For a keen gardener with limited mobility the greenhouse provides the ideal environment. To make the greenhouse so that it is wheelchair friendly is an interesting challenge that we are pleased to meet. The two main requirements are a door wide enough to take the wheelchair and staging at a suitable height to be within reach of the gardener. A further requirement for most gardeners is to be able to regulate the ventilation, watering and shading.
We start with the size of the wheelchair, this includes the width of wheels plus the knuckles. From this we design a doorway suited to the gardener and the greenhouse. We then adapt the door as needed and remove the threshold although some of our designs do not have a threshold for wheelbarrow access. Next we consider the knee height of the seated gardener. The staging needs to be above this height but not out of reach. Most of our greenhouses have space for the wheelchair to turn round inside and come out facing forwards.
We have modified the “Hexalight” for more wheelchair owners than any of our other designs and it is this design that is in use at places such as Capel Manor. Many of our greenhouses such as the “Hexalight” have automatic ventilation built into the design and others can have an automatic system added. Shading can be fitted and designed to be operated from a low level. There are many watering systems available to look after plants while the gardener is on holiday and these can be modified if necessary to suit any more fussy plants.
We have had requests to adapt each of our different styles of greenhouse to the needs of our customers. To date we have managed to fit the greenhouse to the gardener in each case.