Whether you are considering staying at The Swan or dining within our restaurants or lounges, relaxing at Weavers' House Spa or attending an event within one of our private spaces, we hope that you find the information below helpful.
We have looked to create this information in a selection of ways, starting with a video which will detail the features of the hotel and the accessible information for each area.
We have also split this information below in written format so you can scroll to the information relevant to you.
If you have any questions which we haven't covered below, at the bottom of this page you will find a contact form where we can look into individual requirements.
Accessibility video - The Swan and Weavers' House Spa
The accessibility video we have created above is to help make your stay as pleasant as possible and looks to provide you with the need-to-know information should you wish to visit us and view our facilities ahead of time.
Below we have created a text-based version which includes the same information included in the video above for reference and should you prefer to read this information instead.
Visiting The Swan and Weaver's House Spa
The Swan at Lavenham Hotel and Spa is a 15th century hotel with a lot of character and charm. With this in mind, we have tried to offer accessible facilities where the building allows.
There are two car parks for the hotel, each with their own entrance.
Lady Street car park
The small car park attached to the hotel can be found on Lady Street. This has limited parking and includes two blue badge spaces.
The spaces are on a first-come-first-served basis and the car park is used by those staying, dining and spa-ing at the hotel.
If you park in this car park, the closest entrance for the hotel is to the side of the building in between the hotel and the garden.
This entrance is a set of manual double doors with a lip. One door is usually locked at the top to allow single door opening, however, this can be opened to allow wider access.
Once inside, to find our reception area or restaurants, turn right and follow the large, cobbled hallway, there is one step before you get to The Gallery restaurant on the left-hand side.
If you continue to follow the hallway right, you will find the toilets, including an accessible toilet on your left, as well as a little further to your right, The Mess Call 487 restaurant. Straight ahead and a one step down is our reception.
Hotel guest additional car park
The second car park, which is for guests that are staying only, is opposite the hotel, situated behind the East of England Co-op.
To drive to the car park from the front of the hotel, drive up the hill of the High Street approximately 70 metres until you come to the first left hand turn, named Hall Road.
The next turning on your left will be the Hotel’s barrier car park. Guests will receive a code to place into the keypad in their confirmation email.
Once parked, there is a wide lit pathway next to the East of England Coop which will take you through to the hotel.
The closest entrance to this car park is the main front entrance.
This is a somewhat grand entrance, which is a manual door with a twisted ring gate latch and a lip into the hotel.
The initial part of the entrance is large, cobbled stone which then turns to wooden flooring as you reach reception.
There are no steps between the entrance and reception.
Staying at The Swan
Due to the age of the hotel, we do not have a lift to our rooms.
There are what we class as ground floor options, however, all do have some steps involved.
Room 47 and Room 48
Room 47 (The Cavendish room) and Room 48 (The Lyndsey room) are two of our rooms with the least steps, however they do not have any additional accessibility aids within the rooms.
Room 47 is a classed as a Heritage room and Room 48 is a Gainsborough room. These are the two room categories which are the most spacious options of our ground floor room types.
To get to rooms 47 and 48 from reception, go towards the main entrance and turn right, up one step, and then continue through one of our lounge areas.
There are a further three steps and a manual door to a hallway to access the two rooms.
Room 3
Another room option which you may wish to consider is Room 3, which is a Gainsborough room and is located on the opposite side of the hotel, closer to our small hotel carpark entrance and includes a walk-in shower with one step.
From the side entrance, instead of turning right to reception, the room is to the left and at the end of the hallway, there is a right turn with two steps down.
After the steps, turn left and there are a further three steps.
Follow the hallway and then turn right and there is one further step before the door to Room 3.
Dogs staying at the hotel
If you are looking to visit us with an assistance dog Or just bring your four-legged friend on holiday with you, we allow dogs in all our rooms and public areas apart from The Gallery Restaurant.
Additional booking requirements for your stay
If you do have any booking requirements, we would advise calling our reservations Folk and we can provide you with more details and the best options available.
When calling the hotel, press 1 for our reservations Folk.
Even if you have stayed with us before, if you would like to request a certain room, we would advise booking with us direct either by calling or through our website, as room allocations cannot be guaranteed through third-party booking websites.
Dining or drinking in our restaurants, bar and lounges
We have two restaurants within the hotel, The Gallery restaurant and the Mess Call 487.
The Gallery Restaurant
The Gallery Restaurant has a lip at its entrance, but following this, there are no further steps to the main restaurant floor.
