Access statement
Accessibility
The estate is single-storey because a planning condition said nothing could rise above the pines. That decision was made for the skyline and it happens to be the best thing about getting around here.
What we are committing to
Two things, and they are different in kind. On this website, conformance with WCAG 2.2 at level AA. On the estate, a set of physical provisions with dimensions attached, so you can work out before you book whether a route, a room or a pool works for you.
This statement is a self-assessment, made by the team that built the site and specified the building. Where it says a criterion is met, we have tested it. Where we are not sure, the gap is written down further down this page with the rest of them. No third party has audited the site and we claim no certificate for it.
The statement is reviewed every twelve months and whenever a barrier is reported to us. A barrier we cannot fix quickly joins the published list rather than a private one.
What is built into this website
Specific rather than aspirational: each of these is in the code that served you this page.
Every control on the site is a real button, link, input or select, reachable in a sensible order with the Tab key and operated with Enter or Space. The first thing your focus lands on is a Skip to content link that jumps past the navigation.
The two overlays — the picture lightbox and the cookie preference dialog — hold focus inside themselves while they are open, close on Escape, and put your focus back on the control that opened them. The menus close on Escape too, and return focus to the button.
Focus is a 2 px outline, offset by 3 px, in a blue that is deliberately not the brand bronze: it measures 6.4:1 against the page and 2.4:1 against the body text, so it reads as a different thing rather than as decoration.
The outline is never removed. It is suppressed only for a mouse click, through the browser's own focus-visible rule, which is the behaviour a keyboard user wants and a mouse user does not notice.
Body text measures 15.2:1 against the page and secondary text 7.7:1, both above the 7:1 AAA threshold. Reversed out of the dark pine sections, text measures 13.2:1.
Type is set in relative units, so the browser's own text-size setting and zoom to 200% both work without a horizontal scrollbar appearing or a line of text being cut off. Nothing on the site is an image of text.
If your system is set to reduce motion, the site honours it: every animation and transition is cut to a thousandth of a millisecond and smooth scrolling is turned off. The reveal effects as you scroll simply do not happen, and the page is complete without them.
There is nothing that moves, blinks or plays on its own, and no carousel that advances without being asked.
Every photograph carries alternative text, and the build fails rather than publishes a page where one is missing — an empty value is allowed, but only written out deliberately for a decorative frame.
Each photograph ships with its real width and height, so the layout does not jump as images arrive. The estate plans and sections are inline SVG with a title, so a screen reader can reach them and they take the colours of the page, including at high contrast.
Specification tables use real table markup with row and column headers, so a screen reader can tell you which suite and which column a figure belongs to. Each table sits in a labelled, focusable region, which means a wide table can be scrolled from the keyboard rather than only by dragging.
Where a table has a filter, the number of matching rows is announced as it changes rather than silently updated.
Every form is a plain HTML form that posts to this site and works with JavaScript switched off. The script only adds inline validation and a message when it succeeds.
Every field has a visible label joined to its control, so tapping the label focuses the field. Required fields are marked in the markup as well as visually. An error is shown next to the field it belongs to, named in words rather than by colour, and focus moves to the first field that needs fixing. The status message is announced politely, not interrupting.
Each page declares its own language, so a screen reader pronounces Portuguese as Portuguese and German as German. Every page exists in all five languages with reciprocal links between them.
The language switcher is a list of real links, so it works without JavaScript and is reachable by keyboard. Your choice is remembered on your own device, which the cookie policy sets out.
One h1 per page, then a heading structure that goes down one level at a time, so the heading list in a screen reader is a usable table of contents. Navigation, main content and the footer are marked as landmarks.
Each page has a breadcrumb trail, and the page title is written to be read out of context — the thing it names comes first, not the brand.
Where this website still falls short
Captions and meta text use the lightest of the three ink tones, which measures 3.7:1 against the page. That clears the 3:1 bar for large text and falls short of the 4.5:1 bar for small text, so its use is restricted to labels of 24 px and above. If you find it smaller than that anywhere, it is a defect, and reporting it will get it darkened in the next build.
The stay planner is a rate calendar. It can be operated from the keyboard and it announces the nights you have selected, but it has not yet been tested end to end with a screen reader on a touch device, which is the combination we trust least. Everything the planner does can also be done with the reservation form, which is a plain form, and an enquiry made either way reaches the same person.
The estate masterplan has a numbered key but not yet a full written equivalent. The suite plans do: every dimension on them is repeated in the specification table beside them. Until the masterplan catches up, ask us by email and we will describe the route you need in words.
The gallery's alternative text names the subject of each frame. It does not yet describe every frame at the length someone choosing between two suites would want. We are rewriting it frame by frame and the suite and wellness groups are done first, because those are the ones a decision rests on.
Anything we send as a PDF — a press kit, a plan, a proposal — is not yet tagged for assistive technology. Ask for it as HTML or plain text and you will get the same content in a form that works.
The translations into German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese follow the English. A correction to an English page can be a build ahead of its four siblings. If a page reads oddly in your language, the English page is the authority and telling us closes the gap.
