Over the weekend, I went to CentreParcs at Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire, I had been in the past but it was so long ago, I can hardly remember. A few weeks before our mini break, my sister went online and booked us lots of activities to do and dining at the Raginda Pradesh, the Indian restaurant in the Plaza onsite. When we arrived there was a bit of a queue to check in, however there were plenty of people to assist and check in at the booths. From there we went to our lodge and waited for the wristbands to activate to open the door to our home away from home for the weekend. My sister and her fiance arrived and we unpacked the vehicles and get settled in. Our lodge was a wheelchair accessible lodge, number 440, and I can honestly say everything was brilliant.
There was plenty of space to manoeuvre around from the front door to my bedroom, then into the lounge and kitchen, everywhere was accessible. My bedroom was on the front of the property, it was big and spacious, had a profiling bed and a single bed and a wide door into the wetroom that I could drive straight into. In the bathroom there was a shower chair and a lowered sink and grab rails spaced around the room. Prior to us arriving, my Mum had been in contact with First aid to book the necessary equipment I required for my visit so this was waiting for me when I got there, this meant I could use the mobile hoist to get straight out of my wheelchair and onto the bed.
Unfortunately, when we arrived it was pouring down, this meant we didn’t really explore the park Friday afternoon, instead in the evening, I went into our sauna on the outside of our lodge, it was very big and we could all get in there together. Just outside the sauna, between the back of the lodge and the sauna building, there was a cold shower to use once you’d been in the sauna, however I opted out of this and chose to stick to warm water! In the evening, we had pizzas and played games. On Saturday morning, we went to the Pancake House for breakfast, I had Cookie Monster stack pancakes, this was American style pancakes with chocolate sauce and squirty cream. They tasted yummy and I was full for the day of activities ahead.
We started with a walk around the boating lake and my sister, Lauren and James took their bikes and went a ride around the park. We then met back up and went to the Leisure Bowl in the Village Square, from the Pancake House this was up hill then up a big ramp to get into the building, I was able to participate in bowling with my family using the green ramp and the bumpers and I actually won one game and came second on the next game, success I think!
After bowling we headed to the Plaza to play Pickleball, it was a short walk away only taking a few minutes to get there. I had never played Pickleball before, its a racket sport similar to tennis but the bats were made of wood and they were square with a plastic ball with holes in about the size of a tennis ball. The aim of the game is to hit the ball over the net to your opponent, this was the most difficult part as the net was slightly higher than me and I had to hit it up and over to score points. I did drive closer in my electric wheelchair which made it slightly easier, however when my sister hit the ball over the net it hit me in the face a few times, but it didn’t hurt as the ball was really light.
After Pickleball, we went to Starbucks for some refreshments, I had a hot chocolate and got ready for the next activity. In the afternoon, we headed out to the forest to try our luck at the escape room called Escape the Forest, this was three small wooden huts that you had to solve the clues to make your way through them to get the heart of the forest so you could save the forest and be released. The challenges were quite difficult until you knew what you needed to do, but once you figured it out, it gained you access to the next part of the room and the next challenge, there was seven challenges in total to complete. The actual room size was fine, I was able to drive around and assist my team, most of the challenges were accessible to participate in, a few were lower down so I couldn’t see them properly. All of the codes to open the challenges were on number rotating padlocks, I couldn’t do these myself as they were very small and fiddly and attached to the box / unit, but I worked with my team and together we accomplished the escape room in 61 minutes and 12 seconds! The average to complete, which quite a few teams do not, was 65 minutes so I was very impressed with our skills!
My sister had booked us into table tennis after the Escape the Forest activity so we headed down there and back into the Plaza; I really enjoyed table tennis, it was a game that I could fully access without support. I sat sideways to the table so I could have a good swing and score points against James, unfortunately, he still won! The table set up was great, there was plenty of space around the table and seating to the side to observe and switch players. After table tennis we headed back to our lodge to get changed and ready for our meal at Raginda Pradesh. We had a lovely dinner, starting with some amazing poppadums and chutneys, then I had a king prawn makhani with pilau rice and pashwari naan and a strawberry cocktail, my dinner was delightful and filled me right up, we were going to have toasted marshmallows when we got back to the lodge but we were all too full and tired from a jam-packed day to even consider it, so we went to bed.
