Description of the cottage

Once the three steps have been climbed or the short ramp (6 metres at 1:12 with a landing in the middle) has been traversed, there is a flat landing in front of the glazed front door.  A strip of slate flooring covers this landing and extends under the door across an entrance 'lobby' area to a similar glass door opening onto the back of the cottage and a large decking area which extends the whole width of the cottage and the new extension. 

 

On the left of the entrance door is an opening which leads to the kitchen, the staircase and a door into the ground floor bedroom.  This door is the narrowest in the cottage, at 750mm.  On the right is the new (6m x 6m) living/dining room extension with a log burning fire at one end and a wall of double glazed doors opening onto decking and overlooking the back garden.  The floors throughout are timber boards: in the new extension they are varnished oak, in the rest of the ground floor they are painted pine except the ground floor wet room which has a welded non-slip vinyl floor. Thresholds throughout the ground floor are wheelchair compatible.

 

Living/dining room
 

The sitting room is 6m x 6m with a 6m long wall of double glazed glass doors which open onto decking and the large back garden. It has central heating (as does the whole cottage) and a wood burning stove at the far end with log and kindling baskets. There is a comprehensive Audio Visual system with a flat screen television, a CD/DVD player, and a six speaker sound system. There are several easy chairs. There is also a dining table with leaves at either end for easy use by a wheelchair user. In addition to six dining chairs there is also a dining chair with arms. The decking has a large outdoor table (with wings for easy use by a wheelchair user) and chairs and a bench.

 

Kitchen/ground floor bedroom

There is an opening giving access to the kitchen, a panelled door giving access to the ground floor bedroom (where the access to the room is slightly restricted) and a sliding door to the en-suite wet room.
In between the two matching glazed doors which constitute the front and back doors there is a strip of slate flooring and a wooden settle on which guests can change muddy boots and leave bags etc. To the right there are low level coat hooks.

 

The lighting in the living room has two dimmable pendant lights, six dimmable down-lighters, six concealed strip lights, and two lamps, one of which is touch controlled. In the kitchen there is a range of down-lighters and spots. In the ground floor bedroom there are two up-lighting wall lights, a pendant central light switched from beside the door and above the bed, and two touch-controlled bedside lamps. In the wet-room there is a central flush light and a corner spot.

Getting to the cottage

There is a rail service to the nearest town (Lydney) and a bus service to the village (Yorkley).  Timetables are available in the cottage and on request. 

There is also a dial-a-ride service which is wheelchair accessible run by the local authority. There are two shops in Yorkley providing most basic needs: one of them is a post office.  They are approx. 500 metres from the cottage. 

 

Lydney has a full range of shops (Tesco, Co-op etc) and is three miles from the cottage. There are Radar toilets in the car park of the Co-op in Lydney, and in the Tesco store.

 

The cottage is suitable for accompanied wheelchair users, though the entrance to the downstairs bedroom is narrower (750mm) than would be ideal in a new building. The front door can be reached by a shallow ramp and all facilities are available on one level.  Hoists are not provided but can be hired and installed on request. 

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At the moment the cottage is not ideal for the visually impaired as there are a number of glass doors and steps without a handrail.  Glass doors are to have visible stickers applied to them and it is proposed to provide handrails at the front of the cottage and markings on the decking.

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