Disabled Access

Briefly, this is only our second season with a Motor Caravan and we are finding the sites we have stopped at ideal for our purposes. The sites are clean, well kept and the staff friendly, alert and very helpful. At our latest stay at Grafham Water, my wife had a fall outside the van door and 3 staff members ran to help get her back on her feet for which I am very grateful.

When we are on the sites, I find the information cabins highly useful for visitors who want to know what is going on in the district. The information leaflets and pamphlets identify areas of interest including buildings, parks, shows, local walks etc.

The niggle I have with the information, especially on local walks, is that nearly all the information does not include details for wheelchair pushers,

Let me make it clear that I know this is not the fault of the site management. They have no jurisdiction over the type of leaflets produced by the various organisations that produce the leaflets and information and I also know that the site staff, had I used the tongue in my head and asked, would have pointed me in the right direction.

Consequently, I took the leaflet which showed how to get from the Grafham site to Grafham Water Park and followed the map, pushing the wheelchair down the B661. A bit of a hair raising experience along the narrow road with no pavement and no escape route in the face of oncoming vehicles. The journey, I am sure, was over 2 miles and heavy going in places.

After making enquiries at the Grafham Water Park cafe, we returned using a cycle route of only 1 mile long, free of traffic and brought us out in the centre of Grafham Village within a few yards of the site. Ok, so it was hilly, stone strewn and gravelly in places but it was safe.

Again, I must point out that the site staff are not responsible for the information found in leaflets and pamphlets.

For instance, the leaflet I found on the Moreton in Marsh site showed, quite clearly, that the Gardens and Bird Sanctuary in the local area was only 1 mile away. True, it is, but what it neglected to say was that it was 1 mile away from the entrance and another 800 yards or so up a steep, gravel drive to where the gardens and other exhibits were.

Of course, the answer to all this is to do the research first before booking the site. Trawl the internet for details of local walks for wheelchair pushers that do not require selling the pusher and buying a donkey instead.

Any other suggestions would be very welcome.