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Image: Bournemouth Beach

Bournemouth Beach in Dorset has been named the best disability friendly beach in the UK following research by Keep Moving Care, who put together a list of their top 10 accessible beaches.

Each beach was ranked on whether they had received Blue Flag status, whether they had any ramps, slopes or slipways, if there was step free access, disabled parking, disabled facilities, accessible wheelchair hire and more to determine which of the UK’s beaches were the most accessible.

Bournemouth Beach was named the best overall disability friendly beach, with neighbouring beach Sandbanks coming in second and Brighton Beach being named third. Overall, four beaches from Dorset were featured in the list and two from Cornwall, covering two of the biggest holiday destinations in Britain.

The top ten list is as follows:

Bournemouth Beach, Bournemouth, Dorset, England
Sandbanks Beach, Poole, Dorset, England
Brighton Beach, Brighton, Brighton and Hove, England
Portobello Beach, Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
West Wittering Beach, Chichester, England
Whitby Beach, Whitby, North Yorkshire, England
Weymouth Beach, Weymouth, Dorset, England
Studland Beach, Studland, Dorset, England
Porthminister Beach, St Ives, Cornwall, England
Perranporth Beach, Perranporth, Cornwall, England

Speaking about the list, the Director of Keep Moving Care, Liam Cook, said: “Even with some travel restrictions coming to an end, UK staycations are still expected to experience a boom in summer 2021. We’re passionate about supporting people with disabilities to ensure they maintain their freedom, so with this in mind, we decided to analyse the accessibility credentials of thirty of the top rated beaches, as according to TripAdvisor data, to determine the top rated disability friendly accessible beaches in the UK.

“During our research, we found that in many cases, it was very difficult to find clear and concise information from reputable sources into disability access and facilities for beaches in the UK. This can be frustrating, so we hope our research provides disabled holiday goers with some staycation travel inspiration this summer.”

Visiting one of the beaches above? Make sure to check out accessible accommodation here and things to do here.

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