
Glastonbury Mural Trail
The art on The Glastonbury Mural Trail, is available for everyone to enjoy, it’s fairly spread out around the town but users of powered wheelchairs or scooters should be able to appreciate it with ease.
The Red Brick Building
Venue and art space on the outskirts of town with a bar and restaurant. They gave me this access statement:
Level/wheelchair-friendly access via the front door, with non-restricted access through to the restaurant, Event Space and Morland Room. External ramp at the front of the building, leading to alternative entrances to the Event Space and Morland Room. Disabled toilets on the ground floor (part of The Old Tannery restaurant). Lift from the ground floor to the first floor (the lift is large enough to accommodate both a wheelchair user and a carer), which leads to our office spaces and one of our hot desking offices.
On the first floor, there are a few steps to go down in order to access our Studio (one of our public hire rooms), our Artisan Studio and our second hot desking office. However, there is a stairlift on these steps, which can accommodate a wheelchair. We have an Evacuation Chair, situated on the first floor, to assist with anyone with mobility issues during a fire. All three of our public hire rooms (Event Space, Morland Room and Studio) are fitted with Hearing Loops.
On a related and slightly more general note, we pride ourselves on being welcoming and supportive to all members of the community, and warmly welcome those with learning difficulties and mental health issues. In the past, we have held support and wellbeing groups (both publicly and privately) for people with learning difficulties, and we hope to be able to provide more of these in the future, as funding allows. We have a fortnightly therapeutic gardening group in our Community Garden for people with mental health issues. This is run by Seed of Hope and you can find more info here: https://redbrickbuilding.co.uk/at-the-rbb/seed-of-hope/
The Glastonbury Way
A partially accessible 7.5 mile Pilgrimage Walk around Glastonbury and its sacred sites.
“We want as many people as possible to enjoy the Way. The working group for the project has dedicated time, thought and funding to improving the route to make it as accessible as possible within the limitations of the existing terrain. Stiles have been replaced with kissing gates, and stone tracks laid where previously there was deep mud. Although the physical access will be greatly improved, the hills of Glastonbury and the off-road nature of much of the Glastonbury Way means that wheelchair access remains a challenge on some of the route.
From the beginning of this project, we would like to have done more on accessibility and have done as much as was feasible within the funds and the short timescale available. We are aware that more still needs to be done to improve accessibility for different groups of people still not catered for sufficiently. To that end, we are planning identification of routes with greater accessibility and to produce a map with the most accessible public spaces, and most accessible routes”. Find out more here.
Local Nature Reserve Access
The wonderful thing about the Somerset Levels where Glastonbury is situated, is that they are largely level! Consequently, accessibility is good for the local nature reserves.
Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve (Somerset) – details of accessible trails and facilities
Ham Wall Reserve (RSPB) – Access is via the public footpath, or the main track which follows the old Glastonbury to Highbridge railway line. The old railway line leads to viewing areas, walkways (approximately 360 m), tactile signs and handrails, all accessible by wheelchair users. Additional trails on rougher terrain extend to cover 3.6 miles (5.8 km).
Greylake Reserve (RSPB) – Car park has two disabled parking bays with wheelchair-ramp access to the viewing platform and access to the reserve’s boardwalk trail and hide.
Westhay Moor NNR (Somerset Wildlife Trust) – Two of the four bird-watching hides have wheelchair access via an easy access trail and boardwalk.
Clarks Village
Clarks shopping village is in neighbouring Street, just a couple of miles from Glastonbury. It’s a modern purpose-built outlet shopping village with cafes and restaurants and excellent accessibility. It’s all big names but it’s ideal if you need to do more ordinary shopping than what’s on offer in Glastonbury’s quirky and independent High Street. They offer free mobility scooters for hire too. See their accessibility statement here.
Shops
As you’d expect, some shops are more accessible than others, here’s some that disbaled readers of the blog have recommended:
Linda Ravenscroft’s shop The Mystic Garden Gallery shop is wheelchair accessible (due to having been adapted when it was a bank)
The White Rabbit Shop gets two very positive reviews for accessibility and overall helpfullness on Euan’s Guide https://www.euansguide.com/venues/white-rabbit-glastonbury-10132.
The shops in the Glastonbury Experience Courtyard are all accessible. Stoneage is totally wheelchair accessible, wide door, level flooring and laid out to enable a wheelchair to manoeuvre with ease.
