Further recognition for Fife holiday resort

tourism: Ewing hails The Rings for its focus on offering facilities for people with disabilities

A Fife holiday resort specially designed for disabled tourists has been described as outstanding by Scotland’s rural affairs secretary.

The Rings, which is in the running for an architectural award, provides fully accessible self-catering accommodation suitable for people with profound and severe disabilities.

Fergus Ewing officially opened the cottage at Chance Inn, near Cupar, which he said enabled some to take their first ever holiday.

Owner Moira Henderson was inspired to create the centre following a relative’s diagnosis with motor neurone disease and seeing the difficulties his family encountered in travelling.

Due to a series of setbacks, including during a lengthy planning process, it took a decade for her dream to be realised.

But less than a year after it opened the building at Ring Farm has been shortlisted for the tourism and leisure prize in the RICS Scotland Awards.

Mr Ewing, who cut the turf when construction started two years ago, said: “The facilities which I saw for myself are outstanding.

“They offer a great place for a break for disabled people, some of whom may not have had a holiday for years or indeed ever.

“The design of the building has been thought out with great care to cater for a variety of special needs.

“Everyone should be able to enjoy a break or a holiday and The Rings will give many disabled people that chance perhaps for the first time.”

Designed by Chambers McMillan Architects, The Rings was also commended in last year’s Saltire Society Housing Design Awards and the Dundee Institute of Architects Awards.

It was a runner-up in the Scottish Rural Awards.

Mrs Henderson, chairwoman of Cupar and North Fife Local Tourism Association, said: “This is a wonderful building, it’s beautiful, but the main thing is it works for people.

“We built it for a purpose, to enable families and groups to go on holiday that would struggle to get away without these facilities.”

While many accommodation providers describe themselves as wheelchair-friendly, Mrs Henderson said it was often because they had simply widened doorways.

The Rings, she said, was one of only a handful of accommodation providers in Scotland with ceiling tracking hoists.

These can be operated by one person so allow, for example, a couple where one partner is disabled to stay without the need for a third person to help.

Mrs Henderson also said the eight en-suite bedrooms meant families with one or more disabled members were able to holiday together.

Picture: David Wardle. Rural Affairs Secretary Fergus Ewing with Moira Henderson, owner of The Rings, at the official opening of the holiday centre near Cupar.