From the outside, Park House Hotel on the auspicious Sandringham Royal Estate looks like any other luxury hotel. While it is true that the warm, professional welcome and many of the facilities inside are also on a par with some of the regions best holiday accommodation, there are a few added extras that make Park House unusual. This is because Park House has been especially designed so that people with physical disabilities – however severe – and their carers, can enjoy a short break or holiday without having to worry about the extra care or facilities that they may require on a daily basis.
We visited Park House in December to experience this unique hotel first-hand.
From the moment you step inside, you realise that, despite its regal situation, no pomp or ceremony are required here. A very relaxed and warm environment greets you from the off (not surprisingly, Park House has won the ‘Customer Care’ award at the Norfolk Tourism Awards previously.
House Manager Sarah Shepherd gave us the full tour – Park House is large and impressive, with ample access for wheelchairs and every necessary modification for guests with physical disabilities, including rails, lifts, hoists and alarms. The 16 bedrooms are all en-suite and alongside the usual creature comforts you’d find at a high-quality hotel (such as TV and tea/coffee making facilities) there are also extra amenities designed to meet the specific needs of the guests at this hotel.
Beyond the offerings of regular hotel accommodation, Park House boasts an in-house team of experienced Registered Nurses and care staff, who are on duty 24 hours a day. Essential in offering peace of mind to guests who may not have stayed away from their homes ever before, they are on hand to provide as much or as little care as is required.
For guests that like to socialise and ‘get involved’, there are daily activities, ranging from on-site entertainment to visits out to nearby attractions on the fleet of wheelchair-accessible minibuses. In the summer, there is a heated outside swimming pool and a lovely patio area. If its peace and quite you seek, then Park House has several light and airy public rooms where you can simply have a coffee and catch up with the newspapers, surf the Internet or just sit and enjoy the lovely views of rolling parkland from the huge windows.
The restaurant on-site is fully licensed and offers a range of light lunches and heartier dishes. We enjoyed a tasty jacket potato and freshly made garlic bread during our visit and could barely finish it all, so generous were the portions!
Park House has a rich history – Diana, Princess of Wales was born in the house and it was the Spencer Family home until 1974. The Queen, Patron of ‘Leonard Cheshire’ offered the house to the organisation in the 1980s, whereupon it was transformed into a hotel and adapted for the physically disabled. Nowadays, it is firmly looking towards the future, ensuring that physical disability is no barrier to ‘a break from the norm’. With nowhere else quite like it in the UK, and offering such an enjoyable experience, most guests return year after year. If you know someone who would benefit from a visit, why not let them know about Park House?
