Facilities and access at Tring

Museum map

Plan your trip with our Museum map. Our Museum guide, which includes a map, is available to buy from our shop.

Download the map PDF (2.2MB)

Entrances

Our main entrance is on Akeman Street and has eight steps. Our schools entrance is on Park Street and is step free. Find out about parking, distances, surface texture and more access information on our How to get to the Museum page. We provide wheelchair and buggy access via our Park Street entrance.

Safety and security around the Museum

Our historic building has lots of stairs and railings so take care, especially if you're visiting with children.

If you require assistance, please ask one of our friendly visitor assistants or a member of the security team who you will find on duty around the Museum.

Mobility aids

We have wheelchairs you can borrow for free.

You'll find benches and seating:

• by our shop and internal toilets
• in our Rothschild Room
• by the lift in galleries 5 and 6
• in Gallery 5
• in the quad and outside our café
• in Walter's Workshop
• in our cafe

We also have light-weight, folding stools you can take around the Museum. You can collect these from galleries 1, 4 and 6.

Step-free access and lifts

There are no steps between our outdoor quad, Foyer, Gallery 1 and our accessible toilet. There is one step between our Foyer and our shop and one step between our Foyer and our internal toilets. We can provide you with a ramp for these.

Our lift can be used to get between our lower ground floor where our Cafe is, our ground floor that leads to the Akeman Street Car Park, our first-floor galleries and our second-floor galleries.

The lift's load bearing capacity is 750kg. The doors are 110cm wide and open at the front or back depending on the gallery. The doors open and close quite quickly. There are tactile lit buttons at a height of 90-110cm. There is no mirror in the lift.

Use the stairs when possible, to keep lifts free for those who need them.

Gallery access

Most of our galleries have wooden floors. Gallery 2 has a vinyl floor, Gallery 3 has a concrete floor and there is a small patch of carpet tiles in front of our Rothschild Room.

Gallery 1 has narrow aisles that are 150cm wide. Gallery 3 is a mezzanine with metal barriers and a wooden handrail on the right-hand side. The aisle in Gallery 3 is 83cm wide and there's a one-way system.

There are 23 steps from Gallery 1 to Gallery 3.

There are 14 steps from Gallery 3 to galleries 5 and 6, or take the lift for step-free access.

There is a small ramp from Gallery 3 to the Rothschild Room.

Support dogs

We welcome support dogs. The water fountain opposite our accessible toilet on the ground floor can be used to refill dog water bottles. Dogs can go to the toilet in our outdoor quad or in our woodland, which is across a small road. We ask that dogs are kept on leads on site.

Dogs can be let off the lead in Tring Park, which is a 10-minute walk away. To get to the park, go down the bumpy, narrow path next to our Hastoe Lane Car Park and over the bridge.

Find out more about Tring Park.

We have hearing loops at our information desk and in our shop, cafe and Rothschild Room. If you need any other assistance during your visit, we're happy to help you.

Guide dogs

We welcome support dogs. The water fountain opposite our accessible toilet on the ground floor can be used to refill dog water bottles. Dogs can go to the toilet in our outdoor quad or in our woodland, which is across a small road. We ask that dogs are kept on leads on site.

Dogs can be let off the lead in Tring Park, which is a 10-minute walk away. To get to the park, go down the bumpy, narrow path next to our Hastoe Lane Car Park and over the bridge.

Find out more about Tring Park.

Low light levels

Gallery 6 and often Gallery 2 have low light levels to help preserve specimens. 

Safety around the Museum

Our historic building has lots of stairs and railings. Please take extra care, especially if visiting with children.

Resources

Pick up a free Tactile Sensory Bag from our information desk. The bag includes a variety of resources to support visually impaired children, including pebbles with outlines of animals, replica animal skins and toys. There is a different bag for each gallery.

Some of our specimens can be handled, including a fox and squirrel monkey in Gallery 1, four feely boxes in Gallery 5 and a snake in Gallery 6.

We've recently started doing audio-described events for families where you can handle specimens. Each event is focused on a different natural history theme and run for a few families at a time. See available dates on our What's On page.

We have a variety of resources and activities to support children and families with neurodiverse conditions.

Resources to support your visit

Pick up a free Explorer Bag from our information desk. The bag includes resources and toys to support engagement with our displays, including challenges, magnifying glasses and fidget toys.

You can get free ear defenders from our information desk.

Some of our staff are trained in basic Makaton. We have four Makaton-based gallery trails: 

• Walter's World Adventures Trail
• I Spy... Trail
• Discovering animals Trail
• Colourful Birds Trail

There's also touch specimens and interactives in our galleries.

Quiet times

We're quietest weekday afternoons during term time. We're busiest weekends and school holidays between October and March when our galleries can be noisy.

