Accessibility at Paxton House

The Paxton Trust is committed to making our house and grounds as accessible as possible to everyone. Here you can find information about our accessible facilities and resources to help you plan your visit.

Our Ongoing Commitment

Our ongoing commitment is to make our buildings, services and visitor programmes as accessible and inclusive as possible, removing and reducing barriers to visiting us where we can.

Our staff undergo training to enhance awareness of visitors’ diverse access requirements and are here to support you. Please get in touch if you have any specific queries about accessibility. After your visit, please share feedback about your experience so that we can continue to improve our accessibility services and facilities.

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Getting Here

Paxton House can be reached by public and private transport. Our car park has two designated disabled spaces located close to the visitor reception. The car park is hard surface with paved flagstones to the shop. Access to the reception, gift shop, Stables Tearoom, courtyard and toilets is level.

If visiting the house, please notify our team in advance, where possible. A lift is available to access the main reception floor or the house and our trained guides will escort you to the Entrance Hall to begin your tour. The first floor (bedroom floor) of the house is currently only accessible via staircases due to our Grade A listed status. There is a video tour of the bedrooms with an audio description and subtitles which can be viewed from the main reception floor. We try to make all our exhibitions and events accessible to as many people as possible but access may vary. Please get in touch if you need specific accessibility information for an event.

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Getting Around

There is step-free access to the courtyard, toilets, Stables Tearoom and the gift shop. Please bear in mind that some of the ground is paved with flagstones which may not be perfectly flat. Access to the Georgian Kitchen is level but across gravel and some flagstones.

We have a lift to the main reception floor of Paxton House. Access to Paxton House is by live guided tour. Contact us to pre-book an accessible tour led by a trained guide which will include an audio description and objects which can be touched, held and, for herbs and spices in the Georgian Kitchen, smelled.

We have an accessible toilet on the ground floor next to the courtyard.

If your wheelchair or mobility device is 75cm or wider, access to certain areas may be limited. Please contact us to help us plan your visit.

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Assistance Animals

You are welcome to bring an assistance animal, recognised as being a companion without whose support a visitor would not otherwise be able to participate in a visit, to Paxton House. No other animals are permitted in the historic building. Dogs on leads and assistance animals are welcome in the Stables Tearoom, gift shop, courtyard, toilets and throughout the grounds and gardens.

In order to protect our collections and for everyone’s safety and comfort, we politely ask you to observe our guidelines. Your assistance animal should remain under your control throughout your visit, ideally on a lead, and can only eat or drink in certain spaces as directed by our staff. We provide drinking bowls in permitted areas.

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Visual Access

Our interpretation labels are large print with a minimum of 16 point size. You can borrow a magnifying glass from the gift shop. We subtitle and provide transcripts of all audiovisual content in exhibitions. In cases where we cannot use subtitles, we will provide large print transcripts. We have an audio-visual tour of the bedroom floor of Paxton House as this area can only be reached by stairs. We have a virtual tour of the house focusing on transatlantic slavery connections and the Sugar and Slavery Trail.

If visiting the house, please notify our team in advance, where possible, so that we can greet you. A lift is available to access the main reception floor or the House and our trained guides will escort you to the Entrance Hall to begin your tour. The first floor of the house is currently only accessible via staircases due to our Grade A listed status. There is a video tour of the bedrooms with an audio description and subtitles which can be viewed from the main reception floor. We try to make all our exhibitions and events accessible to as many people as possible but access may vary. Please get in touch if you need specific accessibility information for an event.

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Neurodivergent and Sensory Access

Paxton House is in the rural Scottish Borders set in 80 acres of grounds and is generally a quiet environment. The house is accessed on two floors by a tour guide who will explain the history and collections. The gift shop and Stables Tearoom can be busier and noisier depending on the number of visitors. The courtyard has outside tables.

Light levels are generally low and there is no strip lighting in our public areas. Events and weddings, sometimes large scale, do take place both inside the house and outside in the grounds, check the What’s On calendar for quiet days, particularly weekday mornings. There are seats and picnic tables around the grounds near the house. There may be children playing and group activities led by staff but for the most part our grounds are peaceful.

The toilets in the courtyard have electric hand dryers but the accessible toilet has paper towels and no hand dryers. You can borrow sensory backpacks for your use during your visit on request from the gift shop.

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Babies and Young Children

Visitors are welcome to breast or bottle feed their babies in all areas of Paxton House.
Please ask if you need any assistance.

Our Education Room is open for free play and is accesible via a few steps off our courtyard, please check in our gift shop if you would like to use this.

You can find an accessible toilet with baby-changing facilities in the courtyard.

Past. Present. Paxton.

As a registered charity, The Paxton Trust relies on the generosity of donors, volunteers, and supporters to maintain and enhance Paxton House and its grounds.

Plan Your Day

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Stables Tearoom