Access guide

This guide was written by the Trust’s staff and volunteers with help from visitors who use wheelchairs and visitors with sight and hearing loss, and was last checked in March 2026. If you have a question it does not answer, please call the museum desk on 01632 960184 or email museum@vengerberg.org.

Arriving

• Blue badge parking: 4 bays in the Sheep Street car park, 50 metres from the museum on a level pavement, and 6 in the Market Square (not on Thursdays before 16.00).
• Set-down: cars can stop briefly outside the museum on Sheep Street, where there is a dropped kerb opposite the gate.
• The pavement on Sheep Street is level, with one slight cross-fall outside number 10.

Entrances

The main door on Sheep Street has a single step of 140 mm and a heavy oak door, which is held open in opening hours. The step-free entrance is through the gate to the left of the building (as you face it), along a level paved path of 18 metres, and up a ramp with a gradient of 1 in 14 and handrails on both sides to a door into the foyer. The door is 900 mm wide and has a bell; a volunteer will open it.

Inside: the ground floor

• The foyer, the shop, the visitor information point, the Market Town gallery, the River and Mill gallery and the Old Schoolroom are all on the ground floor and step-free.
• The narrowest doorway, into the Old Schoolroom, is 840 mm.
• Floors are stone flags, smooth but uneven in places, and timber in the Old Schoolroom.
• Lighting is low in parts of the River and Mill gallery to protect the objects.
• There are seats in every gallery, and folding stools to borrow at the desk.

The first floor

The Lilac Room and the Upper Gallery are up a staircase of fourteen steps, with handrails on both sides and a half-landing with a seat after the eighth step. There is no lift and, because the building is listed, we have not been able to install one. A tablet in the foyer has a virtual tour of both rooms, with every case and label, and we can bring the most-asked-for objects from the Lilac Room down to the foyer by arrangement.

Toilets

The accessible toilet is on the ground floor, off the foyer. It has a lateral transfer space on the right, grab rails, an emergency pull cord and a baby-changing table. The door is 900 mm wide. There is no changing places toilet in the town; the nearest is at the leisure centre in the county town.

Seeing and hearing

• Large-print guides to every gallery are at the desk, and a large-print version of the Lilac Walk.
• Gallery labels are at least 16 point; most cases are lit.
• Some objects in the Market Town gallery and the Old Schoolroom can be handled; ask a volunteer.
• There is a hearing loop at the desk and in the Old Schoolroom.
• The recording of the Flood Bell in River and Mill plays only when the button is pressed.
• We do not currently offer tours in British Sign Language. We can arrange a guided visit with a volunteer who will write down questions and answers if that would help.

Quiet times

The museum is usually quietest on Thursday and Friday afternoons outside school holidays, and on Sunday afternoons in winter. The galleries have no music or background sound.

Assistance dogs

Assistance dogs are welcome in every part of the museum. There is a water bowl by the garden gate.

Carers and companions

Admission is free for everyone. Carers are free on guided walks and at talks.

Around the town

The Market Square, High Street and Church Walk are step-free, with dropped kerbs at most crossings. The Town Bridge has a narrow pavement on the downstream side only. The Lilac Walk is step-free throughout, and the Town Trail has step-free alternatives at each stop. St Laurence’s Church has a ramp at the south porch.

At the Lilac Fair there is a quiet area in the museum garden, accessible toilets in the Market Square and the museum, and blue badge parking in the Riverside car park. High Street is closed to traffic on both days.

For the accessibility of this website, see Website accessibility.