Sudbury Hall

Sudbury Hall, which also houses the National Trust Museum of Childhood, is a late 17th-century house with lavish interiors located in Derbyshire. FRLA was invited to help improve the property’s car parking and visitor flow. Through analysis of the car parking area and modelling of the visitor figures, we were able to calculate the peak demand on the car park at different times of the year. Using this, we could demonstrate that, with efficient use of the space and an increase in the percentage of it put over to hard-standing, there was sufficient total area to meet the property’s needs. The second element to this work was to address the visitors’ arrival experience. The location of the car park and the entrances to the attraction, combined with the current ticketing arrangement, meant that the arrival experience was confused. We devised a series of phased changes that would improve the visitor flow and create a true sense of arrival.