Brixworth Country Park

So this weekend we decided we needed a nice quiet family day out as we've had lots of visitors over the last few weeks. We did some research into where might be nice to go and decided to just go for a walk around our local reservoir. While I was looking on the website I noticed a link to a country park on a different reservoir about an hour away from us.

This is how it was described on the website:

"Developed with Millennium Commission funding, the park is a national showpiece for accessible countryside – providing access for all irrespective of physical or mental ability and social or cultural background."

"Centred on a seven-mile surfaced track, suitable for cycles and pushchairs, are a number of well maintained access routes servicing our activity centres and attractions. Brixworth Country Park was designed specifically to meet the needs of visitors with disabilities."

I read up some more online and found the park had a sensory garden, footpaths suitable for wheelchairs and buggies, a playground with some accessible equipment and a changing places bathroom (this is a bathroom designed for someone like William equipped with hoisting and a full size changing bench).

We were very excited to discover somewhere that would be a good day out for all our family so headed off yesterday with great expectations. Unfortunately we were left very disappointed. I'd been all prepared to write a great review recommending it to all my other SN mum friends but  it soon became apparent I wouldn't be recommending it at all.

First of all the sensory garden:

Rusty musical chimes

Was this supposed to be a chess board?

Mostly dead looking plants

Water fountain wasn't working

We thought the sensory garden would be a lovely colourful garden which would have lots to see, hear and smell for William. Sadly it was dreary, neglected and dead looking. It probably didn't help that we went at the end of the winter but you could just tell it wasn't well maintained at all. The hospice where William goes has a lovely sensory garden with lots of different smelling and colourful plants. There are also some lovely colourful outdoor musical instruments in the playground which would have made a great addition to this garden. 

Secondly we were attracted by the promise of wheelchair friendly paths. While there weren't steps etc the paths were actually quite bumpy which meant William's head was bobbing around as he has no head control and half way round our little walk he was sick because he had been jolted so much in the buggy.

Thirdly, while we know better than to expect any playground to be fully accessible, we were encouraged by the promise of some accessible equipment. The playground was brilliant for mobile children but there was only one swing William could have used. This would have involved us lifting him out of his buggy though so would not be suitable for bigger non mobile children. It looked like they'd given it some thought, for example there was a roundabout with more full supportive seats. However they'd completely bypassed the point that some children cannot get out of their wheelchairs or support themselves in any way. Again, the hospice where William goes has a fabulous playground. It is really accessible to someone like William (it has a wheelchair swing and a level access roundabout for pushing wheelchairs on to) but is also completely usable by mobile children. The playground was heaving and there was no way we could have put William on the swing without another child just climbing on aswell. 

Finally, we had seen there was a changing places bathroom accessed via a Radar key. While the bathroom was as promised the equipment was well overdue a service (as identified by the service label on the change bench) and there were so many spiders on the ceiling that I couldn't stay in there. Would it really be such an effort for someone to give it a sweep out once a week? 

We had been so excited that someone had given some thought into the design of this country park, but as is usually the case we found it was poorly maintained and poorly executed. How was this a park "providing access for all irrespective of physical or mental ability"? It wasn't "accessible" to William at all. It has become apparent that we as a nation we are terrible at understanding what the term 'disability' can include. At a local shopping centre to us they have around 10 disabled toilets, if not more. Not one of those toilets had a change bench for someone like William meaning he would have to be changed on the toilet floor. We seem to think all disabled people are capable of sitting on a toilet and of getting onto that toilet with just the help of a handrail. 

It makes me so sad that on Children in need night the country is so compassionate towards children like William, giving generously to support charities such as the hospice which supports our family, and yet the rest of the time we don't give a second thought to meeting the needs of people like William. We spend so much time trying to think of fun places to take William to and always come up with a blank. It would be too dangerous to take him to a soft play centre, local swimming pools are too cold with poor change facilities, he can't sit on any rides at the theme park, he can't go on any of the equipment at the local park, he can't see any of the animals at the zoo, it's near impossible to push his buggy on the beach etc etc etc. 

It's just so frustrating.