Southwood Country Park is a 57-hectare area of natural green space in Farnborough, Hampshire. With around 5 km of circular paths, a café, playground and field centre, the park offers visitors a place to enjoy the outdoors, explore local wildlife and spend time with family and friends.
Accessibility is an important part of helping more people enjoy the park. All-weather paths provide routes for walking and cycling, while the accessible playground includes equipment suitable for children with varying needs.
For visitors who require additional support with personal care, Southwood Country Park also provides a Changing Places toilet at its field centre, helping make longer visits more practical for people with complex disabilities and their carers.
Accessibility across the park
Southwood Country Park offers a variety of outdoor spaces and facilities for visitors to enjoy. Its landscape includes open grassland, wooded areas and wetland habitats, providing opportunities to experience nature and explore the local environment.
The park features a network of paths for walking and cycling, including all-weather routes designed to improve access around the site. On the western side, a formal circular route provides a 2.4-kilometre walk, while paths on the eastern side connect visitors with other areas of the park.
Alongside its walking routes, the park includes a playground and visitor facilities at the café and field centre. These amenities help create a destination where visitors can spend time outdoors, whether enjoying a short walk, meeting friends or making a longer family visit.
Providing accessible routes and appropriate facilities is an important part of supporting visitors with different mobility requirements. However, accessibility also means considering the practical needs of people who require assistance with personal care while away from home.
Specialist facilities for personal care
Alongside its outdoor facilities, Southwood Country Park provides accessible toilets at its café and field centre.
For people who cannot use a standard accessible toilet, the dedicated Changing Places facility at the field centre offers a more suitable environment for assisted personal care.
Changing Places toilets are designed for people with complex disabilities who require additional space, specialist equipment and support from carers. Access to these facilities can help people spend longer away from home, with greater comfort and dignity.
At Southwood Country Park, the facility forms part of the wider provision that helps visitors enjoy the park and its amenities.
What’s Inside: Our Specification
The Changing Places toilet has been equipped with a range of specialist products from Astor Bannerman, including:
- Astor Invincible Changing Table
- Astor OT200 Ceiling Track Hoist
- Astor Aquba Height Adjustable Wash Basin
- Privacy Screen
- Specialist grab rails and accessible bathroom accessories
- Emergency assistance alarm system
The Astor Invincible provides a safe and comfortable changing surface, while the OT200 ceiling track hoist supports assisted transfers and helps carers provide personal care safely.
Together, these elements provide a well-considered facility designed around the needs of people with complex disabilities and those supporting them.
A complete approach to accessibility
Southwood Country Park demonstrates the importance of considering accessibility as part of the overall visitor experience.
Accessible routes can help visitors move around the park, while the playground, café and field centre provide places to stop, relax and spend time with others. Suitable toilet facilities are another essential part of making a visit more practical for people with different access requirements.
For visitors who require specialist personal care, a Changing Places toilet provides an additional level of support that a standard accessible toilet cannot offer.
Without access to appropriate facilities, people with complex disabilities may find longer outings difficult or may need to return home earlier than planned. Having suitable personal care provision available can help remove one of these barriers.
For families and carers, this can mean greater flexibility when planning a day out, with reassurance that essential facilities are available when needed.
Supporting access to the outdoors
Spending time outdoors can offer opportunities for relaxation, recreation and connection with the natural environment. Parks such as Southwood Country Park provide valuable spaces for people to enjoy nature close to home.
However, for visitors who require specialist equipment and assistance with personal care, accessible paths alone may not be enough to make a longer visit possible.
Providing a Changing Places facility alongside other visitor amenities helps address these additional requirements. It recognises that accessibility extends beyond getting into a building or navigating a path; it also means being able to use the facilities needed to enjoy a destination comfortably.
By providing a range of visitor facilities, Southwood Country Park helps more people access and enjoy its natural surroundings.
Supporting Your Accessibility Project
If you’re planning a Changing Places facility for a country park, visitor attraction, leisure venue or community space, Astor Bannerman can support you from the early stages of planning through to installation.
As a UK manufacturer of specialist accessible bathroom and personal care equipment, we work with architects, contractors, councils, trusts, visitor attractions and organisations across the UK to help create facilities designed around real user needs.
Our team can provide practical guidance on equipment selection, room layouts and project requirements, helping you plan a facility that supports people with complex disabilities and their carers.
To discuss your project or find out more about our Changing Places solutions, get in touch with the Astor Bannerman team.