There is no film on the site yet. When one arrives it will ship with captions and a transcript on the same day, not afterwards.
Arrival, and the route from the car
Two accessible parking bays, each 3.6 m wide, sit on the level beside the arrival court, 25 m from the reception desk. The whole run is firm, even and under cover for the last 8 m.
A hearing loop is fitted at the reception desk and at the spa desk. A portable loop can be set up in MIRANTE, in the event hall and in any of the six seating configurations, and a request at booking is enough to have it there before you are.
Registration on arrival can be completed sitting down, at the desk's lower section at 760 mm, or in your suite if standing at a counter is the problem.
- Accessible bays
- 2, at 3.6 m wide
- Bay to desk
- 25 m, level
- Lower desk section
- 760 mm
Getting into the water
There are nine bodies of water on the estate, 1 715 m² of surface between them, and the two that most people want are the warmest and the longest.
A fixed-mast hoist serves the 25 m lap pool at 28 °C and the thermal pool at 34–36 °C. A mobile hoist can be brought to the main terrace pool and to the children's pool, which is 0.5 m deep throughout. The thermal pool also has a ramp at 1:15 with a handrail on both sides, which is the route most guests prefer to a hoist.
The Long Circuit of eleven hydrothermal stations is taken in a published order over about 90 minutes, and the order can be shortened or rearranged by the spa team around a mobility or a cardiac restriction. One of the fourteen treatment rooms has level access from the circuit and a couch that adjusts from 480 to 900 mm.
- Pool hoists
- 2 fixed, 1 mobile
- Thermal ramp
- 1:15, two handrails
- Adjustable couch
- 480–900 mm
Accessible provision on the estate, with its dimensions
Figures taken from the construction information. Where a dimension decides whether you can book, email us and we will measure the actual key being offered rather than quote the type.
| Provision | Specification | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Accessible keys | 4 of the 88: two Dune Rooms of 42 m² and two Pine Suites of 58 m². Each has a door to an adjoining room for a companion. | Pavilions two and five |
| Clear door width | 900 mm to the suite, the wet room and the terrace, with a level threshold throughout. | The four accessible keys |
| Turning circle | 1 500 mm clear beside the bed and in the wet room. | The four accessible keys |
| Wet room | Level access, a folding seat, two grab rails, a lever mixer within reach of the seat, and a mirror set from 900 mm. | The four accessible keys |
| Bed | Mattress top at 480 mm, with 150 mm clearance beneath for a mobile hoist. | The four accessible keys |
| Alarm | A visual beacon in the living space and the wet room, linked to the fire alarm, with a vibrating pad on request. | The four accessible keys |
| Step-free routes | The estate is single-storey. Every pavilion, both restaurants, the spa and the Athletic Club are reached on the level by a bound-gravel path 1.8 m wide, with passing places at 25 m. The loose sand paths through the pines are an alternative, not the main route. | Whole estate |
| Hearing loops | Fixed at reception and at the spa desk, and in the Athletic Club's two studios and the event hall. Portable units for MIRANTE and any event configuration. | Five fixed, portable on request |
| Beach | The boardwalk crosses the dune with a ramped section of 38 m at 1:12 and two level landings. Beyond it the sand is soft, so a beach wheelchair with balloon tyres is kept at the dune gate. | Dune gate to the Atlantic |
| A quieter hour | 08:00 to 09:00 daily in the spa: the music off, the lighting at 30%, and the circuit taken at your own pace. | The spa |
| Reading the menus | Any menu printed at 18 pt on request. The treatment menu, the bar's list and the suite plans sent by email before arrival, to read on your own device at your own size. | All five venues and the spa |
| Assistance dogs | Welcome everywhere on the estate, including both restaurants and the dry areas of the spa, without notice and without a charge. Water and a bed provided. | Whole estate |
Four accessible keys out of 88 is a small number and they are booked early in the season. Asking for one at the point of enquiry, rather than after a confirmation, is what makes the difference.
Telling us what you need, before you arrive
The reservation form has a requests field, and it is the right place for this. Fourteen days is enough for anything on the table above; most of it we can arrange on much less, and the reason to tell us early is the four accessible keys rather than the equipment.
What reaches us goes only to the departments that have to act on it — reception, housekeeping, and the kitchen or the spa depending on what you have asked for. An accessibility requirement is special-category data under Article 9 of the GDPR, held on your explicit consent for the stay it relates to, and removed from the reservation record within 30 days of departure unless you ask us to keep a standing note for next time. The privacy notice sets out the whole of it.
You will get a written answer naming what we can do and what we cannot, before you pay a deposit. An arrangement that turns out to be impossible after a booking is confirmed is our problem to solve, not yours to absorb.
Tell us about a barrier
On this website or on the estate. The most useful report names the page or the place, what you were trying to do, and what stopped you — and, if it is the website, the browser and assistive technology you were using. We acknowledge within five working days, say what we will do and when, and if the fix is going to take a while it goes onto the published list above at the next review.
Ask before you book
An email answers faster than a form for anything specific, and it reaches the same person: [email protected].