Accessible Britain

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FOOD & DRINK aa The light and airy Dockyard Café serves delicious cakes and pastries, all prepared on the ship. You can enjoy your lunch with views of the floating harbour. 044–045 Tarka Trail and Tunnels Beaches, Devon Tarka Trail: Address: start point Biketrail on Fremington Quay, just outside Barnstaple, EX31 2NH Web: www.northdevonbiosphere.org.uk/the-tarka-trail.html Tel: 01271 372586 Hours: no closures Dates: no closures Entry: free THE SOUTHWEST Tunnels Beaches: Address: Bath Place, Ilfracombe EX34 8AN Web: www.tunnelsbeaches.co.uk Tel: 01271 879882 Hours: Easter school hols to Sept daily 10am–6pm (7pm during summer school hols); Oct Tues–Sun 10am–5pm (also Mon during half term) Dates: closed Nov–Mar and for occasional private events. New Year’s Day free Open Day 10am–4pm Entry: [D]£2.50 [A]£2.50 [3–15s]£1.95 [Under 3]free [Con]£2.25 [Fam]£8.50 (2 adults & 2 children) Named after Tarka the Otter – the celebrated children’s book by Henry Williamson – the Tarka Trail is one the UK’s most scenic and accessible trails covering around 180 miles of paths. An accessible section of the trail starts about 40 minutes’ drive from Tunnels Beaches – a unique coastal attraction in Ilfracombe. A good way to explore the Trail is by hiring a Tramper mobility scooter or other inclusive cycles such as handcycles, recumbents and trikes, from Biketrail on Fremington Quay (www.biketrail.co.uk; advance booking is essential). There’s a drop-off point outside Biketrail, a free car park just past the shop, and an accessible toilet at the end of the Fremington Quay Café. Heading East from Biketrail takes you along the banks of the River Taw towards Braunton and its famous dune system. Within minutes you’ll be immersed in an area rich in flora and fauna, all described on small information posts that work in tandem with an excellent audio guide (www.tarkatrailguide.co.uk). Curlews, dunlin herons, egrets and the occasional spoonbill – and even a kingfisher, if you’re lucky – are some of the many birds that can be seen along the shoreline. Heading West towards Instow, Tramper users can also go “off road” and explore the nearby Home Farm Marsh nature reserve (www.gaiatrust.org.uk/properties/home-farm-marsh). You can continue your exploration of the area in charming Ilfracombe, where it is slightly surreal to enter a series of tunnels that exit onto a wild Devon bay of craggy rocks and a grey sand and shingle beach. Formed when Welsh miners tunnelled through to Crewkhorne Cove in 1823, the beach was popular with visiting Victorians, complete with separate bathing pools for “Gentlemen” and “Ladies”. Now, in summer the tidal pools are a riot of youngsters in inflatables. Signs at the entrance say when they are exposed. At low tide, this is one of the UK’s best places for rockpooling, with a rich array of crustaceans, sea corals, anemones and hammerhead sharks – though admittedly the last one found here was in 1865. There’s a pay-and-display car park, but no dedicated disabled bays, and level access to the ticket office. The tunnels are flat though the route to the beach gets progressively steeper, so wheelchair users may need assistance here and with the forty yards of sand between the bottom of the paved path 58
and the tidal pools, as well as around the pools themselves. There is a beach shop just above the sands, and a soft play area and pirate ship for smaller children by the entrance (£2.50/hr entry fee). FOOD & DRINK aa Biketrail stocks snacks, drinks and ice creams and is next door to the Fremington Quay Café, which serves baguettes, hot food and tasty homemade cakes. By the Tunnels Beaches entrance, Café Blue Bar (www.tunnelsbeaches.co.uk/cafebluebar) has seating around an attractive courtyard, and its own pirate ship. It serves good value snacks and mains such as scampi and chips. 046 Exmoor Scenic Drive, Devon Driving distance: 21 miles Approx time without stops: 40 minutes On wild Exmoor, windswept moors give way to gentle wooded valleys, which in turn roll into a handsome coastline. This 21-mile drive covers the best of it and will have you reaching for your camera again and again. The drive takes a figure-of-eight route: you should follow signposts from Lynmouth through Watersmeet, Rockford, Brendon and Countisbury, back through Lynmouth and then past Lynton, Valley of Rocks, Woody Bay, Martinhoe, Hunters Inn, Killington Lane and Barbrook, before ending the drive right where you started at Lynmouth. As you pass by the Valley of Rocks you’ll realise why this area is nicknamed England’s “Little Switzerland” – there are dramatic rock formations in every direction and even a herd of wild goats. The drive towards Hunters Inn is via a single-track road along the cliff, with the woods on one side and the sea on the other. Pop a £2 toll in the honesty box along the way – the scenery is so dazzling you won’t begrudge the fee. At Hunters Inn there’s a RADAR key-accessible toilet by the National Trust shop, which also has a Tramper – a powered, all-terrain mobility buggy – for hire (01598 763556), ideal for the mile-long accessible trail from here to the beautiful rocky cove of Heddon’s Mouth. THE SOUTHWEST Highveer Point Woody Bay Martinhoe Hunters Inn 0 1 mile Woody Bay Lee Bay Toll VALLEY OF THE ROCKS CLIFF RAILWAY LYNTON B3234 Barbrook Lynmouth Bay LYNMOUTH A39 Foreland Point Countisbury A39 Watersmeet Brendon Rockford Killington Lane A39 Martinhoe Cross D E V O N B3223 59
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THE ROUGH GUIDE to Accessible Brita
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Enjoy even more fun, family days ou
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Contents Click on any chapter to go
Page 7 and 8: About this book Designed to be good
Page 9 and 10: HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS IWM Duxford (E.
