The short answer
- Start with a garden that says it in writingEach region below lists the gardens and parks whose own access page says they are step-free or partly step-free, and which also lend wheelchairs.
- Partly step-free is more common than step-freeFew gardens in our research say the whole visit is step-free. Partly step-free means some paths, lawns or glasshouses are out of reach, so ask which.
- Check the paths as well as the stepsFirm, level paths suit a wheelchair or a walking frame. Gravel, wet grass and slopes can be hard work even where there are no steps.
- Plan around heat and tirednessGo in the morning in summer, find the shade and the benches, and keep the first visit short. A garden is easy to leave early.
Access facts come from each place's own access page, or its AccessAble guide, when the places were researched in September 2026. Paths, charges and opening times change, so check with the garden before a long journey.
Gardens by region
Step-free and partly step-free gardens and parks, region by region
Find the region your parent lives in. Under each one are the gardens and parks that say in writing that a visitor can get round some or all of them without steps, with what else they confirm.
This page is part of our guide to days out for older people, which our companionship care pages put together county by county. Of the 1,530 places we checked, 113 are gardens and 236 are parks. A place was only included if it sat inside its county and its own website loaded and named it. Its access facts were kept only where the place's own access page, or its AccessAble guide, stated them in writing.
The list below shows the 82 gardens and parks that say they are step-free or partly step-free, sorted so that those confirming the most come first in each region. Beneath some regions is a shorter line of gardens and parks that confirm they lend wheelchairs but publish nothing about steps. They may still suit your parent, and a phone call will tell you.
London
12 step-free or partly step-free
Chelsea Physic Garden, Kensington and Chelsea
Photo: Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Chelsea Physic Garden
Garden · Chelsea, Kensington and Chelsea · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Alexandra Palace and Park
Park · Wood Green, Haringey · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
Barking Park
Park · Barking, Barking and Dagenham · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Capel Manor Gardens
Garden · Enfield, Enfield · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
Chiswick House and Gardens
Garden · Chiswick, Hounslow · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Danson Park
Park · Welling, Bexley · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill
Park · Hampstead, Camden · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Brockwell Park
Park · Herne Hill, Lambeth · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Central Park, Dagenham
Park · Dagenham, Barking and Dagenham · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Richmond Park and Isabella Plantation
Park · Richmond, Richmond upon Thames · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Café
- Free to enter
West Ham Park
Park · Forest Gate, Newham · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Free to enter
Mayesbrook Park
Park · Barking, Barking and Dagenham · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: Myddelton House Gardens (Enfield); Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (Newham)
South East
8 step-free or partly step-free
Claremont Landscape Garden, Surrey
Photo: Trevor James Allan a.k.a. Tjandspallan at en.wikipedia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Claremont Landscape Garden
Garden · Esher, Surrey · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
RHS Garden Wisley
Garden · Woking, Surrey · allow a full day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Painshill
Garden · Cobham, Surrey · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Garden · Cranbrook, Kent · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Winkworth Arboretum
Garden · Godalming, Surrey · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Dunorlan Park
Park · Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Highdown Gardens
Garden · Worthing, West Sussex · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Free to enter
Ventnor Botanic Garden
Garden · Ventnor, Isle of Wight · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Café
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: Waterperry Gardens (Oxfordshire)
South West
12 step-free or partly step-free
The Bishop's Palace, Somerset
Photo: Edwin Graham, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Bishop's Palace
Garden · Wells, Somerset · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Westonbirt, The National Arboretum
Garden · Tetbury, Gloucestershire · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Batsford Arboretum
Garden · Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Arnos Vale Cemetery
Park · Brislington, Bristol · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Eden Project
Garden · St Austell (Bodelva), Cornwall · allow a full day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
RHS Garden Rosemoor
Garden · Great Torrington, Devon · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
University of Bristol Botanic Garden
Garden · Stoke Bishop, Bristol · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
Hestercombe Gardens
Garden · Taunton, Somerset · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Café
Lydiard Park
Park · West Swindon, Swindon · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
Upton Country Park
Park · Upton, Poole · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens
Garden · Abbotsbury, Dorset · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Café
Dartington Hall Gardens
Garden · Totnes, Devon · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: Moors Valley Country Park and Forest (Dorset); Stover Country Park (Devon)
East of England
9 step-free or partly step-free
Sandringham Visitor Courtyard and Royal Parkland, Norfolk
Photo: John Fielding from Norwich, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sandringham Visitor Courtyard and Royal Parkland
Park · Kings Lynn, Norfolk · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Wrest Park
Garden · Silsoe, Bedfordshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Garden · Cambridge, Cambridgeshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Café
Hylands Park and Hylands House
Park · Chelmsford, Essex · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Coalhouse Fort Park
Park · East Tilbury, Thurrock · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Marks Hall Gardens and Arboretum
Garden · Coggeshall, Essex · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