On Sunday morning, my Mum and sister, Lauren made us ‘fakeway’ sausage and egg McMuffins while I sat, observed and prepared myself for another full day of activities. After breakfast Lauren and James went swimming, I went to explore the Subtropical Swimming Paradise to see how accessible it was for wheelchair users. The entry was spacious and we went through the changing facilities then the showering area to get to the observation space with plants around us. There was lots of paths around to see different parts of the swimming pools, I really enjoyed watching but it was very hot. I decided I didnt’t want to swim however, if I did in, the access to the pools was all ramps for a wet chair to get access. The only down side to the swimming facilities was the location of the Changing Places. The Changing Places room was in a separate building where the shops were, so to use the hoist I would have to go across the courtyard in my swimming costume to get into the subtropical swimming paradise, however there are no hoisting facilities to get me out of my wheelchair and into a wet chair so my Dad would have had to manually lift me to transfer, and as you can imagine the floor is wet and can be slippery so this would be a health and safety issue. The only way we could see to get around this was to hire the mobile hoist into your lodge and wheel it all the way to the poolside, this is not advisable as the mobile hoist is not folding and is quite awkward to manoeuvre. The second issue being once you are changed in the Changing Places, go across the courtyard in your swimmers, use the mobile hoist which youve dragged to the poolside and your in the pool, you then have to do it all again backwards, but now youre soaking wet and more than likely extremely cold from the heat in the pool to the possible rain and wind outdoors. So, yes, I just observed this activity!
After swimming, we went back to the lodge to get ready for badminton in the Sports Hall. I was on Lauren’s team against James, we worked together to hit the shuttlecock over the net and attempted to score points to make James lose. I had lots of fun seeing my sister run around the court, whereas James is quite tall and has a wide arm span, so he hardly moved. After badminton, we played Quick Tennis, this was a shorted handled racket with a foam-style ball, I needed someone to serve for me then I struggled to hit the returning ball, I enjoyed participating in this game, however, it wasn’t the most suited to my abilities.
We had a few minutes before our next activity so I headed to the toy shop to have a look around and I bought a burger game. From there we went to play 9 hole crazy golf which was a few minutes walk away. To get into the crazy golf there was a winding ramp, however, to get the clubs and balls, you had to walk up lots of steps up to the boat house to get the equipment, this was not accessible for wheelchair users and I could not do this independently, once James had returned from the Boat House, we started our game. The whole course was accessible to wheelchair users, there was a path that went down alongside the holes so I was able to get everywhere, in addition to this I was able to get my chair on the green to tee off and then to the hole to pot my ball. The only barrier I faced was not being able to see the ball on the ground next to me, so I had assistance from my sister to line my club face up with the ball so I could hit it independently. I really enjoyed Crazy Golf; I could tell that a lot of thought had gone into making the course accessible for everyone which I really appreciate. Each hole was a different theme from magical woodlands, for example fairies, goblins and elves, there was also amazing carvings made from trees that were very intricate designs which added to the feeling of being in the forest. The pathways also led through magical little hobbit houses with doorways and chairs around. I have been to quite a few Crazy Golf courses and I can definitely say that this one way by far the best for wheelchair accessibility and participation.
When we finished Crazy Golf, we went back to our lodge for hot chocolate and biscuits before packing up our belongings and heading home. My favourite activity over the weekend was Leisure Bowl I was able to fully participate and compete independently, and even win a game! My least favourite activity was the Escape the Forest, this was because I didn’t like the thought of being trapped in a room, but I’m glad I tried it and had the experience. I was most impressed with Crazy Golf and the accessibility and the things I would change are the Changing Places facility; I believe these could be made much more accessible if it was in the swimming area or an adjoining building with access through corridors rather than going outside. I also want to add that there are not many plug sockets in the adapted bedroom in the lodge I stayed in. Once the profiling bed and my breathing machine had been plugged in, that only left one plug on the other side of the bedroom which wasn’t easily accessible to me. There was a dressing table in the room with a holder for a hairdryer, however there was no plug socket near to plug a hair dryer or styling tools in, which I found very strange.
Overall, I had a brilliant weekend with my family, taking part in lots of activites and trying new things, I could definitely recommend CenterParcs Woburn Forest for an accessible family break.
