We began with a small but meaningful step: converting a dressing room at the end of the public toilets into an accessible toilet. It may have seemed like a modest change, but to us it mattered greatly. We even chose to install a full-length mirror positioned for someone seated, because we felt that perspective was the most important one in that space.

Later, we turned our attention to a former bedroom that had been used as a tool room and paint storage room. When the time came to renovate it, we discovered the floor was in very poor condition. That gave us the opportunity to create an accessible bedroom and bathroom with an open wet-room design and a completely new floor. We decorated it in keeping with the other ground floor rooms, while adding some beautiful timber details above the shower and as a hanging rail, using wood recycled from another room in the château. A mirror with a timber shelf completed the look.

Of course, renovations do not always go smoothly, and as we had no previous experience creating a space like this, we made a few important mistakes. We did not leave enough space beside the toilet for a wheelchair, and the floor was not laid with enough slope for the drainage and underfloor pipework to work properly. So, in winter 2025, we planned to reposition the toilet and relay much of the floor to correct both the slope and the drainage. It was not the result we had hoped for, but accessibility remains a passion of ours, and we are determined to keep improving until we get it right.

The next major step was making access into the château itself more comfortable. After welcoming a guest who used a wheelchair, and seeing firsthand how difficult it was to help him up and down the stairs, we made the significant decision to install a wheelchair lift. The lift connects the ground floor at the front of the château to the ground level at the back. Because the land falls differently on each side of the house, reaching the river terrace always involved stairs no matter which way guests entered. In the end, we chose the main kitchen door as the most practical accessible entrance, allowing guests to use the lift easily from the car park and then reach breakfast service and the barn for celebrations.

That lift has made an enormous difference to many of our guests, and it is an investment we have never once questioned.

Our next accessibility goals are to stabilise the path to the pool and to improve the gravel on the river terrace, either by paving it or making it more stable for wheelchairs and reduced mobility. These are both major projects that we are saving for, and we hope to raise support through crowdfunding in the future.

The joy it brings our guests to be able to join loved ones for private celebrations or public events brings us enormous joy too, and it is what keeps us committed to continuing this important work.