Accessibility Guide for Burnside Cottage B&B

Welcome

Burnside Cottage a sylish Eco-friendly B&B (holding a Gold Award from Green Tourism). It is situated 800m off the North Coast 500 route, a 10 minute drive to John O'Groats & a couple of minutes to the Gills Bay Orkney ferry. It has views out over open countryside with the Isle of Stroma & Orkney beyond.

The property and car park are all on one level. The B&B suites are spacious with their own seating & dining areas. All meals in the b&b are served via room service.

We welcome any enquiries from guests with disabilities so we can discuss their needs and all reasonable attempts will be made to meet these.

Image of Burnside Cottage surrounded by open countryside with Gills Bay in the distance

Level access

The main entrance has 1 step. There is no lift and no ramp.

There is level access from the main entrance to:

All meals are served via room service & both suites have dining areas All meals are served via room service & both suites have dining areas

Access with steps

The main entrance has 1 step. There is no lift and no ramp.

There are steps from the main entrance to:

Burnside Cottage & The Pig Shed communal gardens & car park Picnic bench to the left as you leave the guest exit Lawned area

Level access bedrooms

From the main entrance to the bedroom, there is level access.

Hearing

The (bedroom) TVs have subtitles.

Some staff have disability awareness training.

General

Staff are available 24 hours a day.

Some staff have disability awareness training.

We have emergency evacuation procedures for disabled visitors.

Getting here

For further information on accessible travel in Scotland, go to Transport Scotland.

Burnside Cottage B&B

Gills, Canisbay

Wick

KW1 4YB

Travel by public transport

You can get to Burnside Cottage B&B by bus, train and boat or ferry.

There is a bus stop 800m from the property on the a836. There is however, no foot path to Burnside Cottage & the road is uneven and can be difficult for those with disabilities. The Gills Bay / Pentland ferry terminal is 1.25 miles away. There are trains stations in Thurso (15 miles away) & Wick (17.6 miles away). Bus &/or Taxi service available The bus stop is 0.5 miles / 0.8 km from Burnside Cottage B&B .

The nearest train station is Thurso. The train station is 15 miles / 24.2 km from Burnside Cottage B&B .

The nearest port is Gills Bay. The port is 1 miles / 1.6 km from Burnside Cottage B&B .

Pentland Ferries sails from Gills Bay to St Margarets Hope on Orkney. It is a short 1.25 mile drive or a 25 minute walk although there is no footpath and the road can be difficult for those with disabilities.

Travel by taxi

You can get a taxi with Triple S Taxi by calling 01955 611749. You can get a taxi with Caithness Cabs by calling 01847 895677. You can get a taxi with Meiklejohn Taxis Ltd by calling 01847 892827.

Due to being just a husband & wife team we do not have the capacity to offer a transfer service for visitors.

Parking

We have a car park. The parking is less than 50 metres from the main entrance. Parking is free.

There is a drop-off point at the main entrance. The drop-off point has a dropped kerb.

From the car park to the entrance, there is level access. The route is 1000mm wide, or more.

The carpark is flat and on the same level as the guest entrance. There are no steps into the property but there is a raised 2 inch threshold plate in the doorway

Part of our car-park, with the self catering door to the left and b&b to the right behind a bin store

The driveway into the car park through our gates (part of the self catering studio visible)

view of the carpark, and entrance gates, from the guest entrance

Image of threshold plate and 2 inch raised lip in guest entrance

Arrival

Path to main entrance

From the street to the main entrance, there is level access.

The path is 0mm wide, or more.

Main entrance

The door is 730mm wide.

The main entrance has 1 steps.

The main door is side hung and manual.

The road past/to the building, and driveway into the carpark, does not have a pathway. There are no steps into the building but the doorway does have a 6cm high threshold plate. The door is hinged and opens to the left into a corridor that leads to the two guest suites.

Image shows guest entrance with door open. Burnside Cottage B&B sign & Green Tourism Gold award visible

Image shows guest entrance with door closed. Burnside Cottage B&B sign and Green Tourism Gold award visible

Getting around inside

Bedrooms

All bedrooms have windows.

Bedrooms have ceiling lights, bedside lamps and natural daylight.

Lights are LED. TVs have subtitles.

All bedrooms are non-smoking.

No bedrooms have fitted carpets.

From the main entrance to this area, there is level access.

We have bathrooms with a separate shower.

The walls and the fittings have high colour contrast.

The Grey Suite bathroom showing white fittings with contrasting dark grey walls

Image of The Grey Suite doorway with door open with the part of the bed and room visible

Image of part of The Grey Suite with bed, sofa, part of dining area and floor space. Inside of bedroom door visible

Image of part of The Grey Suite with bed, bedside shelves and area leading to bathroom and bunk room visible

Image of The Grey Suite from bunk room showing dressing table & bathroom door

The Grey Suite bunk room showing part of bunk beds and wardrobe

Image of The Grey Suite - kingsize bed, floor area near dining table, wardrobe and tv with bathroom door and bunk room door beyo

Image of looking into The Raven Room from its open doorway

Image of part of The Raven Room showing twin beds, dining area, windows and comfy chairs beyond

Image of The Raven Room from the window end looking back towards the entrance door. Dining area, twin beds, wardrobe and TV

Place to eat and drink

All meals are served via room service & both suites have dining areas

From the main entrance to the dining area, there is level access. The route is 730mm wide, or more. The door is 745mm wide.