Priory Country Park
Park · Bedford, Bedfordshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens
Garden · Elmstead Market, Essex · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
Thorpe Meadows
Park · Peterborough, Peterborough · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Free to enter
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: Hinchingbrooke Country Park (Cambridgeshire); RHS Garden Hyde Hall (Essex)
East Midlands
5 step-free or partly step-free
Barnsdale Gardens, Rutland
Photo: Paul Harrop, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Barnsdale Gardens
Garden · Exton, Rutland · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Lyveden
Garden · Oundle, Northamptonshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Markeaton Park
Park · Markeaton, Derby · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Pavilion Gardens
Park · Buxton, Derbyshire · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Rufford Abbey Country Park
Park · Ollerton, Nottinghamshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
West Midlands
4 step-free or partly step-free
National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire
Photo: West Midlands Police, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
National Memorial Arboretum
Garden · Alrewas, Staffordshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Severn Valley Country Park
Park · Alveley, Shropshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Ryton Pools Country Park
Park · Ryton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Telford Town Park
Park · Telford, Telford and Wrekin · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Yorkshire and the Humber
3 step-free or partly step-free
Wentworth Castle Gardens, South Yorkshire
Photo: Klaus with K. Blue fringing removed by Digon3 13:34, 24 August 2007 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wentworth Castle Gardens
Garden · Barnsley, South Yorkshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
RHS Garden Harlow Carr
Garden · Harrogate, North Yorkshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Café
Burnby Hall Gardens
Garden · Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Café
North West
2 step-free or partly step-free
Walton Hall and Gardens, Warrington
Photo: Peter I. Vardy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Walton Hall and Gardens
Garden · Walton, Warrington · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Ness Botanic Gardens
Garden · Neston, Cheshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Café
North East
2 step-free or partly step-free
The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland
Photo: Ruth Sharville, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Alnwick Garden
Garden · Alnwick, Northumberland · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Bolam Lake Country Park
Park · Belsay, Northumberland · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Wales
10 step-free or partly step-free
Aberglasney House and Gardens, Carmarthenshire
Photo: Stuart Wilding, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aberglasney House and Gardens
Garden · Llangathen, Carmarthenshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Colby Woodland Garden
Garden · Narberth, Pembrokeshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Dyffryn Gardens
Garden · Barry, Vale of Glamorgan · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Bodnant Garden
Garden · Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Gnoll Estate Country Park
Park · Neath, Neath Port Talbot · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Parc Cwm Darran
Park · Bargoed, Caerphilly · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Pen-y-Fan Pond Country Park
Park · Blackwood, Caerphilly · allow an hour or two
- Step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Porthkerry Country Park
Park · Barry, Vale of Glamorgan · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park
Park · Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
- Free to enter
Loggerheads Country Park
Park · Ruthin, Denbighshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Free to enter
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: National Botanic Garden of Wales (Carmarthenshire)
Scotland
8 step-free or partly step-free
Cambo Gardens, Fife
Photo: Richard Sutcliffe, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cambo Gardens
Garden · Kingsbarns, Fife · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Garden · Inverleith, Edinburgh · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Benmore Botanic Garden
Garden · Dunoon, Argyll and Bute · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
Dawyck Botanic Garden
Garden · Peebles, Scottish Borders · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Café
Leith Hall Garden and Estate
Garden · Huntly, Aberdeenshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
Strathclyde Country Park
Park · Motherwell, North Lanarkshire · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
- Free to enter
Drumpellier Country Park
Park · Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Café
- Free to enter
The Japanese Garden at Cowden
Garden · Dollar, Clackmannanshire · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
Northern Ireland
7 step-free or partly step-free
Glenarm Castle and Walled Garden, Larne
Photo: Nigel Thompson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Glenarm Castle and Walled Garden
Garden · Glenarm, Larne · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Café
Castle Archdale Country Park
Park · Irvinestown, Fermanagh · allow half a day
- Step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Antrim Castle Gardens and Clotworthy House
Garden · Antrim, Antrim · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
Roe Valley Country Park
Park · Limavady, Limavady · allow half a day
- Partly step-free
- Wheelchairs to borrow
- Café
- Free to enter
The Mall
Park · Armagh, Armagh · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Accessible toilet
- Blue Badge parking
- Free to enter
St Columb's Park and Ebrington
Park · Waterside, Derry · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Café
- Free to enter
The People's Park
Park · Ballymena, Ballymena · allow an hour or two
- Partly step-free
- Free to enter
Lend wheelchairs, steps not stated: Delamont Country Park (Down)
From PrimeCarers research into places to visit, September 2026. A garden or park is listed only where its own access page, or its AccessAble guide, says in writing that it is step-free or partly step-free; the other facts are shown on the same basis. Free to enter is what the place said when it was researched. Charges, opening times and paths change, so check with the place before you travel. Each county name opens that county’s page of places to visit.
