SENDsational mornings at Tring visual guide
Welcome to our SENDsational Mornings at Tring visual guide to help you plan your visit.
We aim to provide a friendly, accessible environment for everyone and the widest possible access to our buildings, exhibitions and the collections we care for.
Before you arrive
Getting here
Our main entrance is on Akeman Street. It has eight steps and there are handrails in the middle and on either side. There are two heavy, glass doors into our foyer that are 87 centimetres wide and open both inwards and outwards.
Side view of our Akeman Street entrance.
Front view of our Akeman Street entrance.
Our accessible entrance on Park Street will be open too.
Wide view of the courtyard leading to our accessible entrance on Park Street.
Front view of our accessible entrance on Park Street.
For more information on our entrances, as well as public transportation and disabled parking, visit our getting here page.
What to expect
We’ll be open 10:00–12:00 just for SENDsational Mornings at Tring attendees. All our galleries and exhibitions will be open during the event.
We’ll then open to the public 12:00–17:00. You’re welcome to stay after 12:00, but the activities will be packed away, and the Museum can get very busy on Sundays.
During the event our Rothschild Room will be a special quiet sensory room. Additional quiet spaces can be found outside in our quad and woodland area.
There’s no fire alarm test scheduled for the day so if an alarm sounds, follow our staff to the nearest safe exit. The fire alarm is a spoken Tannoy.
On arrival
When you arrive, make your way to our admissions desk, where our staff will check you in and give you information about the day.
We’ll process your entry as quickly and efficiently as we can, as we know nobody likes waiting.
Bring confirmation of your booking with you, either printed or on your device. This is to ensure quick entry in case your name is not on the list due to error.
Staff
If you need help onsite, find our staff. They’ll be wearing green and blue uniforms as well as lanyards with their picture on.
Eleanor
Amy
Joanna
Getting around the Museum
You can use either the stairs or the lift to move between floors.
You can borrow a collapsible stool from our front desk or use one of our benches if you need to sit down at any point. We have benches outside our shop, outside our cafe and in our quad as well as opposite our accessible toilet and in Gallery 5 and Gallery 6.
Staircase from the Ground Floor to Floor 1.
Staircase from Floor 1.
Lift lobby on Floor 2, near Galleries 5 and 6.
Specimens
On arrival, the first animal you may spot is our polar bear in Gallery 1. There are more than 4,000 specimens on display throughout our galleries.
Many of our specimens are behind glass and can’t be touched. We have a selection of specimens that can be touched, including a fox and a polecat in Gallery 1 as well as a snake and feely boxes in Gallery 5 and Gallery 6. We advise that you wash your hands after touching these.
The specimens are real but they’re not alive anymore. They were collected more than 100 years ago when Walter Rothschild created the Museum. We don’t have any dinosaurs on display, but we do have two large fossils.
Sensory information
Most of our galleries are brightly lit, except for Gallery 6, which is darker.
Gallery 1 and Gallery 3 can be echoey when they’re busy.
When the cafe opens, the smell of coffee and food can reach Gallery 1.
Gallery 1.
Gallery 3.
Gallery 6.
Activities
You’re welcome to explore the Museum on your own or you can also participate in our themed activities, which include:
a specimen challenge where you can identify and handle real specimens
a craft activity in one of our galleries, where you can get creative
a gallery trail that sets you off in search of specimens across the Museum
quiet room, set up in our Rothschild Room, with cushions, light toys and books for you to use
self-led Outdoor I-Spy Trail that explores the features of our building and woodland – you can print this before you arrive or collect a copy when you get here
Facilities
Toilets
There are male and female toilets by our shop and outside the building next to our cafe. There’s also an accessible, non-gendered toilet by our accessible entrance, near Gallery 1. The hand dryers in these toilets will be switched off during the event.
Accessible toilet.
Outside view of the accessible toilet entrance.
Cloakrooms
You’re welcome to leave coats, bags and pushchairs in our cloakrooms. There’s one opposite the accessible toilet at the back of the building and one next to our shop.
Cloakroom entrance.
Inside view of the cloakroom.
Shop and cafe
Both our shop and our cafe will be open during the event. They’ll open from 10:00 and can be accessed via the lift or our Akeman Street car park entrance.
There’s a water fountain near the entrance.
Our shop.
Inside our cafe.
Our shop.
Outside our cafe.
Outdoor areas
You can bring a packed lunch that you can have in the picnic tables in our quad. The quad also has a play area. If it’s raining, you can use our Indoor Picnic Area instead, located in the car park.
Our woodland area can be found by crossing Park Street. It’s a small area of woodland with some short trails and dens. There’s no seating in our woodland.
You’re welcome to explore our woodland and meadow across the road from our quad. You can use our Outdoor I-Spy Trail to explore our woodland and quad.
Indoor picnic area.
Picnic benches in our quad.
Our team hope you have a wonderful experience. If you have any questions, email us at [email protected].