Our woodland and meadow provide a quiet space.

Preparing for your visit

The visual guide at the bottom of this page includes descriptions so you know what to expect when you visit.

Neurodiverse events

Our SENDsational Mornings provide a quieter visiting experience for families with neurodiverse children. At these early morning openings, we deliver themed activities, usually a free gallery trail, craft activity and handling activity.

We run these a few times a year on Sundays, 10.00-12.00. Booking is required and tickets are released a few weeks before the event. Find out about upcoming dates here.

Museum Cafe

Take a break from exploring the Museum and enjoy a fantastic selection of hot and cold drinks, lunches, cakes, children’s lunches and daily specials.

Open: Tuesday - Sunday 10:00-mid afternoon.

Take away is available

High Chairs are available

The Museum café is also open to non-Museum visitors.

The Museum cafe is on the lower ground level. Enter the cafe from our Akeman Street Car Park, by using the lift or by going round the outside of the building. To get to the cafe from the car park you have to go down two steps or a short slope. The cafe doors are 138cm wide. There are male and female toilets outside the cafe within 10 metres. To get to these toilets you have to go up one step. Both male and female toilets have baby changing facilities.

Picnic areas

If you bring a packed lunch, you can eat this outside in our picnic areas or indoors in Walter’s Workshop (this is used by schools in term-time).

Walter's Workshop is in the Akeman Street Car Park. You can get to it from the main building by using the lift or by walking outside round the building and then going over two zebra crossings. The entrance to Walter's Workshop has a slight slope and a narrow door 75cm wide. Inside are eight tables and 32 chairs arranged with a gap of 75cm between them. 

Shop

We've got a great range of nature-inspired gifts for all ages, including mineral specimens, soft toys, games, books, posters and greetings cards, in our shop. 

Our shop is on the ground floor. There is a step between the Foyer and the shop. We have a ramp in the Foyer that can be used for this step.

Toilets 

We have two sets of male and female toilets and an accessible toilet. All our toilets have adult and child toilet seats attached.

One set of toilets is located inside on the ground floor. From the Foyer there is a step into the shop. From the shop there is another step into the corridor where the toilets are. We keep a ramp in our Foyer that can be used for these steps. The corridor to get to the toilets is 80cm wide with a door pinned back. The male toilets are on the left with a door 75cm wide that opens into the toilets. It contains two adult-height urinals and a toilet.  There are no gaps at the top or bottom of the toilet because it's within a false wall. There are two sinks, a hand dryer and paper towels. The female toilets are at the end of the corridor with a door 75cm wide that opens into the toilet. It contains four toilet cubicles that are 60cm wide. There are three sinks, a hand dryer and paper towels. 

There are no baby changing facilities in these toilets.

Our outside toilets are in our Akeman Street Car Park. The male and female toilets are next to each other. There are small steps up to each of the toilets and each door opens into the toilets. Both toilets have a sink, hand dryer, paper towels and baby changing facilities. The female toilets have four toilet cubicles that are 55cm wide. The male toilets have an adult-sized urinal and a child-sized urinal and two toilet cubicles that are 55cm wide.  

Our accessible toilet is on the ground floor in our outdoor quad. This toilet is unisex, has a higher sink and a lower sink at a height of 72cm, two hand dryers, paper towels, baby change facilities and a toilet. It is 445cm long and 200cm wide and the door opens into the toilet. The door is 85cm wide. The toilet has railings on both sides and right-hand side transfer. There is a panic alarm on the left-hand side. A radar key is not needed to get into the toilet. 

Cloakroom

We have two cloakrooms. One cloakroom is next to our Foyer and there is one step to get to it. It is 330cm long and 143cm wide and has two rows of pegs and storage boxes. 

Our second cloakroom is by our outdoor quad. It is 127cm wide and 276cm long and the door is pinned open. There is one step into the cloakroom and the door is 73cm wide.

There is free car parking on Hastoe Lane. It has 48 spaces, including three Blue Badge holder spaces and two parent-and-toddler spaces. 

Our Akeman Street Car Park will be closed from March-December while we work on restoring the roof of our Grade II listed building. 

Alternative car parks are available off the High Street. The car parks managed by Dacorum Borough Council are free for the first hour with a small charge after that.  

Find out more about parking at the Museum.

We allow photography and filming with hand-held cameras and phones for personal use. We don't allow the use of tripods, monopods or extra lighting.

Ask others for their permission if you're taking photos or making recordings with them in.

Any photography or filming that's for public or commercial purposes and not personal use needs to be agreed to by us first. 

Get in touch with our filming team before your visit or find out about using the Museum in filming or photo shoots on this page.