3.5
Mostly good wheelchair access
I use a manual active user wheelchair, I have no power add on or push handles but do use a front wheel. There are a few disabled bays in the car park, however they are not great, they don’t have the boxes either side so you risk someone parking too close, the biggest problem with the car park is the pay machine you can’t get to it as a wheelchair user, the bar is in the way and the machine too high up, there is also no phone signal to use ring go, so I have to wait at the pay machine for someone coming to buy a ticket to ask them to do mine as well, which isn’t ideal and does take some independence away.
There is a pretty steep slope from the car park to the lake but it’s quite short and can be done in a manual wheelchair with no assistance needed. The walk itself is lovely, I would say you need a front wheel as the majority of it is gravel so your front castors would get stuck a lot otherwise. There are some slight inclines and 2 areas you can’t get to, but overall it’s relatively flat and easy to wheel along, with taking in the views it takes about an hour to loop round, I personally head left from the visitor centre because then the largest incline is downhill rather than uphill if you turn right.
The visitors centre is accessible, and they are part of countryside mobility and have a tramper you can hire, but you need to book in advance, it’s free to hire out, but you don’t really need it, there is not much more you can see with the tramper than you could in your manual wheelchair.
There is one disabled toilet, it’s a right hand transfer and has a baby change in, although I did ask them if they could lower that because it was too high for me to put my little one on from my wheelchair, unsure if they will, so ended up changing her in the car, otherwise the toilet is spacious enough, sink is a good height.
I do go regularly and it’s lovely all year round and aside from the inconvenient wait to be able to pay for parking it has good wheelchair access and is nice and secluded spot that you would never guess is just off the dual carriageways.
I use a manual active user wheelchair, I have no power add on or push handles but do use a front wheel. There are a few disabled bays in the car park, however they are not great, they don’t have the boxes either side so you risk someone parking too close, the biggest problem with the car park is the pay machine you can’t get to it as a wheelchair user, the bar is in the way and the machine too high up, there is also no phone signal to use ring go, so I have to wait at the pay machine for someone coming to buy a ticket to ask them to do mine as well, which isn’t ideal and does take some independence away.
There is a pretty steep slope from the car park to the lake but it’s quite short and can be done in a manual wheelchair with no assistance needed. The walk itself is lovely, I would say you need a front wheel as the majority of it is gravel so your front castors would get stuck a lot otherwise. There are some slight inclines and 2 areas you can’t get to, but overall it’s relatively flat and easy to wheel along, with taking in the views it takes about an hour to loop round, I personally head left from the visitor centre because then the largest incline is downhill rather than uphill if you turn right.
The visitors centre is accessible, and they are part of countryside mobility and have a tramper you can hire, but you need to book in advance, it’s free to hire out, but you don’t really need it, there is not much more you can see with the tramper than you could in your manual wheelchair.
There is one disabled toilet, it’s a right hand transfer and has a baby change in, although I did ask them if they could lower that because it was too high for me to put my little one on from my wheelchair, unsure if they will, so ended up changing her in the car, otherwise the toilet is spacious enough, sink is a good height.
I do go regularly and it’s lovely all year round and aside from the inconvenient wait to be able to pay for parking it has good wheelchair access and is nice and secluded spot that you would never guess is just off the dual carriageways.
