Friday, February 12th, 2010

Fairhaven Woodland and Water Gardens situated in South Walsham, Norfolk is “is 90% wheelchair friendly and our tea room, gift shop and plant sales are fully accessible. We have five mobility scooters which we are able to lend out to visitors (please book in advance).” They have also installed hearing loops in the tea room, gift shop and on the boat.
“With the help of grant funding our sensory garden has been created with our mobility and visually impaired visitors in mind. We have created a Braille guide for this part of the garden and hope to create guides for other parts in the coming months. Most of our information boards throughout the garden have Braille panels and we will soon be introducing audio tours.”
(Source: Fairhaven Woodlands and Water Park, “All for All” webpage)
The website also offers a free downloadable map, list of events and information about other facilities. More information can be found on the Fairhaven website and their contact details can also be foundĀ on page 205 of the OpenBritain 2010 Guide and onĀ OpenBritain where you can also post a review of this attraction.

Tags: Access, Attraction, Blind, Boat, Deaf, Disabled, England, Fairhaven, Gardens, Hearing Impairment, Norfolk, OpenBritain, Park, United Kingdom, Visual Impairment, Wheelchair
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by Craig Grimes in Attraction, Blind, Deaf, England, Gardens, Hearing Impairment, Norfolk, OpenBritain, Things to Do, Tourism, United Kingdom, Visual Impairment, Wheelchair User | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

The Bure Valley Railway runs almost al year round from Aylsham to Wroxham in Norfolk and has to be a great way to see the area. When I first found this through the VisitNorfolk website I was slightly cynical in thinking that there wouldn’t be any facilities for disabled people. However, after a few clicks and a little bit of exploring I found the Disabled Access information page and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only are both of the stations accessible but also the Bure Valley Railway has 6 adapted carriages that can take up to 4 manual wheelchairs each!

The Bure Valley Railway also work with Broads Tours so that people can take the train and then an hour and a half long river boat trip before going back to Aylsham by train. What’s more, the Broads Tours boat also have facilities for disabled people including access statements for each of the boats!
For me this looks like a great day out for all the family and shows that companies are not just providing facilities but are also trying to give us the information that we need in order to make informed decisions about whether an attraction is suitable for our individual requirements.
Tags: Access, Assistance Dogs, Attraction, Boat, Disabled, England, Level Access, Norfolk, OpenBritain, Things to Do, Train, United Kingdom, Visual Impairment, Wheelchair
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by Craig Grimes in Assistance Animals, Attraction, Boat, Norfolk, OpenBritain, Opinion, Things to Do, Tourism, Train, Travel, United Kingdom, Wheelchair User | No Comments »