Enjoy the great outdoors with your senior family members on your next outing, these 5 locations around Durham and come highly recommended by our Care Professionals.
It is really important for health and well-being that as we age, we keep up an active lifestyle, helping keep your joints moving and muscles strong. A really enjoyable and effective way to help seniors to maintain some physical activity in their lives is to get them out and about with a daily or weekly park visit.
Durham has some wonderful outdoor places to visit, here is our tried and tested and recommended local outdoor places to take your seniors.
Located just on the edge of the city, behind the station and imposing viaduct, a green and calm place to enjoy dramatic views and gentle walks. There is a heritage centre and café open daily.
Benefiting from a £3million restoration programme funded there is plenty to see and do for all the family, from the youngest to the most senior, from an all ages play area, outdoor gym, putting green and an amphitheatre.
There are good footpaths, although there are steep inclines around the park, making it less accessible for visitors with mobility difficulties.
Our clients enjoy a spot of people watching here, sitting on a bench with their Care Professional, enjoying a coffee or ice cream
Limited car parking of 25 spaces
Not a park or a garden but we couldn’t miss this off our list, and we’re sure you’d agree, whether sitting outside one of the many cafes in the sunshine, or wrapped up warm for a walk along the seafront, Seaham is a lovely spot to spend an hour or two.
A photograph with Tommy, the sculpture depicting a weary WW1 soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale is a must.
Seaham front offers a good wide path to walk or cycle and enjoy the views of Durham’s Heritage coast. Ideal for seniors with limited mobility using wheelchairs or mobility scooters.
From one of England’s oldest churches, to rock pools, sandy coves, a heritage and lifeboat centre, and plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants, this is a place worthy of a return visit.
On the edge of the city, an oasis and calm and tranquillity, these beautiful gardens with their vast and ever-changing landscape over the seasons never fails to provide a lovely afternoon out with a senior.
With easy parking and a visitor centre and café on site, this is a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. The gardens are open 7 days a week.
Access on foot from Durham City is up hill, so arriving by car or the park and ride bus may be easier for those with limited mobility, some areas of the gardens are fully accessible but due to the terrain not the entire area.
Park benches are dotted around the gardens. For groups, guided tours or talks can be arranged, perfect for a senior club outing.
Located just off the A690 from Durham, just south of Houghton le Spring, the nature reserve, with its own café, gift shop and toilets.
It was created by the restoration of an opencast coal mine in the 90’s and is now the perfect home for wildlife including 200 species of birds, and if you are quiet, you may see stoats, weasels and roe deer.
There is a network of footpaths that are accessible linking viewing points across the marshes and lakes
Open daily, there is a nature themed wild play area for younger members of the family, while older family members can enjoy a coffee and a selection of mouth-watering cakes in the café or outside seating area.
Plenty of free parking and a great spot all year round for fresh air, and to get back to nature.
This large park is located just south of Chester le Street and close to Lumley Castle and the Emirates Cricket Ground.
A perfect spot for riverside walks and picnics, with ornamental gardens, a café and toilets. The park has frequent visiting fun fares. Plenty of pay and display parking.
A walk along the River Wear, as it snakes through the park on its journey from Durham out to the sea at Sunderland, or enjoy a picturesque woodland walk, (how many fairy doors can you spot?) there are plenty of grass areas for ball games or a summer BBQ and the paths are wide and flat, ideal if your senior uses a wheelchair or mobility scooter and there are lots of benches scattered throughout the park.
It’s also home to Chester le Street bowling club, where you can sit and watch the team practicing and of course home to lots of wildlife including ducks and swans. The river isn’t suitable for swimming,
The above locations provide a pleasant place to sit and watch the world go by or enjoy a leisurely meander around the area, your seniors will be spoilt for choice for an afternoon out and about in the fresh air around Durham.
Find out more about the benefits of home care in Durham for your elderly loved ones or get in touch today if you’d like to know if it could be right for you.