Richmond Park

Hi,

I went to a family members wedding at Pembroke Lodge Richmond, London with it's lovely Park and Views which i could not faulter. However great for taking lovely photo's , with panoramic views etc and having a good family day out in the park, but not very Child Friendly when coming to wedding functions at Pembroke Lodge. As for disabled access to the Russel Suite well what can i say !!!!!! I've been to wedding functions before in places not as grand as Pembroke Lodge but they have been more child friendly & had some sort of disabled access.

We had to attend a wedding in the Russel Suite which we had to carry up the large amount of stairs our double buggy with two very young children, equipment etc. When i asked about not having a lift and if you were disabled and in a wheelchair, how would you be expected to get up to a family's wedding. I was told they would have to be carried up in their wheelchair !!!!! . I said "your kidding? as i was so shocked " and the reply was "i'm affraid not madam." I couldn't believe it !!!

Please someone explain to me why such a Grand Place where you can pay approx £6,000 for fish and chips at a wedding function for your quests. has not used some of that money to good use and installed a CHAIR LIFT or even better a LIFT or something to cater for people with disabilities/buggy's etc. There was a poor woman in her 90's who had to walk up all those stairs with a walking frame. All she kept doing was apologising for holding people up and you could see she felt very embarrased by it !!!

I can't believe that in this day and age at such a beautiful grand venue such as this has not installed a chair lift or something. I felt isolated from the family at a special time as i had to keep accounting for stairs, no room for double buggy, no sun shade/table umbrella's on the terrace to help keep children protected from the sun. While you were queing up to get into the hall for the wedding meal so i had to stay inside with the children and wait untill everyone had been seated !! when we should have been with the family at this special time. I just felt as if it was a very Child , disabled UN - Friendly place. Maybe I should have been Warned first and it wouldn't have been such a shock !!!!!!! Alot of guests left their children at home maybe that's why, they knew something i didn't.

I seriously think Pembroke Lodge should Install or adapt their premises to cater for Disabilities / Children/ Buggy's etc as i thought by Law places can't discriminate and have to have equal opportunities for disabled people too.

It's such a shame that such a beautiful place comes accross so Un-friendly in this manner and i think it's LETTING ITSELF DOWN AND THE PUBLIC who wish to attend weddings at the russel suite.

If you are visiting London and get bored of the big smoke and yearn for pastures of a slightly greener kind, then hop on a train to Richmond and visit the stunning parkland.

A royal park, it borders Surrey and London, as it has gates in Roehampton (near Putney/Wimbledon), Richmond, Kingston, Ham and Sheen and is 3 times larger than Central Park.

If you enter at the Roehampton Gate you can hire a bicycle (£12 for 2 hours) and cycle around the path. It's not an easy ride as there are plenty on inclines, but the experience is wonderful. There are also deer that roam these parks and we saw about 70-80 on out ride as they do not hide away and you can get quite close.

For a full day out, I'd recommend riding up to Pembroke Lodge and nosing around there, before heading into Wimbledon and visiting the Buddhist temple, Cannazarro Park and the Tennis museum .