Rie Cushley and family, Strathclyde Country Park, North Lanarkshire

How do you put a feeling into words? I’ve had some really, really dark times, but here you can just come down with the kids and just walk, and feed the ducks, and speak to the swans.

Three generations of Rie’s family visit the park regularly because they say it feels like home and everyone there treats them like family.

Darren, Rie’s son, uses accessible bikes which are available on hire from the Water Sports Centre, and they all like to feed the ducks together.

When asked how she feels about her local park, Rie said:

“How do you put a feeling into words? I’ve had some really, really dark times, but here you can just come down with the kids and just walk, and feed the ducks, and speak to the swans. The view never gets boring and we’ll just walk around and talk about everything and nothing. It’s a beautiful space.

I used to always come running here, and I just phoned them up one day and said, “do you do accessible stuff?”. That was just as the Covid restrictions were lifted and it couldn’t have come at a better time in all our lives.

Everything in the park is accessible – they’ve got adapted cycling, the theme park is all wheelchair accessible, the walks are wheelchair friendly. They really thought of everything to make it friendly. We’ve made friends here, simply by using the park.”

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