Five Things to do with Your Elderly Parents in Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Amersham Fair Organ Museum

One of Amersham’s best-kept secrets, this museum houses fairground organs from famous makers such as Marenghi, Gavioli and Hooghuys. The oldest here dates from 1885. As well as looking at the beautifully decorated instruments, you can watch the moving parts and listen to them playing during the open days.

For many older people, this museum will evoke memories of days gone by and could even form part of the kind of reminiscence session that is often used in dementia care to facilitate communication with people living with dementia. You can also enjoy tea and cakes here, and a visit is well worthwhile, especially in winter when you might not want to be in the open air.

If you decide to visit this museum with your older loved ones, check the website first, as the opening hours are limited, and you will need directions to find the museum.

Little Chalfont Nature Park

This nature park opened in 2016 and is easy to reach from Amersham. Although the park only extends to 4.6 acres, there is plenty for nature lovers to enjoy, with a wildflower meadow, cherry orchard and ancient woodlands. If your elderly parents have live-in care, this would be an excellent place for their carer to take them for a picnic in good weather. Although the park is wheelchair accessible, it may not be suitable in wet weather as the main path has not yet been paved and can become muddy. There are designated parking bays for blue badge holders in the nearby car park at Snells Wood.

Chenies Manor

This beautiful historic house was formerly known as Chenies Palace and dates from around 1460, although there have been many changes, including an extension in the 16th century and ongoing restoration work. The house and gardens are open in the afternoons on Wednesdays and Thursdays from April to October, but wheelchair users can only gain full access to the gardens.

Chenies Manor hosted Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and their courts. You’ll find exhibitions of the work of national and local artists in the recently restored 16th-century pavilion throughout the season.

There is a lovely tearoom overlooking the sunken garden. This and the other gardens, including the white garden, the physic garden and the rose border, attract many visitors, including elderly care groups and individuals, particularly in spring and summer when the large display of dahlias is at its best.

Amersham Museum

When the weather is not so clear a visit to Amersham Museum is always interesting and can provide a break from care at home for a few hours. It is easy to park nearby, and the museum’s ground floor is wheelchair-accessible, although access to the first floor is less so. There are wheelchair-accessible toilets nearby in Old Amersham, but those in the museum are unsuitable.

The museum holds many events, and the collection covers local history over the last 2000 years. The building itself dates from the 15th century and is Amersham’s oldest domestic building, part of a Tudor hall house that may have belonged to a merchant. The gardens are also interesting and contain many culinary and medicinal plants.

Chiltern Open Air Museum

If your parents have companion care, another suggestion is to visit Chiltern Open Air Museum. There are designated car park spaces for disabled visitors close to the entrance of the museum, and they try to ensure that the 35 rescued historic buildings are also accessible.

You can hire electric scooters at the museum, but it is advisable to book these in advance. You can also borrow adult manual wheelchairs. Some ramps are temporary and will be put out by staff if you ask at the ticket office when you arrive.

The buildings include a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse, a Medieval barn, a working Victorian farm and an 1830s wychert cottage right up to a 1940s’ Prefab and a Nissen Hut, allowing visitors to experience 2000 years of architecture in one unique museum.

The working farm is very popular with old and young, using traditional farm machinery and techniques as much as possible. Visitors can see how heritage crops are grown, harvested and stored, as well as meeting the rare breed livestock.

There are also special events, with costumed re-enactments where you can experience living history. In the past these have included a Highwaymen living history event and Tudor Times events, making for a day out with a difference for your elderly parents.