OpenBritain Blog » Scotland

North Ledaig Caravan Club Site, Oban, Scotland

Craig Grimes — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:29:59 +0000

Situated on the shore with fabulous views over the sea to the Isle of Mull the Ledaig Caravan Site is “A wonderful 30-acre park that has been awarded the David Bellamy Conservation Award, it is situated on a 2 mile sand and shingle beach on Ardmucknish Bay. Here sailing, water sports and safe bathing can be enjoyed by all the family. Some pitches at the caravan site are almost on the water’s edge and all of them face the sea, offering panoramic view to the beautiful Isle of Mull.”

Although you may have your own suitable facilities in your caravan or camper the site also has a bathroom equipped for disabled people including a WC with grab rails and a level access shower.

Further details of this caravan site can be found on OpenBritain, on page 321 of theOpenBritain 2010 Guide and on the North Ledaig Caravan Club Site Website.

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Cambushinnie Croft, Perthshire, Scotland

Craig Grimes — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:31:58 +0000

Cambushinnie Croft is on a working farm in Cromlix, Perthshire and was completed in 2008. The farm is surrounded by open views of the Ochil Hills and is also only 4 miles away from the Cathedral town of Dunblane.

The 3 bedroom property sleeps up to 6 people and one of the bedrooms is on the ground floor making it accessible for wheelchair users. This bedroom also has an en-suite wet room with shower. Cambushinnie Croft has been assessed by Visit Scotland and has been awarded a Category 2.

For further information please see OpenBritain, on page 336 of the OpenBritain 2010 Guide and on the Cambusinnie Croft website.

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Eildon Holiday Cottages, Scottish Borders, Scotland

Craig Grimes — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:23:55 +0000

Eildon Holiday Cottages are located in the Scottish Borders a relatively unknown and unexplored area of Scotland and just 40 minutes by car to Edinburgh. The property is an 18th Century farm which has been converted into 6 self-catering cottages, some of which have facilities for disabled people and have views over the Tweed Valley to the Lammermuir and Moorfoot Hills.

Information about the cottage’s facilities for disabled people can be found on the Eildon Holiday Cottages Accessibility webpage. In brief, 5 of the cottages have at least 1 ground floor bedroom with bath or shower room. 2 of the cottages also have ceiling hoists and a portable hoist is also available for guests in other cottages. Other mobility aids and equipment may also be rented during your stay such as commodes and shower chairs.

Further details can be found on OpenBritain, on page 334 of the OpenBritain 2010 Guide and on the Eildon Holiuday Cottages Website.

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Lovat Lodge Hotel, Nairn, Scotland

Craig Grimes — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:54:45 +0000

The Lovat Lodge Hotel overlooks the Moray Firth in Scotland and is located near to Inverness. The hotel is adapted with facilities including lever taps, adjustable beds, accessible bathrooms and walk-in showers. Lovat Lodge is wheelchair accessible and has wheelchair accessible suites with bathrooms. The staff also have experience in the requirements of disabled people and they have equipment such as wheelchairs and motorised buggies which maybe available during your stay. You should contact the hotel for further information.

Although the hotel does not have a full Access Statement you can contact them directly if you have any specific questions. The hotels contact details and further information can be found on OpenBritain, on page 330 of the OpenBritain 2010 Guide and on the Lovat Lodge Hotel Website.

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Crathie Opportunity Holidays, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Craig Grimes — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:18:46 +0000

Crathie Opportunity Holidays are 4 self-catering cottages in the restored Manse Courtyard of historic Crathie Kirk, Aberdeenshire. Located in the Cairngorm National Park, Crathie lies between the villages of Braemar and Ballater some 50 miles west of Aberdeen.

The 4 cottages are all named after glens near Crathie and all have level ground floor access throughout, fully accessible kitchens, level access showers, height adjustable beds and ceiling tracking hoists. Each of the cottages have their own pages where more details are given about the specific accommodation. Please see the Clunie, Gairn, Gelder and Girnock pages for further information.

The Access Statement gives a summary of the provision for disabled people and further details can be found on OpenBritain, on page 319 of the OpenBritain 2010 Guide and on the Crathie Opportunity Holidays Website.

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DisabledGo Search Now on OpenBritain

Craig Grimes — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:35:31 +0000

The DisabledGo search engine is now available on OpenBritain in the left hand column. The engine allows users to search through over 50,000 venues and organisations that have facilities for disabled people. The venues listed include educational institutions such as universities and colleges, as well as health care centres such as hospitals, doctors surgeries and dentists. Libraries, post offices, community centres and local government and council services are also included.

In addition to this you can search for disability organisations and community groups in your area. You can also change the search radius from between 1 – 50 miles of a given location or postcode.

OpenBritain are proud to working with DisabledGo, so what are you waiting for? Why not try it today?

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Scare Witch Trials at UK Dungeons

Craig Grimes — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:05:43 +0000

The Scare Witch Trials can be found at dungeons in London, Edinburgh and York from the 17th – 31st October and according to the Dungeons website you have to:

“Keep your wits about you as you as you pick your way through clawing bony branches of the Dungeons’ creaking woodlands where the Scare Witch darts between the shadows ready to pounce on the lost and unwary.

Should you make it through the darkness of the Dungeons’ hellish Halloween forest alive prepare to face the Witch-finder General in the Dungeons’ 17th century courtroom.

Be prepared to stand trial as he searches out the witches amongst you and quake in your boots as those in the dock before you are sentenced for horrendous witch crimes. What will be found guilty of? Turning yourself into a frog on Fridays? Being too pertinent with peculiar potions? Or cackling continuously over a cauldron?”

