Forest of Bowland: Accessible to all

On Tuesday 25^th and Wednesday 26^th June, over 80 people descended on Gisburn Forest in the Ribble Valley to discover how the Forest of Bowland National Landscape can provide amazing activities and adventures to disabled visitors, guests and residents.

The Access for All event   described as an ‘exciting celebration of what’s possible’ was organised by the Forest of Bowland National Landscape team in partnership with Access the Dales; in order to highlight theaccessibility of the areaand the small adjustments that can be made, to help those who have additional needs  join in with the things manypeople take for granted every day.

On day one, visitor economy participants were welcomed by the Forest of Bowland National Landscape team and Debbie from Access the Dales, who hoped the event would be helpful and open up some valuable conversations.

Participants  then had the opportunity to learn about Mark Heaton’s experience growing up deaf and having BSL as his first language. There were workshops providing autism-friendly ideas for enjoying the outdoors. Dr Leighanne Higgins and Dr Killian O’Leary from the Marketplace&I programme at Lancaster University, talked about why businesses should be more inclusive; largely because it is simply the right thing to do… but also to highlight that ‘in 2019, the UK economy missed out on £2billion monthly, by failing to cater to disabled demographics.’

There were workshops on dementia, connecting people in nature, and the mental health benefits of getting out into our natural surroundings. The day was rounded off with pizza, a campfire, music and a bat walk.

Day two saw a series of taster sessions for a wider group of visitors  to join in with, all hosted by businesses in the area who are already providing a service to those with additional needs, or who easily can.

The activities ranged from storytelling to sound bathing, forest bathing to foraging and everything in between and guests were asked to choose three activities to take part in throughout the day.

The first workshop I joined was a walk with Pete Compston from Pendle Plant Craft. Pete set up the organisation to allow people to get to know the natural environment and understand all the benefits of eating wild foods. It was a short walk, but during the hour we came across many different types of plants which all have great medicinal and mental health benefits. Pete talked through some of the things he uses the plants for and the difference eating wild foods can make to your health,  even if you are already eating organically and well.

The second workshop for us was the alpaca meet and greet, with the incredible team from Wood End Alpacas. They offer off-road wheelchair hire so those who usually wouldn’t be able to go into the fields can meet the animals up close and take them for a walk. The owner, Alison Whitaker, talked us through the background of the business, and we were able to see the animals and how little they reacted when a wheelchair user came to greet them. The animals have such a calming influence that you can just feel your stresses melt away as you stroke them and get those all-important alpaca friend selfies! We were also able to catch a small part of the bushcraft activities from Outdoors4all Together, a community interest company that specialise in getting people out in nature. The team had popped a few firepits in the woods and gave visitors the chance to do some nature crafting and make smores on the firepits whilst talking about the safest ways to create fires.

Finally, after a picnic on the benches outside the accessible Gisburn Forest Hub Café, we headed to our final workshop of the day. I opted to go on an accessible walk with the Access the Dales team, with each guest allowed the opportunity to try out an all-terrain vehicle for themselves.

These all-terrain vehicles are a game changer for accessible tourism. With a variety of different options depending on the needs of the user, the vehicles can weight bear, adjust their wheels for better transfer, feature full side rails, seat belts and have great maneuverability. During our trek, users were able to embark on one of the trails within the forest itself, and I even took my TerrainHooper off track, into the thicket of the trees. Travelling on uneven ground, through ditches at the side of the track, over huge tree roots and even over full tree stumps was no issue for this machine.

It honestly took us to places I wouldn’t have even considered walking! The ability it gives to a wheelchair user to access the areas that they wouldn’t have a problem accessing if they were non-disabled is incredible. It’s great that we have some of these vehicles on the doorstep for visitors to hire so that they can really get in touch with nature during their visits to the county.

The whole event was focused on the ease of people getting around, no matter their ability, just as long as they know what is available. If you are looking for more information about access in the Forest of Bowland National Landscape head to their website here.

For businesses looking at how they can highlight the accessibility of their premises, Marketing Lancashire is holding a short workshop on Monday 22^nd July in conjunction with VisitEngland and AccessAble; find out more and sign up here.

More information about the work that Dr Leighanne Higgins and Dr Killian O’Leary from Lancaster University do can be found here.