Green fingered enthusiast, Antoinette, takes a trip to the garden centre. But will the venue meet her accessibility needs?
If someone suggests a garden centre, I'm IN! The other day, I was flicking through a plant brochure that was put through my door. Sarah (one of my PAs) and I started chatting about how much we loved garden centres. She said her boot is big enough for my wheelchair so she could take me to one on her next day scheduled with me.
My neighbour helped her to put the wheelchair in her boot. Off we went on our adventure. When we got there, we decided to ask a person to help her get it out. There were people walking across the carpark who were very pleasant and happy to help.
I hadn't been to this one before, and it was a big one with an assortment of fancy sheds and buildings in the middle of the countryside.
The first couple of barns were, as seems to have happened in many places, fancy boutiques with prices to match. Who can afford to pay so much for an item of clothing or a scented candle in this economy?
Then there was a large one with some inviting nicknacks in the window. We went to the door and inside was an Aladdin’s cave of things to browse and enjoy - but the door jamb was a couple of inches off the ground and had a large lip on it.
Sarah went inside to ask whether they had a ramp. One of the shop girls came to the door to talk to us and said they didn't have a ramp, but she could help to push me in. Sarah pointed out that it was an electric, not a manual, wheelchair and therefore couldn't be tipped up to get over the step.
We set off and the girl came running after us to say that she had told the manager, and they were going to point it out to the owners. They had only been open a month and were interested in such feedback. They said they would install a ramp.
There you go. At least that had been worthwhile, and we had done our good deed for the day.
And then we hit the plants. And oh, how we hit the plants! In the usual way that one does, we first picked up a couple of small things, but then we headed for the ‘reduced price’ plants area.
Sarah ended up finding a giant cart, and we went about filling it up. The plants were all in a large area that was well set up, with plenty of room to move along with a wheelchair.
Sarah then became indecisive about a couple of plants and said that is a sign that she was getting hungry, and I agreed, so we bought our plants and headed off to the onsite café.
We found a table outside and Sarah left me and went inside to get menus. Then she had to go back in and order. She was gone for at least 20 minutes, and I started to hope that something hadn’t happened to her.
It turned out that she had been standing in a queue to give our order. There was only one till with one person taking them. She said that I wouldn't have been able to get in there. Although there was a ramp, they had everyone queue around a very tight corner and there was no way a wheelchair could have done it.
She actually told one of the staff and they said that a wheelchair could have bypassed the queue and ordered when it was their turn. But that really wouldn't have worked, and we both decided it wasn't good enough.
Then it was time to leave, with a car full of plants! Despite some of the accessibility issues from the day, I have the exploring bug again, so I’ll be going out on more trips.
Watch out, world!