Finding information for disbled people on the Dungeons website isn’t all that easy but if you type “disabled access” into the Dungeon’s FAQ search engine it comes back with some information such as:

“Are the Dungeons Accessible for Disabled Customers?

Yes, All the dungeons have wheelchair access, however certain rides are not suitable for disabled customers.

Please see below for full details for York Dungeons disability access:

The York Dungeon is unsuitable for battery powered electric wheelchairs or mobility scooters, however we do have a standard manual wheel chair on site which can be used (subject to availability). This wheel chair would need to be pushed by an accompanying carer. Therefore it is necessary for you to be able to transfer from an electric wheelchair or mobility scooter to the manual chair. We have two flights of stairs, both sets of stairs have stair lifts and again you must be able to transfer from the wheel chair to the stair lift to gain entry.

The York Dungeon is situated in a Grade 2 Listed building and this does cause some restrictions for guests with mobility difficulties.

Please call the York Dungeon directly on 01904 632599 and speak to a member of staff prior to booking or arrival to check suitability. Our staff will be happy to answer any questions regarding access to the York Dungeon.”

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Doors Open Days

Craig Grimes — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:59:48 +0000

Doors Open Days is coordinated by the Scottish Civic Trust and is part of European Herritage Days along side the Scottish Archaeology Month which is organised by Archaeology Scotland. Doors Open days is the largest free annual architechtural annual event in Scotland and runs throughout September.

On the Doors Open Days website you can search for free access to hundreds of fascinating buildings throughout Scotland. Every weekend throughout the month many buildings that are normally closed to the public open up for a glimpse into their private interiors.

You can search either through the site’s interactive map, area or date. Within the interactive map page you can also search by area, date and theme.

Unfortunately, you currently cannot search by facilities for people with disabilities this year, but maybe it’s something that they will add for 2010. However, once you have found a building that you would like to visit they do include symbols to indicate accessible WCs and if there is access to the building.

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Caledonian Sleeper from Aviemore to London

Craig Grimes — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:50:20 +0000

After the Equal Adventue Festival 09 I had to get to London for the following day, there were really only two options; fly or a train. The problem with flying was that I would have to leave the festival early and then also pay for an overnight hotel in the capital, neither time nor budgets allowed for this so I looked into the Caledonian Sleeper Train provided by Scott Rail which would not only get me to London in time for my meeting but also give me a place to sleep on the Sunday night.

After looking through the access information on their website and decided to take the plunge…

I have to admit that I was very pleasently surprised by the Sleeper Train, the berth was farily spacious, the adapted WC and buffet car were right next door and the staff were friendly and helpful.

The wheelchair accessible berth

The adapted WC

The trip was much more comfortable than I expected, I slept really well, the conductor brought me breakfast in bed at 8.00am and I was in London Euston by 9.15am. It was the perfect way to travel from rural Scotland to the hussle and bussle on the big smoke and so very easy.

Just for fun, below is a short video clip of the Scottish countryside flying by the window of my berth on the Caledonian Sleeper, enjoy…

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Equal Adventure Festival 2009

Craig Grimes — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:50:10 +0000

Please note that the OpenBritain launch date is the 1st September 2009, please come and visit us again to see the full completed site. In the meantime, here’s some OpenBritain News!

Equal Adventue’s mission is to “To provide a wide range of support to providers – from consultation and research to strategy, implementation, mentoring and technical coaching – to enhance the opportunities to pursue adventure sport and active lifestyles available to people with diverse needs.”

The Equal Adventure website continues to state “For many, gaining meaningful access to sport and adventure opportunities is a greater challenge than the activity itself. Despite a commitment to equality, mainstream providers of outdoor activity, expeditions and sport are often forced into standard patterns of operation – often leading to exclusion. Gaining meaningful access requires taking measures that challenge technical, logistical and human barriers, building on simple good practice.

“For this reason and to help raise money for Motivation and 500 Miles, 2 charities that support the needs of people with disabilities in the developing world they decided to hold the Equal Adventure Festival 09. The event was held at Gelnmore Lodge just outside Aviemore, Scotland and spanned two days of outdoor activties to suit all tastes and abilities.

On the first night Jamie Andrew, a world renouned mountaineer, quadrouple amputee and a founding memeber of the 500 Miles charity gave an inspiring talk about his accident and recovery from it. His speach and experiences took us through a barrage of emotions and certainly set us up for a weekend of challanges with his main focus being about setting yourself goals in life, acheiving them and then moving onwards and upwards to the next. These goals do not have to be breaking world records but instead pushing your own personal limits from learning to undertake basic day to day tasks and then onto desirable personal aims.

10 teams of up to 4 people which were mixed of disabled and non-disabled people competed against each other undertaking tasks such as an endurance loop through the Cairngorns National Park, problem solving activities, orienteering and water based fun on Loch Morlich in adapted Canoes. My personal favourites were “Off the Beaten Track” a challenge to work as a team to navigate land, water and mud including crossing the river in two places. Sometimes the river crossings went well and at other times it was slightly more dubious!

Below a video of the Whacky Races on the Off The Beaten Track Challenge.

Another of the activities that I really enjoyed was the problem solving where as a team we had to create a rope square while blind folded and also try to build the tallest free standing lego tower. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds with a fairly strong breeze coming down through the valley, but of course our team managed to erect a tower of 5 foot 7 inches creating the record.

Another activity was to create eco-friendly head dresses from local plants and vegetation…

A great weekend was had by all and I for one cannot wait for the Equal Adventure Festival next year, which have been provisionally set for the 27th – 29th August 2010 (To be confirmed).

For more photos from the Festival please see Equal Adventure’s Picasso photo album.

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