Perthshire Advertiser

Enchanted Forest boosts accessibil­ity

- Staff reporter

year’s Enchanted Forest was a huge hit The award-winning Enchanted Forest sound and light show is ploughing £6000 into the event to improve accessibil­ity for wheelchair users and disabled customers.

The investment in the Pitlochry event this October will include improved path access, increased access to the show’s catering and storytelli­ng areas, and a state-ofthe-art Mobiloo toilet.

Together, the changes will enable many more visitors to gain accessibil­ity to all parts of the show.

There will be improved path access for all visitors to Faskally Wood, where the event is held, and organisers have focused on increasing accessibil­ity for wheelchair users in many areas where there is bark underfoot, installing matting on top of the bark.

This includes the storytelli­ng yurt, which offers storytelli­ng throughout the evening, and catering areas serving food and beverages.

The Enchanted Forest Community Trust, which puts on the event, has collaborat­ed with Mobiloo, a charity who provide temporary disabled toilet facilities including a toilet with grab rails, an electronic hoist, and an adult-sized changing bench. Mobiloo will be provided in addition to the existing portable toilets.

The trust, who expects to attract 80,000 visitors during the month-long run, was inspired by Euan’s Guide, the charity and disabled access review website who featured the 2017 show. Reviewer and blogger Claire D’All gave the event five stars but made several suggestion­s for improved accessibil­ity.

Zoe Squair, creative producer of The Enchanted Forest, said: “We take all of our customer comments seriously, whether they are in the form of comments to staff, social media posts or press reviews.

“While The Enchanted Forest has always had a good reputation for accessibil­ity, there is always room for improvemen­t. That’s why we wanted to step things up this year and pump a substantia­l amount of money into making things even better.”

Entitled ‘Of The Wild’, the 2018 Enchanted Forest show runs from October 4 to November 4. Last year’s sell-out Enchanted Forest event attracted a record 73,000 visitors.

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