Whalley Abbey — Attraction in Ribble Valley

We attended here on a weekend retreat and I felt I needed to offer a comprehensive breakdown for anyone choosing to stay over, who is disabled.

The venue is beautiful and the team cannot do enough to help. The food was delicious and they accommodated our groups dietary requirements.

The only down side is access. I opted for an accessible room due to using a powered chair. This was a room on the ground floor with an accessible shower. Double bed, room was nice and a comfy bed.

Although, if you are not utilising the dining room and don’t need to be downstairs, don’t opt for this room or any room on the ground floor.

Due to the building being the age it is, it is adapted although it’s hard work. The twists and turns, narrow corridors and multiple doors you need to get through to access the lift was exhausting.

I had to ask a member of our group to come and help me each time as I could not navigate alone.

I have a foldable powered chair so not a large one, anything larger or wider and you will not be able to navigate at all.

Heavy fire doors and narrow corridors with sharp turns needed additional help so although it is accessible, the room is, the building not so much.

If we stay here again I will opt for a normal room on the top floor and use my crutches to get down for dinner as this is what I ended up doing as it was much easier and less exhausting that trying to access the lift.

Plan ahead and specifically ask where you need to be unless you have a carer or additional person with you to navigate the narrow corridors to the lift.

I was disappointed as it is advertised as accessible, and it is to a point although it wouldn’t be something I’d chose again.

The service, rooms, venue, food and everything else is 5 stars, the only down side is the lack of accessibility if you’re...

I don't know why this modern building is featured on this review site - hopefully someone can remove it as it is of completely the wrong place! We struggled to find up to date information about Whalley Abbey on line so took a leap of faith and visited early in July 2022. We were so pleased that we did as we had an amazing time. We had coffee and home made scone in the lovely cafe, before spending at least 1.5hours walking around the gardens and ruins. The gardens are beautiful - so well designed, planted and cared for, mostly by volunteers, I think. The ruins are really interesting with information boards where needed. Something I found particularly wonderful were the vistas we were continually treated to, through arches, tree lined avenues, doorways etc. Would not hesitate to recommend and look forward to visiting again soon. The gardens are open 9am - 5pm and cost £3 for adults -...

Visited Whalley for the first time having lived close by for many years. We went to the Abbey and discovered peaceful gardens over the old ruins of the former buildings.

There are descriptive boards explaining the history and the purpose of various areas. An area of interest are the choir pits which are two stone lined trenches below the choir, with the effect of giving resonance to the singing by monks.

There is also a good café on the premises serving nice food during the day and giving work experience to people with...