Accessibility Guide for Selly Manor Museum

Travel by public transport

There is an excellent train service from Birmingham New Street to Bournville. Trains run approximately every 10 minutes and the journey takes 12 minutes.  The train station is approximately 20 minutes walk from Selly Manor Museum.

Parking

Street parking is usually available at Selly Manor. It is very unusual not to be able to park on Maple Road where the museum is located. There is also the option of using the overflow car park for the Garden Centre which is behind us which offers level access to the pavement. If using the car park, visitors will need to navigate past a tree which is growing through the section of pavement between the car park and Selly Manor, which restricts access down to 53cm. 

Path to main entrance

Main entrance

Ticket/ information desk

Ticket desk

The ticket desk stands 890mm high and is all the same height. The card machine is accessible and staff will be glad to help with any assistance or information that is needed.  

Things to See and Do

Minworth Greaves

Minworth Greaves is a medieval hall, there is not a great deal in this building, other than the building itself, which is a good example of a cruck-framed building. There is an information board that give details about the building's history and the furniture in the room, which  can be viewed seated. There are usually staff in this building to welcome you and provide more information. 

Public toilet

Toilets at Selly Manor

Selly Manor has two toilets, both of which are unisex and accessible. The toilets are large enough to accommodate a carer and can easily provide sufficient space for forward and side transfers to the toilets. Unfortunately, the horizontal grab rails on both toilet walls are positioned awkwardly, and are too far away to provide useful support. There is a pull down trombone support in each which is positioned correctly. There is no alarm in either toilet. The toilet on the left hand side has baby changing facilities.   The toilet block will be replaced towards the end of 2017/beginning of 2018.

Shop

Selly Manor Museum shop

There is a small shop in Minworth Greaves, which is opposite the ticket desk and sells mainly pencils, rubbers and other pocket money items. 

Selly Manor

The main entrance to Selly Manor has four steps. The alternative entrance has level access which is situated around the back of the building.  

There is a brick pathway that leads around the garden which is level and of a good width.

Picnic Area

Selly Manor garden

Visitors are very welcome to bring picnics to Selly Manor and enjoy them in the garden. There are several benches, but no picnic tables. The lawned area that visitors most frequently use for picnics is off the pathway, but there are no steps to navigate..  

The upper floors of Selly Manor are accessed by steep stairs only. There is touchscreen which is located downstairs which offers 360 degree images of all the rooms which is useful for visitors that are not using the upper floors, together with further information relating to the museum and its history. There is a chair nearby so that visitors can use the screen in comfort. There is also a modern seat in most of the rooms of Selly Manor for visitors to use.

Most of the rooms include hands-on elements. These include costumes and armour to try on, games, a discovery box for younger children, spices to smell, a truckle bed to try out, a medicine chest, children's trail and clipboards and paper.

Information about the house and furniture is provided in books and boards in each room. All of the books and boards are in the same format to make them easily identifiable. They include images and easy to read print.

Tactile tours and audio descriptive tours can be arranged. Please contact us for further details. Assistance dogs are very welcome in both buildings.  

During weekdays, there are usually school groups on site until 2:30pm. For visitors who prefer to enjoy the house at quieter times, we suggest visiting after 2:30pm. We always know if there will be a school group visiting as they book in advance, so if you would like to check prior to your visit, please call us and we will be happy to help.  

Emergency evacuation procedures

In the event of an emergency evacuation, staff will check both buildings, the garden and the toilet area to make sure that everyone is safely evacuated. 

We can provide tactile tours or audio descriptive tours of Selly Manor. These will need to be booked approx. 4 weeks in advance. Our staff will do their very best to accomodate our visitors needs, please just let us know how we can help.