Accessibility in Shetland

Shetland has some beautiful scenery and lovely beaches. 

 

Many hundreds of beaches.  In the summer you’d probably have to share St. Ninian’s Isle tombolo with other people, but there are plenty other beautiful beaches that you’ll most likely only have to share with the odd sheep, seal or seagull.

 

We’re also blessed with having Ability Shetland.  A local charity who lends out All Terrain Wheelchairs.  These allows you to access some of our loveliest beaches – if you feel really adventurous, cold-water swimming could be possible.  Genuinely cold - our average summer sea temperature is just over 12 °C (22 °F). All Terrain Wheelchairs | Ability Shetland

 

We don’t have many trees in Shetland but if you fancy a bit of ‘forest bathing’ Michaelswood is a truly lovely (accessible) woodland with it’s own all terrain wheelchair.  New all-terrain wheelchair for Michaelswood | Shetland News (shetnews.co.uk)

​

Shetland is a wonderful place to see wildlife.  We have 78 Sites of Special Scientific Interest covering 19,913.9 hectares (or 13.6%) of Shetland.  (Though some are designated more for their geology than their wildlife).  Although we have 1697 miles (2731Km) of coastline, I can’t 100% guarantee we’ll see seals.  But they do tend to be inquisitive, so I’m pretty confident they’ll come for a peerie nosey once they see us parking up! (A peerie nosey roughly translates to coming for a little look to check what’s going on.)

 

I’m also pretty confident I can rustle up a few ponies for any visit.  Baby foals, baby lambs and/or puffins and their chicks are more of a seasonal speciality!

 

Nice toilets are important for any tour, and I like to use Shetland Recreational Trust’s ones.  They have 8 leisure centres spread through the isles with lovely spacious facilities and friendly welcoming staff. Locations | Shetland Recreational Trust (srt.org.uk) 

Shetland also has four changing places toilets. Details of these can be found here - Changing Places Toilets

 

There are many, many indoor museums, visitor centres, cafés etc. but to make sure you get the best of them I’d recommend that I pre book and check how many other bookings they have.  There will be little pleasure visiting anywhere that’s too busy and crowded the day you want to visit. 

 

There’s also the cake fridge option.  I have to be honest, some of my absolute favourite views come from peeping in some of our numerous cake fridges. Honesty boxes in Shetland | Shetland.org