accessible accommodation

Crathie Opportunity Holidays

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Now that the first term of school is nearly finished I can finally reflect back on our busy summer holiday. We packed a lot into our six weeks, making the most of our time off for adventures.

Our initial main holiday plan had been to travel somewhere by ferry but alas it wasn’t to be this year as it would have required more planning than time allowed to find accommodation that we could have ‘made work’. Instead we stayed closer to home when I found the most beautiful little cottage nestled in Royal Deeside which was perfectly suited to us.

Crathie Opportunity Holidays have four specially-adapted cottages centred around a courtyard and right on the banks of the River Dee. It has everything we need including a profiling bed, hoist and wet room for Quinns and laundry facilities for me! It made a perfect base for exploration. We made the most of our week with a couple of days in Aberdeen and a trip to Cairngorm. There were also a couple of quieter days close to our Crathie House exploring the Balmoral Gardens and swimming in the river.

Camera looking down on Quinns sitting in his gravity chair in the living room of Gairn Cottage.
Quinns smiling beside his profiling bed in Gairn Cottage. Anita is sitting smiling on the bed.

Dad and I both have history with Aberdeen, and Big Sister is hoping to have a future there, so it’s always lovely to visit. We met up with friends to explore one of my favourite places, Aberdeen Art Gallery. I’m so pleased that a renovation around 2021 included a Changing Place toilet so it was an obvious choice especially with Quinns’ love of art. The exhibition was a brilliant exploration of the wonderful world of Automata. There were buttons, cranks and activities for everyone to enjoy.

Quinns is reaching out to push a red button to make an automata work.
Anita is hoisting Quinns in his sling onto a purple adjustable height changing bench.
Quinns is reaching to push a red button to make interconnecting wooden slats move.

A trip to Aberdeen wouldn’t be the same without a visit to Duthie Park. On a previous visit we found it to have not one but two pretty-inclusive playparks with highbacked swing and multiple wheelchair accessible roundabouts. And this time we were even more delighted to discover a newly-installed wheelchair-accessible swing which Quinns absolutely loved!

Quinns is smiling as he being pushed in a colourful wheelchair swing.
Sign from the Rotary Club of Aberdeen Bon Accord on the side of a wheelchair accessible swing in a Duthie Park.

The Cairngorm Mountain Railway has been on my to-do list for Quinns for a while now. We know how difficult it is to climb mountains with him (not impossible just challenging!) but this way he could experience the change in altitude and perspective with little effort from us. Thankfully we visited there before the wildfires ravaged the landscape and have since watched in disbelief at what happened.

We were very impressed with the service on the Mountain Railway. Quinns was boarded first into the front of the carriage by a really friendly member of staff. The visitor centre at the top is across multiple floors and we had a different route from everyone else to find lifts. It was amazing to get out onto the top of the mountain although it was pretty cloudy and very windy!

Quinns smiles as he sits waiting for the mountain railway train to start moving up Cairngorm.
Quinns and Anita smiling but looking very windswept at the top of Cairngorm mountain.
The wheelchair accessible carriage on the Cairngorm mountain funicular.
The giant purple and blue letters spelling out Cairngorm at the top of the mountain.
The back of Dad and Anita's heads looking out at the view over Cairngorm as the train descended.

We spent a fair bit of time at the visitor centre; eating in the restaurant, visiting the exhibitions, buying a tiny giraffe in the gift shop. The main attraction was the viewing platforms of which we wanted to make the most. Quinns enjoyed being outside the first time, tolerated it the second and refused the third trip out!

The views were spectacular from the front of the train on the way back down. We would definitely recommend this as a trip to any wheelchair users. The only improvement for us would have been a Changing Places toilet on site as the nearest one was in Aviemore at Tiso.

With Aberdeen and Cairngorm about an hour’s drive away from our cottage it was also important to have a couple of more restful days around our cottage. We were just a short walk from Balmoral and with our accommodation we got free access to the grounds. So across the bridge we went to explore the castle exhibition, gardens and learn about capercaillies. There were no sightings of Royals though as they have usually flown south for the winter.

The kitchen garden at Balmoral Castle.
Quinns and Anita smiling in front of Balmoral Castle.
Anita in the background taking a photo of Balmoral from the top of a set of steps. Quinns is in the foreground unable to get up the steps.

We also spent a day by the river. Big Sister, of course, in her happy place swimming while Quinns battled the tree I’d parked him under to shade him from the sun. And with happy children I got to sit on a rock and read a book.