The double doors to the restaurant are held open during service times allowing ease of access and the restaurant floor is carpet.
Although the restaurant is set across two floors, the highest floor is accessible by one step, but most of our tables do not require any steps.
The Gallery serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.
Mess Call 487
For the Mess Call 487, there is one main step into the restaurant only. The restaurant is set across one floor level and the floor itself is a hard floor, which is either brick or wood.
Assistance and additional dining requests
Full table service for food and drinks is available in both of our restaurants.
Our Folk are on hand to provide advice and assist with requests for tables with the best lighting or tables with less noise.
As both of our restaurants are open plan, our advice may change depending on the number of tables booked at that time.
To help us make your experience the best it can be, we would please ask for you to let us know of any requests like this upon booking or check in so we can ensure that we are able to do our upmost to assist.
The Airmen's Bar
One of our most historic public areas of the hotel is our Airmen’s Bar, which is located next to our reception.
The bar was frequented regularly by the US Air Force, the Royal Air Force and the Army during the second World War and is a cosy area with a small number of tables.
The lighting is limited in this area, so while it provides ambiance, this may not be suitable for some guests.
Due to being no more than a few steps away the Airmen’s Bar is an area where drinks are ordered at the bar.
There are two main entrances to the Airmen’s Bar.
From the main hotel entrance, there are no steps.
However, from reception, there is a step up, a step down and a small lip into the bar.
Our lounges
Due to the age of the building, our lounges, which surround around our reception, also feature between one and three steps dotted throughout this area.
Our lounges are a popular spot for those looking to have a light lunch or indulge in afternoon tea.
This area provides table service for food and drinks and has many nooks so that noise from other tables is reduced.
Outside spaces
We also have two outside spaces guests can enjoy, the courtyard and the garden.
The courtyard area is for those guests that are staying in the hotel. It is also used a lot for private functions in our Suffolk and Woolhall rooms.
The surface of the courtyard is stone chippings and therefore, some guests may require assistance when accessing this area.
The second outside space is our main garden. This is open during the summer months and seats up to 60 people.
Serving the Mess Call 487 menu, it can be very popular on sunny days.
There are two main entrances to the garden. The entrance closest to the small car park has seven steps and a handrail to the right.
The second entrance is further along the footpath which runs from the hotel, past the Mess Call 487 and up to Weavers’ House Spa.
This entrance has seven steps and doesn’t have a handrail.
Weavers' House Spa
Weavers’ House Spa is set just across from our main garden area.
Entrances
While there is an internal route from the hotel to the spa which doesn’t require leaving the hotel, this would include a number of steps and low beams, which we would not recommend for those with mobility issues.
Instead, here are two alternative ways to access the spa.
The first and the advised option, would be from the small car park attached to the hotel.
Within the top corner of the car park there is a dedicated wheelchair-friendly path which does not require any steps.
There is a small white gate which is manual opening, and once open, you will find yourself in the spa’s courtyard, with a vitality pool and a sloped entrance into the spa.
For the second route, leave the hotel from the main entrance and to proceed up the hill of the High Street for approximately a minute, until you reach the signs for Weaver’s House Spa.
There is one small step followed by a further four steps to the main entrance.
Inside Weavers' House Spa
Both entrances for the spa lead you into the spa boutique and the spa reception area.
From here there is one further manual door into the main hallway of the spa.
This is where you can access the changing rooms, spa lounge, sauna, steam room accessible toilet and lift to the first floor where treatments take place and there is a dedicated quiet space.
Please note, there is a step down into the spa lounge.
Our Weavers’ team are dedicated to the details, so if you have any questions or requirements, please do get in touch and let the know when booking a treatment and they are sure to look after you.
Events, conferencing and function rooms
We have three private hire rooms which like many of our rooms, are individual in character and hold differing numbers of guests.
They are also in different areas of the hotel and steps are likely to be within your route to these rooms.
The McCallum is our smallest function room which seats up to 20 people, The Suffolk is our slightly bigger private hire space sitting up to 30 people. This room is also used to play films for residents on select evenings.
Our largest function room is The Woolhall, which seats up to 40 people. A great feature of this room is that it has street access which means that visitors can access the room within a shorter distance when parking in the hotel car park or on Lady Street.
The space within function rooms differ depending on the way in which the room has been requested to be set and therefore if you are a guest, we would recommend speaking to the person who invited you to understand the layout chosen.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our Folk on 01787 247477 or using the contact form below and they will be happy to help.