Each county name opens that county's page of places to visit, which describes every place, what it is like for an older person and how long to allow. If your parent lives near a county border, look at the county next door as well. A garden that is not on this list is not necessarily hard to get round. Some smaller gardens and town parks have never written an access page, and the free days out guide lists parks and other places that cost nothing to enter. If the weather is against you, indoor days out for older people covers museums, galleries and other places under a roof.
What step-free means
What step-free and partly step-free mean in a garden
A garden's access page tends to describe the garden as a whole, but your parent will only use part of it. Knowing what the words usually cover helps you ask the right question.
39
of 113 gardens are partly step-free
Some paths, lawns or glasshouses are out of reach, and the rest can be reached without steps.
6
of 113 gardens confirm the whole visit is step-free
Few gardens in our research say this. Slopes, steps or gravel can put part of a garden out of reach.
29
of 113 gardens confirm they lend wheelchairs
Ask whether you can book one ahead, as there may be only a few.
41
of 113 gardens confirm an accessible toilet
Ask where it is. In a large garden it may be by the entrance and nowhere else.
67
of 113 gardens publish nothing in writing about steps
A gap is a reason to ring and ask, not a reason to cross the garden off.
PrimeCarers research into places to visit, each fact kept only where the garden's own access page or its AccessAble guide states it, September 2026.
When a garden says it is step-free, it means a visitor can follow a route round it without meeting a step. It does not always mean the route is flat, short or surfaced. When a garden says it is partly step-free, some of it can be reached without steps and some cannot. That might be a sunken garden, an upper terrace, a woodland walk, a viewpoint or the inside of a historic house. The part your parent would enjoy most may be on either side of that line, so ask which areas the step-free route reaches before you set off.
Wheelchairs to borrow are useful even if your parent walks. Somebody who can manage the car park and the café may not manage a full circuit of a large garden, and a borrowed wheelchair lets them walk while they feel able and sit when they tire. Gardens may have only a few, so ring ahead to ask whether one can be kept for you. Some places also lend mobility scooters or run a buggy round the grounds. Ask, because these are not things our research recorded.
An accessible toilet can decide whether a visit works at all. In a large garden it may be by the entrance and nowhere else, which matters if your parent needs to go often. If your parent needs a hoist or a changing bench, the Changing Places map shows where those toilets are. For more on planning around toilets and continence away from home, see managing incontinence.
Paths and surfaces
How paths, slopes and surfaces affect a wheelchair or a walking frame
A garden with no steps can still be hard going. These are the surfaces and features you are likely to meet, and what to ask about each one.
Tarmac, paving and boardwalks
Usually the easiest
Gravel
Hard work in a wheelchair
Grass and lawns
Depends on the weather
Slopes and terraces
Ask how steep
Glasshouses and doorways
Narrow and warm
Benches and shelter
How far between seats
If you will be pushing the wheelchair yourself, think about your own strength as well as your parent's. A long uphill path on gravel can be tiring for the person pushing, and a downhill slope needs care to keep the chair under control. It helps to look at the garden's map before you go, choose a loop that starts and ends near the café or the car park, and turn back early rather than late. If your parent uses a walking frame or a stick, the guide to walking aids and how to choose explains which kinds suit uneven ground.
If your parent has had a fall, or is frightened of falling, choose a garden with firm paths and plenty of benches for the first visit, and go at a quiet time so there is space around them. Fear of falling explains why confidence can drop after a fall and how to rebuild it gradually, and a short, successful trip to a garden can be part of that.
