Oxburgh makes history more accessible for children with limited mobility

For many years, Oxburgh Estate has provided a range of mobility options for those in need of support. These include a powered mobility vehicle, an all-terrain adult Mountain Trike wheelchair and a standard adult’s wheelchair, all of which can be booked to enable visitors to explore the site comfortably.

From the end of September, a new children’s all-terrain Mountain Trike wheelchair will be available, enabling children and young people with limited mobility the opportunity to explore more of the estate and parkland.

“We are incredibly excited about the arrival of our new Mountain Trike, designed especially to meet the needs of young people,” says Emily Parker, Oxburgh Estate’s Property Operations Manager. “The National Trust was founded with the aim of offering everyone an opportunity to benefit from nature, beauty, and history. This mission to serve as a 'benefit to the nation' remains at the heart of the charity we are today.”

Passionate about inclusivity, the team at Oxburgh has made some big strides in championing and enhancing accessibility: improving pathways, adding hearing loops and accessible picnic benches, offering sensory bags, and, new for December, ‘quiet opening’ sessions too.

“We're aware we still have more to do to develop an offer that really benefits all of our visitors,” Emily adds. “We'll continue to listen and learn from those who work, volunteer and visit to achieve our ambition.”

The initiative to improve accessibility support for young heritage explorers began when a member of the Oxburgh team, Louise Turner, visited another attraction with her family. Her son’s all terrain wheelchair had developed a fault and had to be sent for repair, so she had called ahead and booked a wheelchair at the site for the day of their visit.

“When we arrived, the wheelchair that we collected wasn’t suitable for a child to use. It was huge for my then ten-year-old, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a life-limiting muscle wasting condition. He was totally lost in it, completely unsupported, uncomfortable, and embarrassed about his diminishing street cred in front of his cousins. So, we decided to leave it and instead, we took turns carrying and piggybacking or staying behind at certain parts that he just couldn’t manage.”

A thought-provoking experience for Louise and her family, the visit raised some questions.

“At Oxburgh Estate, we have a fleet of accessibility aids available for adults, as do many other National Trust sites, but up until now we didn’t have anything that was specifically designed for, or could be safely used by children,” says Louise. “In recent years, access has begun to appear much higher up on the agenda in a lot of places, but there is still such a long way to go.”

With the support of General Manager, Donna Baldwin, and Property Operations Manager, Emily Parker, Oxburgh Estate are challenging the narrative that mobility issues are something that only affect people later in life.

The new children’s all terrain Mountain Trike wheelchair arrives at Oxburgh this September. If you’d like to book it out ahead of your next visit, email oxburghestate@nationaltrust.org.uk