Overview

Dukes Barn Outdoor Activity Centre provides adventurous activities for people of all ages and abilities. We had a great day with them. We were a group of 10. 3 adults and 7 children ranging from the age of 4-13 years old. Two of the children were wheelchair users with a physical disability. We went abseiling over a viaduct in a disused railway area. Wonderful views. A popular site to abseil but not too busy. The team transported us there (around a 20 minute journey from the centre) in their accessible van. We then walked a short way (5-10 minutes) to the viaduct. Flat and level path to get there. A little bumpy at times but manageable in a wheelchair. It was a fantastic experience for everyone. I was pretty nervous but Dave gave me lots of reassurance and was calm and patient. After the abseil down, the wheelchair users managed to climb back up the steps back up to the viaduct with assistance from Dan and Alan who were more than happy to provide the man power to assist them one under each arm. We all had another go! Dan explained there is another path to use if the participant was unable to get up steps with assistance. We then went back to the centre to have our picnic. After that we did climbing and zip wiring. Wheelchair users provided with full assistance to participate. The centre can also provide canoeing but we couldn’t do this on the day as the water levels were low due to some very hot weather. Visiting some caves was also possible.

Transport & Parking

Parking is easy and level. It is on site at the activity centre.

Access

The centre is wheelchair accessible and pretty easy to navigate. There is an accessible toilet with grab rails. There is an outdoor picnic area with a tarmac level path to get to it. There is an outside play area with a ramped bridge for a wheelchair user to cross and an area where children with limited mobility can be placed in a harness to use the outdoor zip wires. It was lovely to see that thought had gone into making this play area useable for wheelchair users. There is an inside climbing area with a zip wire in the roof area which all the kids enjoyed. The kitchen area is accessible to get a nice cup of tea or a cold drink.

Toilets

There is an accessible toilet with grab rails. It was clean. It was a little tight in there but we managed. I think there might be another toilet area but we only went to the accessible toilet in the climbing area.

Staff

Dave, Alan and Dan looked after us for the day. They were really friendly, laid back and very helpful. They all had a ‘can do’ attitude and clearly had experience with disabled visitors. I booked the day through Jason who was also helpful and friendly.

Photos