Dalkeith Country Park

annadd

17 Mar 2019

Mixed experience

2

2

Date of visit: March 2019

I have experience of challenges around: moving around

Overall Rating

Poor

Country park, shop, restaurants/cafes, huge children's play area, with some parts accessible but others badly not.

Disabled Access In and Around

Poor

Many paths steep and badly rutted making them dangerous for wheelchairs. Restaurants and cafes too tightly packed to navigate easily with wheelchair.

Parking & Transport

Average

There is accessible parking close to the restaurant/shop area. However, this is not signed at all from the main vehicle entrance so unless you know about it you will end up parking in one of the other, very poorly accessible car parks. Ask for the "laundry room carpark"

Accessible Toilets

Bad

One single accessible toilet near restaurants, not signed. NO disabled loo at the Fort Douglas playpark area despite there being other loos there. No Changing Place.

Staff

Average

Not terribly knowledgeable - there was a sign up about an accessible swing with harness available but the staff just said that sign had "appeared" and they had no idea what it was about or where to get the harness.

Additional Information

Fort Douglas (children's play area) made some efforts at accessibility - one SN swing, some areas ramped with nice mirrors and musical instruments. However, not enough to justify charging the full cost for our disabled five-year-old (note that we did get a free carer ticket though but as children are more expensive than adults this didn't save us much). Take care with the walks/cycle routes. We attempted the yellow route which was described as "flat" and "easy" for wheelchairs/buggies/bikes. Whoever wrote the description has clearly never pushed a wheelchair round it as parts were very steep and muddy. I just about managed with my 25kg son in his reasonably off-roadable SN buggy, but anyone pushing a basic wheelchair would really struggle as, I guess, would many power chair users. I dread to think what the red "easy to moderate" route was like!

Comments

gone1

19 Mar 2019

Thank you so much for sharing your experience of the park. I’ve always fancied visiting but it looks like it’d be awful for me as a powerchair user and no Changing Places Toilet simply means I’ll give it a miss.