To get to a table, there are no steps.

There is no background music.

We cater for vegetarian, gluten free (celiacs), lactose free (dairy free), high fibre and vegan specific diets.

The main guest entrance is 730mm wide, the guest corridor which leads to both suites is 810mm at narrowest point & the doorways to both suites are 745mm.

We offer an extensive breakfast, and optional evening, menu which we send out via email at time of booking. Our evening menu requires pre-ordering by 10am on the day of dining.

Our menus are very vegan friendly (over 50% vegan) and all meat is organic/higher welfare. We will always try to cater for specail diets where possible but ask guests to notify us of dietary requirements at time of booking.

We do however use nuts extensively in our kitchen and so cannot guarentee our dishes are nut free.

All meals are served via room service.

image shown is of one of our room service trolley's laid with a breakfast order.

image is of the dining area in The Grey Suite

All meals are served via room service & both suites have dining areas

From the main entrance to this area, there is level access. The route is 730mm wide, or more.

The door is 745mm wide.

The same as The Grey Suite Dining

image is of The Raven Room dining area and twin beds

Getting around outside

From the main entrance to the gardens, there is 1 step. There is no lift and no ramp.

The guest entrance leads out onto a concreted area. To the left is a picnic bench and wall mounted ashtray with 2 double height repurposed tractor tyre planters with large bamboo plants. Straight ahead and to the right are 3 parking spaces (2 for the b&b and 1 for The Pig Shed self catering studio). The car park is surround on two side by garden areas. The one to the side is laid with pebbles and has 3 more single height tractor planters, the other is a lawned area with pampas grasses with views out over open countryside with orkney beyond (behind the cars there is a gravelled driveway before the lawned area)..

Image is of the guest carpark, taken from the guest entrance, with the entrance gates and gardens partly visible beyond.

Image is of pebbled area with tractor tyre planters with the carpark & lawned area beyond

Image is of lawned area with pampas grasses, wild borders & owl carving with views out over farm land with orkney beyond.

Smoking

Picnic bench to the left as you leave the guest exit

The route is 730mm wide, or more.

From the main entrance to the smoking area, there is 1 step.

There are no steps from the guest suites & out of the main entrance and onto the smoking area/carpark etc apart from the 6.5cm threshold plate in the main doorway.To the left as you walk out of the guest door is a picnic bench sitting on a flat concrete area conected to the guest carpark. Near the picnic bench is a wall mounted ashtray.

Terrace

Smoking area & picnic bench

The route is 730mm wide, or more.

To get to a table, there are no steps.

There are no steps from guest suites, out through the main guest entrance and to the terrace apart from a 6.5cm threshold plate in the main doorway. As you walk out of the guest exit there is a picnic bence to your left. This doubles as a smoking area as there is a wall mounted ashtray there.

When fully booked there is a maximum of 8 guests that can stay at any one time (this includes both the b&b and The Pig Shed self catering studio).

Lawned area

From the main entrance to the area, there is 1 step.

The lawned area is located infornt of the car parking spaces. It has a 6.5cm step onto it. It has 2 large pampas grasses on it and is surrounded by wild borders and has views out over open countryside with Orkney beyond.

Image is of lawned area with pampas grasses and wild border, with an owl carving, looking out over farmland and Orkney beyond.

Customer care support

Burnside Cottage B&B is fully dog friendly. There is a red dog waste bin located near the main guest entrance and all dogs are able to use the gravel & lawned areas to toilet.

We have an area to charge mobility scooters and battery powered wheelchairs.

We have an outside electric socket that can be used depending on the weather. We are also able to charge mobility items within our private garages.

Image is of the view directly out from the guest entrance to the car park with the graveled area and lawned areas beyond

Image is of the graveled area, with a partial view of the car par and lawned area beyond

Image is of the lawned area beyond the car park

Emergency evacuation procedures

We have emergency evacuation procedures for disabled visitors.

Due to the fact that we only have 2 guest suites, and a self catering studio, & as we serve all meals via room service there is only a small area of the property that guests have access to. Our firesafety plan is designed to ensure that all guests can be safely evacuated in the event of a fire.

Customer care support

Some staff have disability awareness training.

Staff are available 24 hours a day.

Burnside Cottage is operated by a husband & wife team who live on site (Kacey & Stephen George). Kacey's professional history before purchasing the B&B was in Adult Mental Health, Children's Homes, Childrens Social Care & Secondary Schools. Within all of these areas she has undertaken disability awareness training.