Glamis Castle Trail of Tales Light Show

It’s been a while since I’ve been to any events, I want to say Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens in December 2019 but maybe it’s been sooner. The past 18 months feel like a blur. This week though I visited Glamis Castle for their Trail of Tales light show. I saw it advertised on Facebook and was intrigued as I usually go to The Enchanted Forest in Pitlochary at this time of the year, but it’s not been on for the last 2 years due to Covid-19. As soon as I read their accessibility information on the website I was impressed, and I knew I had to test it out as the information was very helpful which doesn’t usually happen. It said they offered free carer tickets, that the pathways were suitable for prams and wheelchair, plus where the accessible toilet was.

When I booked my ticket, I emailed the organisers right away to book my free carer ticket and got an email back right away saying they would pass it on to the appropriate person. After a week of hearing nothing I emailed them back and they said they’d chase it up but again I heard nothing. I emailed a third time but didn’t get a response this time, I then tried to phone them, but the company was only open 3 days a week and were closed on that particular day. I finally got through to them on the day I was attending the event and got confirmation that I could get a free carer ticket. This caused stress for myself and uncertainty as until the morning of the event I didn’t know if I was going as I require a carer to come with me and I didn’t know if she would be able to get in. my first improvement for the event if it runs again next year would be to have a better system to request a free carer ticket.

I travelled to Glamis Castle by car as I live around 30 minutes away and I cannot comment on if there is any public transport nearby. As we drove up the driveway towards the castle there were staff standing at the side to check our names off of a list, I knew there would be disabled parking from visiting the castle previously but at this point we just double checked with the staff to see where it was. They told us directions and said that more staff would be further along to direct us more. This was true. They said the disabled parking was right beside the entrance to the trail, however once we got into the main area of the car park, we couldn’t see any more staff to ask where that entrance was so we just parked at the closet area. None of the parking spaces were outlined so it didn’t matter about the size of the parking space and to be honest the loose stones surfacing the ground of the car park were thicker nearer the disabled parking spaces which meant I struggled to drive on it more and might have struggled to get in and out of my car. Plus, we were closer to the exit of the trail which was better because myself and my carer were both freezing by the end.

At the entrance to the trail there were 2 staff members to greet you and they pointed you towards a QR code that you could scan to use an interactive app throughout the trail. Both our phones had poor battery though, so we decided to just walk around and enjoy the light displays. The staff at the entrance also made sure I knew that the last area of the walk to exit wouldn’t be suitable for my wheelchair due to it being a field and the rain from the previous few days making the ground too wet. A good thing about this staff interaction was that they spoke to me instead of my carer, which as you may know rarely happens.

We then set off for our 2 hour walk around Trail of Tail. The pathways around the whole trail were accessible for my powered wheelchair and different pathway areas were surfaced differently, a mixture of tarmac and gravel. I struggled to a little on the gravel, but it was manageable. I just kept driving in the opposite direction because the stones were pushing me that way, does anyone other wheelchair users experience this? All the light displays were in open areas or projected against the high trees, so they were all visable. I was also really surprised with the fact that there weren’t any speed bumps going over the pathways protecting any wires for the lights, these are always frustrating to drive over for any outdoor events. In fact, there were no wires at all obstructing the pathways, it was all laid out very well.

I say the walk took us 2 hours, but we did stop just over halfway around for some food from the food vans that were available on the grounds. There was a pizza van and a van that sold sweet waffles and hot drinks. We got a buzzer for when our pizza was ready but by the time we got it we found it was cold as they forgot to buzz us. The waffles and a hot chocolate I had was delicious though. I didn’t know if any tables would be available, so I was prepared and took a plastic plate with me. We did manage to get a picnic table but there were only four on a very spacious area of grass, they definitely could have had more tables as it would have been difficult to sit at one if it was busier.

Also speaking of sitting I feel there should be some seats dotted about the walk for visitors that can’t walk long distances. There were a few interactive areas throughout the walk, and this would have been some good places to have seating. One of the areas had a lady dressed up as a witch which I’m not a big fan of as people who are dressed up usually talk to me like a child due to my size, however it’s good for children visiting. FYI I only like characters dressed up in Disney.

I didn’t see any accessible toilets throughout the walk, only standard portacabins in one area, but as I mentioned at the start of this blog there is an accessible toilet in the Pavilion Shop at the start of the walk. It would have been good to see a Pamiloo or Mobiloo Changing Places toilet as visitors like myself who can’t use standard accessible toilets would feel more relaxed.

When we got to the end of the walk as a staff member mentioned there were staff members there to direct us a different way back to the car park. We actually got to walk through the private grounds of Glamis Castle which is very VIP. Although it was extremely dark so we couldn’t see much, we did see the private entrance to the castle.

You can read my Euan’s Guide review here. This event is still on until Sunday (7th November) and I would definitely recommend it. I hope they have it on again next as far £15 a ticket I feel it is good for the price. It wasn’t busy at all so I felt safe during the current pandemic we see ourselves in, no one was wearing masks but I felt fine because we were outdoors. I hope this is the start of going out and reviewing again but as always I’m just taking each day as it comes, we’ll see what the next couple of months bring.