Overview

Such a lovely homely self-catering accommodation just outside London kitted out with equipment like tracking hoists and hospital beds.

Transport & Parking

There is a driveway outside the accommodation that you are able to park on. We just parked straight forward in front of more the child’s decorated bedroom and I would say that there was a bit of a bump to reverse off of it so, I don’t know if it would be smoother to park at a different angle. There is a train station around a 10 minute walk away from the accommodation that you can get a 30 minutes train to Waterloo. The accommodation is also near a local high street so there are probably some buses that come along there but I cannot comment on them as I didn’t use them.

Access

AbleStay is all level access to enter. There are two doors that you are able to enter through, both of which have a slight built in ramp to get up to them. The reason that there are two doors is because one of them is made wider for larger wheelchairs, the wider door goes straight into the accessible bedroom. The only thing I’d say is that the key pad to unlock the main door is quite high so, a wheelchair user would find it difficult to unlock the door independently. Inside the house you are first greeted with the living room and kitchen area. The whole area is very spacious and open, there are no doors that you have to go through to get to the kitchen. All the TV’S within the house are connected to WiFi so that you can stream your favourite TV shows during your stay. I noticed that the sofas have space underneath them so if you bring your own portable hoist or stand aid you’d be able to transfer onto them. There is also an armchair within the living room that has a seatbelt on it for safety, the armchair is also on wheels so you can move it into the accessible room and back again so that you can transfer using the tracking hoist. I loved all the little London touches within the living room and all the other rooms. The kitchen I would say had everything in it that would be needed during your stay. The fridge was very big, including a water dispenser, and there was plenty of space on the worktops if you needed it. The sink area was height adjustable and there was a dial at the front of the sink worktop instead of a switch at the tap. There are three bedrooms within the accommodation so my carers had a bedroom each and I had the accessible bedroom. I didn’t really take photos of the two standard bedrooms as my carers had their things in the rooms but, they had two beds in each bedroom and the bedrooms were lovely. Again lovely touches of London. The accessible bedroom was the bedroom that I used during my stay, this is because the bedroom had a tracking hoist and a hospital bed that I could use. Although the bedroom had a lot more than I imagined it would. First of all the buttons on the hoist remote were very easy to use however, I did struggle to press the buttons on the bed remote though. I don’t know if it’s because the buttons I needed to use were too far down and my muscles were just a bit too weak to press them. Also it was a little annoying because everytime I moved my hand near the bed remote a light kept coming on, this was particularly annoying during the night as I sleep with the bed remote beside me. There was lots of storage in the room for everything I had with me. I really liked the open hanger that was in my room so I could see all the outfits I had with me. If had made time to relax during my busy schedule it was nice to see a TV in the accessible bedroom. The best thing in the accessible bedroom though was the sink, fridge and medical storage area. This is really good to see as it means that you don’t have to go through to the kitchen to get anything you might need to keep in the fridge, and you can keep all medical thing sterile without having to use the sink in the bathroom. I loved the accessible bedroom at AbleStay, it is really modern whilst having all the medical equipment and room you need whilst not looking like a hospital. With visiting in June the weather was beautiful and I wish we had more time to sit in the garden because there was a lovely seating area. There was a gate to get down into the garden but unfortunately it didn’t look like a wheelchair user would be able to get down onto the grass area of the garden. To enter the garden it is a sliding door from the kitchen but, the threshold wasn’t big at all and I feel any wheelchair user would be able to get over it.

Toilets

There are two bathrooms available in the accommodation. One of the bathrooms is just a standard bathroom for the two standard bedrooms that are within the accommodation, it was beautiful though, and very modern. It met my carer's needs and they said it was very nice. Then there was the en-suite accessible bathroom that was joined on to my bedroom. This bathroom was also beautiful and very modern. It had a wet room shower, a big bath with a bath seat in it, a sink that was at a good heigh for a wheelchair user, with a mirror at a good height, the toilet with room at either side and the tracking hoist went from the bedroom to the bathroom. In the bathroom there were two toilet seats available to use, a child and an adult one, there was a shower trolley and lots of different attachments for all the equipment. I do feel like everything was thought of in the accessible bathroom.

Staff

Charles the co-founder of AbleStay was in contact with us during our stay through WhatsApp, he was very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet him when we checked in or out because we arrived later than expected and left earlier to avoid traffic. We got sent lots of information on the accommodation before our stay and there was lots of information dotted around the house.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

I would 100% recommend staying at AbleStay if you are visiting London There is a nice high street around a 5 minute walk away from the accommodation which includes but isn’t limited to a Starbucks, Costa Coffee and some shops.

Photos