Planning the visit
Planning a garden visit: what to ask, heat and tiredness
A little planning makes a garden visit easier for everyone. Most of it comes down to a phone call before you go and choosing the right time of day.
Before you go to a garden
0 of 9 ticked
Ask the garden
Take with you
Gardens are at their best in late spring and summer, which is also when heat can become a risk. The NHS advises people to stay in the shade between 11am and 3pm in a heatwave and to drink extra fluids, and it lists people over 65 among those most at risk. On a hot day, go in the morning, find the shaded paths first and stop for a drink before your parent asks for one. Older people may not feel thirsty even when they need a drink, and the guide to elderly hydration explains why. Hot weather and heatwaves covers the warning signs to watch for.
If your parent has a Blue Badge, use the bays nearest the entrance. Your parent can apply through the council, or you can apply on their behalf, on the gov.uk Blue Badge page. If they do not have one, ask the garden whether you can drop them at the gate before you park.
A carer for the day
If your parent needs a carer with them in the garden
Some older people need somebody with them for a day out: to push the wheelchair, help with the toilet, make sure they drink in the heat, or go with them when you cannot take the day off. A carer can come for a single day without any ongoing care being set up.
A carer can collect your parent from home, drive them to the garden if the carer drives, push the wheelchair round the paths and bring them home again. Or they can come with the family, so somebody is with your parent while you park, queue for lunch or look after children. A day out with a carer is one fixed price for the whole day, and you know that price before anything is booked. It depends on the day: an hour or two at a park near home is not the same as a full day at a large garden with a long drive each way.
Entry, parking and meals on the day are separate from the carer's price, so agree before the day who pays for what, including the carer's own entry. Anything the carer pays for your parent is refunded at cost against receipts, and mileage is only payable if you agree it with the carer in advance and in writing. Asking costs nothing, and you are under no obligation.
If your parent already has a companion who visits, ask them first, because a familiar face makes a day out easier. Can carers take you out? explains what a carer can and cannot do on an outing. If the day depends on a car, look for a carer who drives: a carer's profile shows whether they do.
To find a carer for the day, tell us the date, which garden you have in mind and what help your parent needs, such as pushing a wheelchair or help with the toilet. The day goes to carers who can get there, and you can read their profiles and message the ones you like.
A carer for the day
Tell us about the day and what you would like them to do, and we will set your account up as you go.
Before a carer appears on PrimeCarers, their identity and right to work are checked, they hold an enhanced DBS check (a PVG in Scotland or an Access NI check in Northern Ireland) issued within the last two years, and they are interviewed online. We do not check qualifications, training or references. Reviews and references appear on a carer's profile unverified, so ask the carer about their experience of pushing a wheelchair, helping with transfers and helping with the toilet. Visits booked through PrimeCarers are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms, so read the policy before you rely on it. If the carer will drive your parent, check with them that their own car insurance covers it. PrimeCarers is an introductory service: carers are self-employed, and you agree the day directly with the carer you choose.
Questions
Questions families ask about accessible gardens
Find your parent's region on this page. It lists the gardens and parks from our research whose own access page says they are step-free or partly step-free, with whether they lend wheelchairs and have an accessible toilet and Blue Badge parking. Few gardens say the whole visit is step-free, so ask which parts the step-free route reaches.
Some gardens lend wheelchairs to visitors, and this page shows which gardens and parks in our research confirm it. There may be only a few, so ring ahead and ask whether one can be kept for you. Some places also lend mobility scooters or run a buggy, so ask about those too.
Some places that charge let an essential companion or carer in free or at a lower price when they come with a disabled visitor. Each place sets its own rules and may ask for proof, so check with the garden before you go.
It means a visitor can reach some of the garden without steps but not all of it. The parts out of reach might be a terrace, a sunken garden, a woodland walk or the inside of a house. Ring the garden and ask which areas the step-free route covers and what the paths are made of.
A weekday morning can be quieter, and in summer it avoids the hottest part of the day. The NHS advises staying in the shade between 11am and 3pm in a heatwave. Go at the time of day your parent is at their best and keep the first visit short.
A carer for a day out is one fixed price for the whole day, whatever the garden costs to get into. Tell us the date, where you are going and what help your parent needs, and you will know the price before anything is booked. Asking costs nothing. Entry, parking and meals are separate: agree beforehand who pays for what. Anything the carer pays for your parent is refunded at cost against receipts, and mileage is only payable if you agreed it with the carer in advance and in writing.