The Gauntlet Parade is wheelchair accessible from St John’s car park, but then there are a couple of steps down to the shops at the High Street end. These shops can be accessed from the High Street! All of the shops in the Gauntlet are tiny however
The Co-op in the High Street is accessible, you can even squeeze a mobility scooter down the aisles. Morrisons supermarket have a mobility scooter you can use in the store if you phone ahead.
Proper Job is very accessible, should you need household items
Earthfare, the wholefood shop, allow back door access via the rear car park in Butt Close and are very helpful.
Children’s Hospice South West is very accessible – they also have an accessible changing room
Cafes and Restaurants
Coffee Zero in the High Street has good accessibility and a good-sized disabled toilet.
The Queen of Cups is an old building but can be accessed and navigated in a wheelchair and the staff are very helpful, They do not have a disabled toilet.
I hear that the Hundred Monkeys Cafe is accessible.
Knights fish and chip shop, accessible from side alley, knock on window for access (they plan on installing a doorbell)
Fara is accessible from the entrance in their large garden, they have a disabled toilet.
Double-Gate Farm B&B & Tea Rooms just outside Glastonbury at Godney, which is a quaint vlllage on the Somerset Levels.
Middlewick Cafe and Farm Shop on the outskirts of Glastonbury offer accessible access. They have 2 Disabled Car Parking spaces, an unloading area with ramp as well as a disabled toilet. They also do their best to accommodate dietary requirements.
Event Venues and Pubs
The Crown has very good accessibility on the ground floor and a disabled toilet making it good for a pint and food.
The Beckets is the only entry on the Accessible Countryside website for an accessible pub in Glastonbury. Sadly they don’t serve food, but they do let you take your own in and provide plates and cutlery. http://www.accessiblecountryside.org.uk/somerset-pubs#Glastonbury
The Town Hall has disabled access to both it’s event rooms, they have a lift
The Avalon Centre in King Street is accessible – making it a good place to hire for workshops and rituals.
The George and Pilgrim is partially accessible, but the rear outside seating area is cobbled and the toilets are not wheelchair accessible. The Rifleman’s Pub has a large outdoor seating area which is partially accessible, but steps to get into the pub and the toilets are tiny. The King Arthur is similarly hard to navigate in a wheelchair.
A quick mention of places with poor accessibility….
I’m not out to shame anyone here, I know many organisations would love to make their attractions accessible, but the age of the buildings, planning constraints and lack of funds preclude this from happening. If you’re determined you can gain access to most places with help, I know of several wheelchair users who have even managed to ascend the Tor. I hope to see accessibility being prioritized in the future so everyone gets to enjoy the Town.
Unfortunately one of Glastonbury’s main attractions, Glastonbury Tor, has very limited accessibility. From the National Trust website: “There is no parking at the Tor. The nearest fee-paying car park is at Draper and Co on Chilkwell Street (a two-minute walk). Mobility parking for Blue and Orange Badge-holders only in Stonedown Lane. The paths up to the top of the Tor are concrete with a bench halfway”.
The Assembly Rooms is a Victorian building with the only access being via steep flights of steps, they are seriously looking into getting the funding for a lift, but as a community-owned building they simply haven’t had the funds up to now.
The Glastonbury Laske Village Museum (known as the Tribunal) has no access for wheelchairs. To be honest it’s difficult to see how this medieval building could be made fully accessible. I was asked to take the photograph on the right by a wheelchair user who was determined to get a look inside, despite the considerable difficulty of accessing the building.
Thank you Abbot’s Leigh!
Thank you to Abbots Leigh B&B for sponsoring this post. This was particularly kind as it was their accessible accomodation that set me off thinking about what facilities there were for wheelchair users in the town. If you’ve found this post helpful, or you want to support me to put food on my table while I write about other issues in the town, please see my Support Me page. Also, if there are issues you’d like me to write about please get in touch.
Get in Touch
I hope you find this information useful, but please make your own enquiries before visiting and when making bookings to ensure that places can accommodate your specific needs. Also, things change quickly in town so if you spot an error or omission please let me know so I can update this guide. I’d be very interested to hear about your experience of accessibility in the Town and suggestions for how it might be improved, please leave a comment or email me. If you are a local accessible business and I’ve left you out of this guide please let me know.
Disclaimer: I’ve researched and written this piece in good faith and to be helpful. I cannot be held responsible If any of this information is incorrect or you have a bad experience as a disabled visitor.
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