Bishop’s Palace
Set in the heart of Wells, just off the Market Place, the Bishop’s Palace offers disabled visitors a unique experience. Still used as a home by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, for over 800 years, this mediaeval precinct is almost completely accessible for wheelchair and mobility scooter users.
Accessibility Rating: 4.5/5
Visit Length: 60-90 minutes
“I’m a keen photographer and here I can be pretty well guaranteed to come home with great pictures of buildings, plants and wildlife, at any time of year.”
Steve Green, scooter user
The Palace is surrounded by a moat with rampart walls. Entry is via a portcullis drawbridge where the famous Wells swans still ring a bell to be fed. Within the walls you will find the:
- Bishop’s Table café and the courtyard accessible toilets, accessed without paid entry
- 14 acres of fabulous RHS partner gardens that lead to the well springs that give the City its name; and a second accessible toilet in the arboretum
- Bishop’s Palace, accessible to the ground and first floor via a lift
- Adjoining chapel and remnants of the Great Hall built between 1275 and 1292
- A mobility scooter and wheelchair to loan.
The Bishop’s Palace is regularly used by film and television production companies. Have fun seeing if you can spot where scenes from Hot Fuzz, Poldark, Wolf Hall, Spanish Princess and The White Princess were staged…to name just a few.
A tour of the gardens and buildings is manageable in 60-90 minutes and is best completed with refreshment in the café that overlooks the Palace buildings and lawn that is home to the Bishop’s Palace Croquet Club.
The Bishop’s Palace is proud to be a wheelchair-accessible partner to Accessible Wells and to provide disabled visitors with a warm welcome. Their detailed accessibility statement is just a click away.
