August 2015, May and August 2016 and May 2017 – Hunstanton, Norfolk

My grand parents used to live in Hunstanton 20 years ago and having always wanted to go back, my friend and I went there for the day in the previous year and I loved it. I managed to persuade mum that she'd love it too and within a few days she had found and booked an accessible holiday cottage about 5 minutes walk from where nan and granddad used to live 20 years ago for a week.

We travelled there by getting a train to Nuneaton, another to Ely and another to King's Lynn. Train Assistance was booked a few days before travel by phoning Virgin Journey Care, so staff we there waiting at each station with a portable ramp to help me on and off the train. We then got a bus from King's Lynn to Hunstanton (all buses everywhere are low floor and wheelchair accessible). For more information see the using public transport page.

The bus stop was about a minute's walk away from our cottage and once we were there we let ourselves through the garden gate which led onto a nice big garden and through the wide patio doors. I admit that our part of the cottage was smaller than we thought, especially the sitting area, but with the patios doors open it seemed bigger - all in all it was fine for the two of us. We could tell that a lot of thought had gone into the adaptations - from the electronically reclining arm chair, the breakfast table and hob with nothing underneath them so I could get my wheelchair underneath. The owner told us that initially that part of the cottage was adapted for his father-in-law who had MS.

The sitting room/kitchen led onto the bedroom and on-suite bathroom. In this room was the reason why we stayed here - a track hoist from over the bed to the bathroom/toilet; I had to take my sling from home but the track hoist made things a lot easier for mum. Mum finds my morning routine hardwork and if we were staying in a regular hotel room so she would have to help me to stand-transfer as well, a week-long stay just wouldn't have been possible. These rooms were also really well adapted with an adjustable bed, remote-controlled ceiling fan, a closomat toilet and a showerchair on wheels.

The cottage was in a great location - adjacent to Tesco, next to a pub/resturant which we ate in a few times, two minutes' walk from a chippy and five minutes' walk from the sea front. It was a very nice relaxing week - maybe I'm just old enough to appreciate these things now I'm in my 30's :-).