All-terrain mobility scooters offering freedom

Wheelchair users are enjoying newfound freedom as a fleet of all-terrain disability scooters are making it easier to access the great outdoors.

There are 39 beauty spots and attractions around south-west England that offer the trampers for hire, including one on Lundy, with 60 sites nationwide.

The hire scheme run by charity Disability Together for a small charge, is intended to encourage independence and boost inclusivity.

Wheelchair user Kate Wass said: "The tramper is my legs. I don't want the countryside changing... but I want to be able to access it, and be like everybody else".

She added: "Just being able to get out, smell the air, the peace, often you hear the birds... it means a lot."

Yvonne Pope helped create the scheme after missing her daughter finish the Ten Tors challenge because her normal wheelchair could not make it.

"I used to stay in the car a lot and my family would go off walking and come back and tell me all about it show me photos," she said.

She now audits potential sites to see what would need doing to make them tramper-friendly.

Hiring a tramper requires induction training to ensure safety and meet insurance requirements.

People can sign up for Countryside Mobility annual membership for £15, short-term membership for £5 or single use for £3, and must keep to designated routes.

The visitor centre at Postbridge has two trampers available to hire.

Wass said: "It means you are doing things that most other people can do... I can get out into the countryside - I can be with my husband walking.

"Also, having access to one of these hire trampers - brilliant - because I can come here on my own.

"Because they've got two, I've got a friend so were going to have a day out. She's not been on Dartmoor before. I want bring her and just see her reaction. I know she'll absolutely love it.

"Quite often you know it's something so, so simple that's stopping me from doing it and it can be solved quite easily," she added.

"When my legs stopped working - it was very hard, very hard, and then one day I found out I could have a tramper... It absolutely changed my life."

Last year, there were nearly 12,000 hires across sites nationally by more than 8,000 users.

Head gardener at the Garden House atBuckland Monachorum, Nick Haworth said: "Access is sometimes difficult to achieve with historic sites.

"We've got terraces and steps but 80-plus per cent of the garden is easily accessible if you've got power and a vehicle with a decent footprint."

Sam Hyde is a trustee for Disability Together and has used a tramper to go out on Dartmoor for the first time in 10 years.

"It's opened doors that I thought were closed to me," he said.

"I would encourage everyone, whether your foot is in a boot, you've broken your leg, it's a temporary thing or you have a longer term thing which means you can't go out walking and enjoying the outdoors - this scheme is for you."

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