It was difficult to get Quinns’ wheelchair right down to the river but Big Sister instead brought the river to him, by filling bottles of water to pour over his feet, which he found hilarious!

Anita reading her book by the River Dee.
Quinns ticking his tongue out in concentration trying to grab the branch of tree he's sitting underneath.

The holiday was as relaxing as it could be thanks to the Crathie Opportunity Holidays cottages. Sadly, there are very few facilities like these in Scotland but they make such a big difference to our lives. Imagine the adventures we could have with more provision of suitable holiday accommodation!

The Rings holiday cottage in Fife

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Our holiday to The Rings accessible holiday cottage in Fife this summer was everything we hoped it would be!

Quinns and Anita standing beside The Rings holiday cottage with a view over Scottish farming countryside on a sunny but cloudy day.

It’s never easy finding holiday accommodation for a large group – there were 14 of us in total (8 adults and 6 children). It’s even harder when one member of the group is disabled and has a lot of requirements but this cottage managed to tick all the boxes.

The Rings is a specially designed single level property which is completely adaptable depending on how many people will be staying there. We used most of the space available including two kitchen/living spaces which became one when the folding wall was drawn back. There was just one unit blocked off for other people to use independently from our group.

A view of The Rings holiday cottage from the road with it's living roof shining in the sun.
The Rings holiday cottage from the garden space in front of it. The living/kitchen spaces all had large windows overlooking the beautiful view.

Our family of four had two adjoining bedrooms which meant Quinns could share with his Big Sister, but I was right next door if he needed me. We had our own small kitchen consisting of a sink, hob and fridge so I could prepare Quinns’ feeds and medications without interfering with the main kitchen shenanigans.

Quinns had a profiling (hospital) bed with ceiling track hoists in both his bedroom and his wet room (they also provided a shower chair). Every room had its own wet room and at least another two rooms had ceiling track hoists. There was also a separate unit with washing machine and dryer which I had to use more than once during our stay.

Quinns watching TV in his profiling bed while holding onto the ceiling track hoist.
A small studio kitchen covered in Quinns' feeding pumps, syringes and empty feed bottles.
Wet room with separate bath and shower with a shower chair just in view.

The rural location was idyllic, the owners were incredibly helpful and the entire set up meant I was able to comfortably care for Quinns all week long so we could enjoy many adventures with our friends.

A week away

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We had a brilliant few days away thanks to the beautiful and very accessible Schoolhouse Fenwick. It had everything we needed as a base for our adventures. 😀

Fabulous friends gave us recommendations for what to do in Northumberland based on their own experiences so we had lots of fun without the fuss of inaccessibility!

First up was the Heatherslaw light railway which went from Heatherslaw to Etal where we explored the castle. The train had a couple of wheelchair accessible carriages and it was great to see them both being used. The castle, which is mainly ruin, wasn’t too bad for getting Quinns around in his wheelchair.

Quinns loved the train ride of course, although he learned quickly to cover his ears when the whistle blew!

Quinns is always asking to go swimming so when we heard Berwick Leisure pool had recently been refurbished we knew we had to try it out. Sure enough it has a brilliant Changing Places toilet with access from reception straight through to pool side so no need to drip through public areas while wet! 😀

It also has a Pool Pod Lift (https://tinyurl.com/4yk6x495 ) for accessing the pool. Although the submersible wheelchair didn’t have quite the right support we made it work (he was small enough for his head to be supported by the back of the chair.)

We had to rescue him on the way in as the chair kept going down until he was under the water so he sat on my knee on the way back up for safety.

Beach wheelchairs are a brilliant idea for inclusion!! It’s really difficult to move a wheelchair across sand so it’s great to see more and more beaches with these specifically designed wheelchairs.

We had a fabulous albeit very windy day on Beadnell Beach where Quinns could easily access the whole beach and sea where he was close to Big Sister who thinks she’s a fish! 😆

Our holiday was complete with a sunset boat trip around the Farne Islands. It was amazing getting so close to the wildlife particularly the seals.

Quinns absolutely loved being on the boat! We phoned ahead to check the best time as it needed to be high tide for level access.

Thanks to Serenity Boats for being so helpful, friendly and knowledgeable, it made a wonderful last night for us. 😀

No holiday story of ours is complete without a toilet tale. We managed the week despite a real lack of Changing Places toilets by careful planning and a camp bed in the back of the transit van we took to transport all Quinns’ equipment!

It was brilliant to find a Changing Places toilet in Tesco in Berwick. And one so impressively decorated! Tesco seem to be leading the way on providing these toilets but it would be great if other supermarkets followed suit. 🤞🏻