Page 11 and 12: Brockholes Nature Reserve (Northwes
Page 13 and 14: London 001 The Roundhouse 002 Wembl
Page 15 and 16: It’s the colour of the pitch - su
Page 17 and 18: On the site of the London 2012 Olym
Page 19 and 20: LONDON ZSL London Zoo FOOD & DRINK
Page 21 and 22: The tour starts in the MCC Museum w
Page 23 and 24: LONDON Royal Opera House FOOD & DRI
Page 25 and 26: LONDON London Transport Museum ther
Page 27 and 28: Ideas aa Art and sculpture Tate St
Page 29 and 30: 016 Westminster Abbey Address: 20 D
Page 31 and 32: hop-on/hop-off at any stop along th
Page 33 and 34: the Painted Hall and chapel. There
Page 35 and 36: 023 Horniman Museum and Gardens Add
Page 37 and 38: 024 Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire
Page 39 and 40: Parents of any disabled child will
Page 41 and 42: If you’d rather go sightseeing, h
Page 43 and 44: FOOD & DRINK aa The sizeable Studio
Page 45 and 46: In 1842, when the young Charles Dar
Page 47 and 48: grotto and birds of prey centre 10a
Page 49 and 50: populated by grazing sheep and the
Page 51 and 52: available on request, subject to av
Page 53 and 54: Beach: Address: The Estate Office,
Page 55 and 56: Emirates Spinnaker Tower THE SOUTHE
Page 57: 043 Brunel’s SS Great Britain, Br
Page 61 and 62: centre whose residents range from d
Page 63 and 64: Temple of Flora and Palladian Bridg
Page 65 and 66: 051 Haldon Forest Park, Devon Addre
Page 67 and 68: you can pre-book bikes with trailer
Page 69 and 70: Weymouth and Portland National Sail
Page 71 and 72: Octavia the octopus always draws a
Page 73 and 74: Trengwainton Garden THE SOUTHWEST p
Page 75 and 76: Lincoln Cathedral 059 Lincoln Cathe
Page 77 and 78: Ideas aa Animal sanctuaries Bolderw
Page 79 and 80: Holkham Hall Reserve: in summer you
Page 81 and 82: FOOD & DRINK aa The T&D café bar o
Page 83 and 84: a wheelchair, while benches provide
Page 85 and 86: Southwold Pier side and in all the
Page 87 and 88: Wicken Fen is one of Britain’s ol
Page 89 and 90: depending on what you most fancy se
Page 91 and 92: field Cavendish AM LE field Pentlow
Page 93 and 94: floor has a large step up to it, bu
Page 95 and 96: M6 M1 Barrow-in-Furness The West Mi
Page 97 and 98: A619 080 Peak District Scenic Drive
Page 99 and 100: a boat across it or admire it from
Page 101 and 102: 084 RAF Museum Cosford, Shropshire
Page 103 and 104: Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museu
Page 105 and 106: FOOD & DRINK aa The on-site café i
Page 107 and 108: Severn Valley Railway Northwood), a
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091 Royal Shakespeare Company, Warw
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Hereford Cathedral FOOD & DRINK aa
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WWT Slimbridge mile. To take the wh
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M18 The Northwest MID LOTHIAN Berwi
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South of Grasmere you’ll pass the
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it’s a fairly steep hundred-yard
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103 Brockholes Nature Reserve, Lanc
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Southport Pier 105 Airkix Indoor Sk
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the whole site (even the sewer syst
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installations in a converted docksi
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Anderton Boat Lift Blue Badge holde
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M18 The Northeast and Yorkshire 113
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smooth, solid surfaces, although it
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Designed by Sir Norman Foster, the
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fully accessible bus, with a wheelc
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efreshments, call in at the friendl
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Betty’s Tea Rooms, Harrogate If y
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Roundhay Park of here sits The Mans
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(book in advance). The museum has a
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Yorkshire Wildlife Park 128 Magna S
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Families are particularly well serv
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130 Callanish Standing Stones, West
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Fort George (twenty degrees) onto t
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which you can reserve in advance. A
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Sitting in the heart of the Cairngo
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St Andrews itself isn’t easily ac
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(with a disabled toilet) about a hu
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all but the most limited hand funct
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143 Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh Addres
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provide a stunning backdrop to the
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yards away from the house are the t
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M6 Wales ISLE OF MAN Barrow-in-Furn
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Electric Mountain landscape of Snow
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153-154 Llangollen Wharf and Pontcy
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Benar, turn off the A496 just befor
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Celtic Quest Coasteering When swimm
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159 Garwnant Forest Visitor Centre,
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some of the concrete surfaces insid
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163 Wales Millennium Centre, Cardif
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Northern Ireland Oronsay Colonsay J
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mobility. If you want to visit the
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(June-Aug Sat & Sun & bank hols), a
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the lives of more than 1500 passeng
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Grand Opera House, Belfast with dis
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Ulster Museum Discovery Zones - nat
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Ideas aa Heritage Fountains Abbey (
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Useful contacts This chapter featur
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advice on available facilities for
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than state what is possible. Predic
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Credits Reviewers: Claire-Louise Ba
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Accessible Britain

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