Dover Bound

Due to the complete wash out of our beautiful North Eastern summer, we packed up our tourer and headed south to warmer clim's. An exciting day dawned with adventure and travel laying just around every roundabout and service station.

You may be right in asking why Dover?  There are two reasons for this; The first being it is a probably as far south as we could get without adding a few illegal immigrants to our entourage and the second reason being  Dover is home to a lovely segment of our family.

A long drive ensued down the 300 miles of the A1 & A14 motorway and an even longer crawl along the 26 miles of the M11. Arriving through no fault of our own 14 hrs later. One very tired dad, one exhausted mum and one frustrated me.

We arrived at the hawthorn farm camping &caravan site at 8:30pm situated just outside Dover on the road to Deal at a place called Martin  Mill the site was very busy with weekend campers, the staff were very helpful and found us a plot for the night.There's a small cafe on site and they very kindly cooked us a meal of fish n chips of which we were very grateful .The cafe was accessible to wheelchairs and the staff were very helpful, the cafe housed a small shop offering bread ,milk etc.   

Next morning dad moved the caravan to a different plot as a lot  of  people had moved on to catch ferries or move on to other destinations. The plots are on a first come first served basis as traffic moves to and from Europe and can be very busy at weekends although it did calm down during the week.

Flat and Spacious

The caravan site has good facilities, with a good shower room and toilet, wet room, with drain away system rather than stepping in the shower. Although my experience was a dry one due to a spitting shower head attacking my dad rather than showering me. The room itself was great with lots of space and some additional seating for comfort.

Overall Deal was a very accessible place, nice and flat, great for wheelchairs with lots of open space. Unfortunatley disabled toilets were limited and not situated in best positions, there was however one in the cafe at the end of the pier. Other than that though you had to venture into town center, or use the rather dirty one in the bus depot.

Sea Wall

Prone to flooding Deal does have a sea wall, there are places to get over these walls, but the council didn't see fit to locate the disabled parking bays next to them. These parking bays also need attention, you cant just change the colour of the lines to yellow and call it suitable for disabilities, how do we get in and out?

Disabled Parking Bay

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Overall Deal is a lovely place to visit due to the endless flats which need little to no effort to move a wheelchair. It is however quiet with little in the way of excitement but a lovely quaint seaside resort none the less.



My Walsall Trip (Cross Country trains and Premier Inn Walsall Reviews)

WALSALL TRIP

Last Monday, I was travelling down from Sunderland to Walsall with my personal assistance for a meeting in Lifeways Office. Since I am one of the members for Lifeways Quality Focus Group, I have to travel to different cities or towns quarterly.

My previous trip to Walsall was not really a good one I have to say. So, I was a bit hesistated about my trip down to Walsall this time. Everything for my trip was planned by Lifeways Office in Walsall which included my overnight stay in Premier Inn, my meals, taxis and also my return trains.

I started my journey from home around half past twelve by taxi to Newcastle Central station. My journey to Walsall was a long long one. First we had to take the train from Newcastle to Birmingham New Street then we changed to another train to Walsall. The whole journey took us nearly three and a half hours. I have to say that it was quite tiring journey.

We were in coach F on the Cross Country train where I was allocated with a disabled seat. However, I had to transfer to another coach after I had a difficulties using the disabled toilet nearby because it was out of order. The officer onboard was kind enough to move us to FIRST CLASS since disabled seats in other coaches were fully booked. The first class seat was quite comfortable with plenty of legroom.

Arriving to Birmingham New Street Station was a nightmare. The train station was dark, really packed and quite smoky. We were there for a short transit and took another train to Walsall after 5 minutes. As a wheelchair user, I would recommend other wheelchair users to give themselves plently of time for transit in that station because travelling from one platform to another platfrom is not an easy task. You have to take a lift down to a subway, change to another lift to get you to the right platform. It is quite confusing I have to say. To avoid it, just book for an assistance when you buying your train tickets beforehand!

My review for Cross Country train

The train was very clean however if you are looking for space, standard class definitely be too tight for a wheelchair user. The disabled toilet was clean and spacious. I had no problem using the toilet.

The walkway is very narrow for wheelchair accessibility. I think they need to consider and redesign the walkway.

We took a taxi from Walsall station back to the hotel. We were staying for a night in Premier Inn Walsall (M6/J10). Here is my review about the hotel.

1) The corridor

It is a bit narrow. We had a problem to get pass at one stage because the housekeeping trolley at the corridor.

I was talking to my mom :)

Spacious room

2) The room

It was HUGE!!!!!!! Plenty of room to move around. It was really comfortable. I stayed in an accessible room while my personal assistance had his room next to mine. It was an adjoining room.

The room has a reasonable bedsize, television, a couch and a study table.

I was relaxing in my room watching telly while my personal assistance was relaxing in his own room. Overall, we were pleased with the hotel rooms.



3)The bathroom

It was really clean and again plenty of space to move around. The toilet is very disabled friendly and fully-equipped with disabled facilities especially for a wheelchair user.



I  do think they need some improvements at the corridor as it is just too narrow. Not forgetting, the entrance of the hotel. I don't think it is very disabled friendly because of the same reason- TOO SMALL AND NARROW!!!

Overall, I had a good time in Walsall despite all the obstacles we faced along the way.

Hope you enjoy reading my blog and have a nice day :)

Love,

Andrew

Barnes Park, Sunderland

BARNES PARK

New water fountain in the park

Beautiful garden

I was given an opportunity to visit and open the newly improved Barnes Park, Sunderland.

Another view of the park

Barnes Park reopens to the public on 21st of May 2011 after a £3.6 million overhaul, and the project included a number of benefits for people with disabilities.

A little facts about the park:

a) The park covers 14 hectares



Information board and attractions in the park



b) It attracts 120,000 visitors a year, mainly local.



The new carved seat



c) Most importantly, it is the only park in the North East equipped with disabled changing facilities.



New playground for children






My personal favourite: The echo tree. It is fantastic

 I think this park is great for families to have freedom to relax and enjoy the park. My favourite part of the park is the sensory and informal garden. I particularly enjoyed the echo tree, which took my voice and turned it into sound effects. It was AMAZING!

 



New wheelchair assessible toilet



The park has a changing place for disabled people. It means that people with wheelchair do not need to travel too far or travel back home if they need to use the toilet facilities.

 

New changing facilities in the park

I am amazed with the effort taken by the Sunderland City Council and I think it is important to include a changing place in any new development so that everyone can enjoy the same activities as others.



An artificial lake in the park. It is beautiful :-)



Other than that, there is also on-site parking space, making it easy for people with mobility problems to access the park.

 



Overall, I enjoyed my day there and I would recommend disabled people to visit the park. I am sure you will enjoy it :-)

**I even made into the local paper**

Thank you for reading :) Cheers