Accessibility Guide for Cuckoo Down Farm

Welcome

Cuckoo Down Farm is a small family-run glamping site in East Devon with four safari tents and two yurts. We welcome everyone and do our best to make holidays here as accessible as possible.

We offer glamping in safari tents and yurts

Level access

The main entrance has level access.

There is level access from the main entrance to:

Cuckoo Down Farm oak woods

Access with steps

There are steps from the main entrance to:

Clover yurt Daisy safari tent Communal shower area Path and footbridge from car park to glamping field

Visual

Some parts of the venue have low lighting.

General

Staff are available 24 hours a day.

Getting here

The Barn Cuckoo Down Farm

Lower Broad Oak Road

West Hill

Devon

EX11 1UE

Travel by public transport

You can get to Cuckoo Down Farm by bus and train.

The nearest bus stops are in the village of West Hill. You can find out more about the bus services locally here: https://bustimes.org/localities/E0007658 The bus stop is 0.6 miles / 1.0 km from Cuckoo Down Farm.

The nearest train station is Whimple. The train station is 4 miles / 6.4 km from Cuckoo Down Farm.

Our nearest stations - Cranbrook, Whimple, Feniton and Honiton - are all on the Exeter-Waterloo line. You can also travel to Exeter on the faster Penzance-Paddington line and change to travel out to Cranbrook etc at Exeter St David's station, or get a taxi from Exeter St David's, where there is a taxi rank.

Travel by taxi

You can get a taxi with HorseshoeTaxis by calling 01404 850500. You can get a taxi with Tony's Taxi by calling 07980 767302. You can get a taxi with Sparkys Taxis by calling 01404 47670.

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 5000mm wide, or more.

To help with accessibility, we allow visitors who would prefer not to walk to park right outside their glamping tent by request instead of using our communal car park. Just contact us in advance on cuckoodownfarm@gmail.com and we will sort this out for you.

You can park your car outside your glamping tent if you have accessibility needs. This is Primrose Safari

You can park outside your glamping tent if you have accessibility needs. This is Clover yurt

Arrival

Path to main entrance

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

The path is 5000mm wide, or more.

Main entrance

The main entrance has level access.

We have two tents that are most suitable for people with accessibility needs. Our yurt Clover has a door that is 105cm wide and manually opens inwards. The threshold has a step up that is up 3cm followed by a 7cm threshold. Our safari tent Daisy has a canvas doorway that is more than a metre wide and can be opend further. Daisy has one step up onto its front verandah that is 22cm high.

This is the step up into Daisy Safari tent. You can park a car right beside the step

Getting around inside

Visual Impairment - General Information

Some parts of the venue have low lighting.

Site facilities

We can help you with pitching.

You can park next to your tent and caravan.

We have caravans designed for wheelchair users.

We have a level access shower.

The direction of transfer onto the toilet is to the front only.

There is 1000.00 in front of the toilet.

The toilet seat is 650mm high.

The basin is 800mm high. There is space under the basin, with no pedestal or boxing.

Our tents have compost toilets, one per tent, and there is also a further compost toilet beside the communal shower block.

Clover yurt

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

Clover yurt is the most accessible of our two yurts. It has one step up into the yurt itself, where there is a double bed, two sofa beds and a centrally sited wood-fired stove. Outside, there is a camp kitchen with a 90cm high kitchen bench and small gas ring cooker. There is a standpipe for water (70cm high) plus a compost toilet in small separate building.

This is the outdoor camp kitchen in Clover yurt, which is about 5 metres from the yurt.

This shows the set-up at Clover yurt, you can just see the compost toilet (small wooden building) just to the left of the yurt

This shows how close the compost toilet is to Clover yurt

This shows the layout inside Clover yurt

Daisy safari tent

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

Daisy safari tent has one step up from the field and you can park right by it. Inside the tent, the floor is wooden and level. There are two bedrooms, one twin and one double, entered through fabric curtained doorway at least 110 cm wide. We can remove one of the twin beds in the twin room to make more space. At the back of the bedrooms is a zipped doorway out to the back verandah where there is a small shower room with an enclosed shower cubicle and a basin. However, you might find it easier to drive your car down to our communal showers in our barn, where there is a large wetroom.

Daisy twin bedroom with one bed removed. You can see the zipped doorway at the back out to the shower room.

Daisy shower room entrance. There is also a more accessible communal shower area

Entrance to Daisy shower room, doorway 85cm wide, pole 85cm from doorway

Daisy shower room. Entrance to shower is 42cm wide. There is a communal more accessible shower also.

Communal shower area

From the main entrance to this area, there are 4 steps. There is no lift and no ramp.

There are two steps up into the communal shower barn from the car parking area. They are 12cm and 23cm high. The gate to the shower barn is 92cm wide. Once inside the barn, there are two further steps up to the shower area, which are 11cm and 20cm high. The doorways into each of the two showers are 125cm wide. The shower cubicle is 145 x 195 cm.

The first steps up from the car park into the shower barn. The door to the right is a compost toilet.

The two steps up into our communal shower area

One of our communal showers. Doorway 125cm wide, cubicle 145 x 195cm.

Path and footbridge from car park to glamping field

From the main entrance to this area, there are 8 steps. There is no lift and no ramp.

From our car parking area there is a wide grassy pathway about 100 metres long with a footbridge that takes you into our glamping field. If this provides accessibility issues, let us know and we will allow you to drive around and park your car beside your tent (which is usually only permitted for loading/unloading).

The grassy pathway from the car park to the glamping field with bridge and 2 steps (10cm and 15cm up)

Steps down from the footbridge into the glamping field (15cm drop on each step, 40cm depth)

Getting around outside

Cuckoo Down Farm oak woods

From the main entrance to this area, there is level access. The route is 1000mm wide, or more. The entrance is 1000mm wide.

Our three acre woods are accessible through a wooden gate fromthe glamping field. Once in the woods, there are pathways and a seated area. The ground is uneven and steep in places.

Customer care support

Accessibility equipment

Your assistance dog can stay free of charge (the usual fee is £30) and they can toilet near your tent, though we do ask that poop is scooped. Or let us know and we will arrange to scoop it for you.

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

Let us know in advance and we will arrange for it to be charged in our barn

Customer care support

Staff are available 24 hours a day.

We are on the early stages of our journey into making Cuckoo Down Farm fully accessible. Our aim is for this training and skill set to be improved over time. In the meantime, we will do our very best to make your stay possible and enjoyable. This is a family run business with people on site 24/7 and we will do our utmost to help with any accessibility issues.