5 accessible family days out in the west midlands
One of the most frustrating and anxiety-building processes as a parent or as a disabled person, in general, has to be trying to plan a day out. Can I get through the entrance? Is it step-free? Is there an accessible toilet? This has led me to providing a list of the places that we visit as a family for a day out, where there are little or no barriers to going as a disabled person.
WEST MIDLANDS SAFARI PARK
We have been to the west midlands safari park and I must say, it was a pleasure to visit. What I like most about this place as an accessible attraction is the fact that you do it from the comfort of your own transport. If you can get yourself in a vehicle and can see out the window, then you can enjoy this place just as much as any other fully able person. At the time of my last visit, I was slightly more able, so when I went to the toilet I went into the ordinary gent’s toilets, walking there with a stick. I did however take note that there were disabled toilets, which I’m sure will be perfectly adequate for most disabled toileting needs.
As a family, I think this is an amazing trip, there is a large range of animals, in large open spaces. However, even without a family, this is 100% a place I would still visit, I absolutely love animals. Especially big cats, and being able to get that up-close and personal from the comfort of your own car is amazing to me. On top of the drive round, they have a bunch of ‘walk around’ attractions on accessible pathways, including and not limited to, theme park rides, food stalls, aquarium, reptile house, sea lions and penguins, and even a dinosaur walk.
Their accessibility page has a tonne of useful information to which I have left a link below along with a link to their website homepage.
Website: https://www.wmsp.co.uk/
Accessibility Page: https://www.wmsp.co.uk/accessibility
THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
I have always felt like it’s a little bit of a strange one to mention and yet I don’t really know why, we almost all know of someone who was affected by the war and even if you don’t this place is a truly beautiful area to get some fresh air, and best of all, IT’S FREE! The Arboretum has a continuous lather of events on, from live bands to family fun days, and even car shows. We however, mainly go here when there is nothing on at all. We enjoy the beautiful displays, the walks through the woods and along the canal and always making sure to stop by the memorial for the regiment my grandfather was in. R.E.M.E.
As for being disabled and visiting here, the grounds are kept in tip-top shape. There are paths around the majority of the grounds, with most of them being tarmac. Some of them are gravel, and even where there isn’t a path the grass is kept in great condition, so you are generally fine on a wheeled aid. They also have mobility scooters available for hire, from memory these are £10 and can be pre-booked with them. I have used the service on occasion, as although I have my own boot scooter, theirs are the larger scooters with big wheels, are more comfortable, and have a much longer battery life also.
For children, the walk itself is pleasant enough for children, with lots of different statues and memorials to explore. However, on top of that, they have a couple of adventure playgrounds. I’m hesitant to call them parks, as they aren’t your traditional swing and slides, but instead one is a trail with rope bridges and stepping stone stumps, and the other is more of an abstract park. It has a spider web, a take on a slide which is a trio of poles, and one of the lie-down swings.
TWYCROSS ZOO
Twycross zoo is our closest zoo, and overall I think its a great zoo, its not the largest zoo in the UK, yet its perfectly ample. It has a large range of animals, including big cats, giraffes, rhinos, and a bunch of monkeys and apes. They have recently added a Gruffalo trail to the park, which has some interactive displays to tell the story of the Gruffalo in a sensory way, feeling and listening and pressing the buttons to start the different sections of story.
The zoo is accessible with most of it being lightly gravelled and some of it being paved. The gravelled sections, although not the most comfortable on my boot-scooter, are still perfectly adequate for getting around. They do offer scooters for hire, which I have used once before when I had not had chance to charge my own before going. The service was seamless once getting to the customer service building just past the entrance.
For the children, other than the obvious animal attractions and the gruffalo already mentioned. They always seem to have a face painting station. They also always try to keep things fresh with themed days or weeks throughout the year. Inside the main building, there is a café and a very good soft play area for the children which is competitively priced and can be accessed without having to pay for entrance to the zoo.
THE CINEMAS
Now I know this one isn’t exactly a revelation, but there’s a very good reason I wanted to put this one on here. I wanted to specifically give a shout-out to two cinemas relatively local to me, those are Cineworld at Bently Bridge Wolverhampton and the Odeon Cinema in Tamworth. The reason I wanted to specifically give a shout-out to these is because of where the accessible seating is. I think anyone who has been to the cinema can probably have sympathy for those hideous disabled seating bays which looked like something that belonged on a supermarket car park. However, the accessible seating at these two is at the back of the cinema. With one cinema having a lift you use to get a back entrance to the screening, and the second where all screens you access from the back with ramps down to any lower level seating. Gone are the days when any disabled person wanting to go to the cinema must deal with unbearable cramps in the back of their neck!
DRAYTON MANOR & THOMAS LAND
The theme park seems to be a great place for a bunch of different ages. Other than going there when I was a teen, I hadn’t been there for many years. The last time visited I was blissfully unaware that there was anything wrong with me. We recently we there as a family over Christmas. I can say that access to the park is very good, although because it was winter when we went, it got dark very early and upon leaving, the path was not well lit and I felt like I needed a headlight on my mobility scooter.
The park itself has the main attractions which are aimed for children of higher ages. Then there is the Thomas land section for the younger children. I can honestly say, I was shocked by the number of rides that were available for the younger children. I thought it would have much less available than what was actually there. Although I did not go on any of them myself, If you are slightly more ambulant, there were separate disabled queues where I am sure the staff are amply trained to help you transfer to the ride where needed.
On top of the theme park and Thomas land, there is also a zoo. We didn’t do the zoo on this occasion, but I can see where an annual pass to somewhere like this could easily get you many family days out without being repetitive. Along the zoo there is also a dinosaur walk for those who wish to do so.
If there is anywhere that you feel needs an honerable mention or if there is anywhere else that you would like me to cover, then let me know via the contact page or in the comments below.
Be Kind.
Love,
Jonno.
