Fred's Yurts - Hay Festival Accommodation

We loved staying at Fred’s Yurts with your community. It was funky, fun, relaxing, enjoyable. Staff were friendly & helpful, particularly Jess - who solved a phone issue for us - & Molly :) Your setup gave us a welcome reprieve from the 1000s of people at Hay Festival - it was a calmer place to be after the high energy levels of the big word+ event :) We loved both! The Orchard Bar meals were great as was the soundtracks in the bar marquee & toilets!!

Another fantastic stay. Fantastic location, close to festival site. Everything really well set out. Yurt clean, spacious and comfortable. Orchard kitchen a really great place to spend time, great breakfast and a good place to read and drink wine in the evening. A few issues with showers this year, one not working properly and a broken lock, generally clean and a good powerful shower. Toilets fine too, would have used compost loo more but couldn’t lock the door. Great staff, very friendly and helpful. Thank you, see you next year!

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All staff were very welcoming and eager to help. However, when we arrived, those on duty said they had no record of me having let them know that I'm a wheelchair user. Obviously I had phoned and spoken at length to Amber (I think) about the access, before booking a yurt, so it was disappointing that this hadn't been communicated to those on duty when we arrived. The following is specific wheelchair access feedback that I know you are interested in:- YURT: By moving the beds as far apart as possible, there is enough space for a small manual wheelchair to be used comfortably, although we did have to squash up the grid round the wood burner. If it had been colder, that would have made things more tricky! So when someone contacts you with enquires about access, sending exact measurements and providing a video of the space would really help the individual plan their trip. YURT RAMP: It would be great to have a bespoke ramp made that leads up to the yurts. Ideally it would have a flat platform at the top [meaning a wheelchair user can position themselves on the flat platform to unlock the yurt). It would need to work whether the doors are closed or open so that it can be left there for the duration of a stay. This provision would make all the difference in the world in terms of feeling welcomed! ARRIVAL: Providing a reserved a parking space right by the entrance to the site would really help. The allocated space would need to be at least 3.6 metres wide. There is official guidance on the optimum dimensions. I completely understand why cars aren't allowed onto the camping field, however, had I been travelling alone (which I often do), the distance from car to yurt would be too far to carry everything. Letting disabled visitors know that there will be someone on hand to help carry bags from car to tent, should they require it, would be AMAZING. Can I also suggest that when you have ascertained that a booking has been made by a disabled person, you liaise with them on any specific needs they might have. You'd be surprised how small adjustments that cost nothing, make so much difference to an individual who is already navigating a very inaccessible world! SHOWER: Firstly - it's brilliant that you have thought about trying to make the facilities welcoming to all but to be honest, your current shower set-up could not be described as accessible to wheelchair users. So what's the issue? The space is too small to fit even a neat manual wheelchair inside without it getting completely soaked when the shower is turned on! There's nowhere to put anything like a wash bag or towel, and obviously the mirror and sink are too high up. It needs to be larger all round. The ramp up to the shower is too steep to navigate on one's own too SUGGESTION: I suggest you contact the organisation "Changing Places". It's set up by wheelchair users and provides totally accessible mobile units of toilets and showers to venues: https://www.changing-places.org I hope this is useful - we really enjoyed our stay with you. Oh and finally, please can you arrange for the sun to shine next year too?!