Silver Travel Advisor selects the most accessible and silver-friendly days out in the South of England.
(TRAVPR.COM) UK - April 2nd, 2014 - ““Are we nearly there yet?” takes on another dimension when uttered by Senior Citizens”, according to Silver Travel Advisor, the travel review and advice site for mature travellers.
Silver Travel Advisor’s Debbie Marshall says “Given the challenges of adapting to an aging population and the cost of altering some of the UK’s finest historic treasures, it’s a great credit to them that so many of the UK’s southern attractions have been very successful in improving visitor facilities and in providing mobility aids, volunteers and guides”
Dawn Blee of South East Tour Guides, who researched the age-friendly attractions on behalf of Silver Travel Advisor, said “parking close to an attraction, coupled with the angle of ascent, become very important considerations for older people, the less mobile, or for those planning a day out with an older companion”.
She added “We don’t want to get worn out walking to the site. But, medieval architects rarely took into account the needs of 21st C tourists when planning castles. As a result, Heritage Managers looking to draw in visitors have literally faced an `uphill’ struggle to improve access to buildings and provide suitable alternatives where access just is not possible.
Top tourist sites for silver travellers with limited mobility
According to Silver Travel Advisor, one of the best sites in the south of England for older visitors is Blenheim Palace near Oxford. For a number of years it has been possible to hire motorised scooters to take the strain on getting from the main gate to the Palace itself and to whizz around the extensive grounds.
Blenheim also offers a Touch Tour with a trained guide providing the opportunity to touch and feel some of Blenheim’s most famous artefacts.
In Kent, National Trust’s Ightham Mote - a most beautiful moated manor house set down in a dip - hires out buggies but only if there a volunteer is available to accompany the buggy-ist.
Battle Abbey in Hastings, Sussex offers mobility scooters for loan to roam around the battle fields of 1066.
National Trust’s Hidcote Manor in the Cotswolds provides a number of free mobility scooters that can be booked in advance or on a turn up & ride basis for use around about one third of the stunning gardens. Free binaural guides to the garden are also available.
Sheffield Park and Gardens in East Sussex has been part of a pleasure garden and parkland estate since the 1700’s and continues to stay up to date by offering double motorised buggies to zoom around their acres of landscape garden, parkland and woodland (these need to be booked in advance and a £2 donation is requested). This overcomes the difficulties of manual wheelchairs, especially when the carer is a similar age to the wheel chair occupant and finds pushing the chair arduous. A double buggy means that conversation is easier and the carer can share what’s being seen with the less able companion.
Baby backpackss and all-terrain baby buggies are also available for a small donation.
A sure way to ensure mobility issues are minimised is to visit an attraction where everyone in on wheels.
Denbies Wine Estate at Dorking provides land train tours of the wine estate. The vineyard train takes visitors on a round trip to the highest point in the vineyard with full commentary outlining the history of the Estate.
At Hampton Court Shire horses take visitors around the magnificent grounds.
An increasing number of land trains take visitors to and from car parks or around the venue itself.
Leeds Castle in Kent offers visitors the free use of a land train, allowing visitors to ride when tired, or stroll around between, as does Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent. During the summer in Royal Tunbridge Wells a land train operates between the level historic Pantiles at the bottom of town to the level modern shopping centre at the top of the town.
According to Silver Travel Advisor, the much maligned alterations to Stonehenge are, a great improvement. (Some visitors claim that the engineers appear to have moved the Stones closer during site renovations!) An optional weatherproof land train, with excellent own-wheelchair access takes visitors close to the Stone Circle. Powered scooters are not as yet available for hire to transport visitors around the stones, but this may be a future consideration.
End.
Editors note:-
Silver Travel Advisor is the only travel review advice site exclusively for the over 50’s and features thousands of reviews of days out, destinations, hotels and holidays in the UK and worldwide.
Visit www.silvertraveladvisor.com
###
