One of the things we did whilst I was in plaster was a day out on the trains at the West Somerset Railway.
We've been there quite a bit before; it only takes about an hour and a half to get there and even better, they accept Tesco Clubcard vouchers as payment for train tickets.
We'd planned for ages to go the day after Taunton Carnival as the first station on the line is Bishops Lydeard and that's only about 15 minutes away from Taunton. We made sure to check the timetable first and got there for the first train of the day about 10.30am.
Originally we thought about getting on and off at several stations but what with me being in the wheelchair we thought we'd just go the whole way to Minehead and get some afternoon tea and stroll/wheel along the prom. The line is the longest standard gauge heritage railway in the UK running from 22.75 miles from Bishops Lydeard inland through to the coastal stations of Watchet (the place where Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'), Blue Anchor (with it's long long beach) and finishing at Minehead on the north Somerset coastline.
Having been to the West Somerset Railway on two legs before and now having visited on one leg, they've certainly managed to cater excellently for disabled passengers. It's a fairly recent addition, but several of their trains have wheelchair-friendly coaches where both the person in the chair and their friends can all sit in the same area of the coach, instead of the disabled person travelling in the guards van. The staff were brilliant too, helping Andrew get me on and off the train and chatting away asking what had happened to my leg.
When we got to Minehead, we looked for somewhere to eat and found Sally's Vintage Chic - a shop and tearoom right in the middle of the high street and also open on Sundays!
It's a shame we didn't have more time as there were lots of lovely-sounding things on the menu but we opted for just tea and cake as we had a train to catch. Andrew went for a cream tea and I had an Orange Drizzle Cake with a hot chocolate that was already oozing over the top of the mug. Everything is served on vintage crockery and both me and Andrew would've quite liked to take home the little green and white striped milk pot.
I know Minehead's out on a bit of a limb but if you ever find yourself in the area, that teashop is well worth a visit, especially if you've travelled there by steam train - basically you can have a complete nostalgia-filled day out!
We've been there quite a bit before; it only takes about an hour and a half to get there and even better, they accept Tesco Clubcard vouchers as payment for train tickets.
We'd planned for ages to go the day after Taunton Carnival as the first station on the line is Bishops Lydeard and that's only about 15 minutes away from Taunton. We made sure to check the timetable first and got there for the first train of the day about 10.30am.
Originally we thought about getting on and off at several stations but what with me being in the wheelchair we thought we'd just go the whole way to Minehead and get some afternoon tea and stroll/wheel along the prom. The line is the longest standard gauge heritage railway in the UK running from 22.75 miles from Bishops Lydeard inland through to the coastal stations of Watchet (the place where Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'), Blue Anchor (with it's long long beach) and finishing at Minehead on the north Somerset coastline.
Having been to the West Somerset Railway on two legs before and now having visited on one leg, they've certainly managed to cater excellently for disabled passengers. It's a fairly recent addition, but several of their trains have wheelchair-friendly coaches where both the person in the chair and their friends can all sit in the same area of the coach, instead of the disabled person travelling in the guards van. The staff were brilliant too, helping Andrew get me on and off the train and chatting away asking what had happened to my leg.
When we got to Minehead, we looked for somewhere to eat and found Sally's Vintage Chic - a shop and tearoom right in the middle of the high street and also open on Sundays!
It's a shame we didn't have more time as there were lots of lovely-sounding things on the menu but we opted for just tea and cake as we had a train to catch. Andrew went for a cream tea and I had an Orange Drizzle Cake with a hot chocolate that was already oozing over the top of the mug. Everything is served on vintage crockery and both me and Andrew would've quite liked to take home the little green and white striped milk pot.
I know Minehead's out on a bit of a limb but if you ever find yourself in the area, that teashop is well worth a visit, especially if you've travelled there by steam train - basically you can have a complete nostalgia-filled day out!
I don't think I realised the scale of that hot chocolate in your instagram shot- it's HUGE!! I'm definitely going there next time I visit my relatives in Minehead :) xxx
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