Overview

Since my previous 2 visits, the accessibility at The Enchanted Forest has improved greatly and during this visit I didn’t encounter any problems in my wheelchair. I didn’t get stuck this time.

Transport & Parking

Like last year and the year before, there is accessible parking on site for visitors with a blue badge however, there are only a few spaces available and it is first come first serve when phoning to book a space. This year though an accessible bus was introduced to allow more visitor with specific access requirements to visit on the same night. The bus leaves from Blair Athol Whiskey Distillery which has plenty of accessibleand standard parking available. It is a mini bus type transport with about 10 seats and one wheelchair space, although I’m not sure if more seats can be taken out of the bus to accommodate more wheelchairs. For wheelchair user to enter the accessible bus you use a platform lift at the back. This was a better platform lift than others, and went up and down very smoothly. You can see this process in my YouTube video below. I really enjoyed taking the bus to The Enchanted Forest as it made you feel more involved in the whole event but, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the voice over story on the accessible bus that’s usually on the standard bus. I was told this was a technical error though so, hopefully it’s available for the rest of the month. I’m unsure about the public transport in Pitlochry as I am not from this area but, I know that there are council car parks and onstreet parking within the town centre where you get on the standard bus at the Fisher Hotel.

Access

To begin with I would just like to say that all the pathways on the trail of The Enchanted Forest are surprisingly extremely smooth for being within a forest. For the past 2 years there were, what I would call speed bumps dotted around the trail that protect the wires for all the lights. However, this year I got told that they put pipes under the paths so that nothing would obstruct the smoothness of them. More mats were placed on top of the bark this year to also allow easier access to the more interactive areas. Instead of the storytelling hut at the start of the trail, there was a Geodome that showed a 10 minute projection show in a 7m inflatable dome giving you the impression that your flying through the Cosmos.. The show did not have subtitles or a sign language interpreter for visitors with a hearing impairment, maybe this is something that can get looked into? To get into the Geodome I had to go around the back so that I could drive on the mats instead of the bark. I knew to do this from my struggles during previous years however, I’d maybe suggest having a sign to point visitors in the right direction. Talking of signs I feel this years the signs telling you all about show and where things are weren’t very easy to read. They are wooden with carved letters and I found them a little hard to read, depending what way the light was hitting them. With all this information available to read I feel audio or braille guides are maybe needed for visitors with a visual impairment. I did struggle to reach interactive areas due to having short arms but, it was all still enjoyable. Last year I struggled to drive down a hilled pathway where one of the toilet and food areas were due to the steepness and terrain of the path but, I think they might have resurfaced it because there were no problems during this visit. Also due to my short arms I couldn't roast my marshmallows myself but it does need to be like this due to safety.

Toilets

There are accessible portacabin toilets dotted around the trail of The Enchanted Forest beside the standard toilets. As you can imagine these are quite small and if you don’t need assistance it might be manageable but, it would be a struggle if a wheelchair user needed help. Beside the accessible bus drop off and accessible parking there is also a standard accessible toilet that is situated in Faskally Woods all the time and is much more spacious to use. However, if you’re unable to use a standard toilet the Changing Places Mobiloo is back this year. I didn’t see the Changing Places until I was leaving as it wasn’t located in the same area as the year before, it also didn’t arrive until the end of the press night due to a mix up. I feel it wasn’t very well sign posted though but, I suppose you would see when you got off the accessible bus or parked your car.

Staff

All staff members and volunteers that I encountered were very friendly when I visited and were very helpful with directing me to the more accessible areas of the trail. The bus driver that took us to and from The Enchanted Forest was also friendly and knew exactly how to secure my wheelchair.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

A free carer ticket isn't offered on The Enchanted Forest website however, if you phone them and explain why you need one you might be able to get one. I would like to thank the organisers of The Enchanted Forest for inviting myself and my friends to the press night. I’m also grateful that they’ve taken my previous recommendations on board and continued to improve their accessibility.

Photos