HER?Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, has paid an official visit to Flat Spaces at Watercress Lodges in Ropley.

The Princess was greeted last Thursday by Tom Yendell and his wife Lucy. Tom is chairman and founder of Flat Spaces Foundation, a charity whose aim is to provide purpose built, fully accessible holiday accommodation for those with severe disabilities, their families and carers.

As a member of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, Tom recognised the lack of demand for such properties, which result in a sizeable section of society feeling unable to travel.

Launched in May 2015, Flat Spaces Hampshire is the first of many identical properties planned around the country.

A fully accessible, state-of-the-art holiday home for people with disabilities, the new building sits comfortably alongside the other holiday lodges, painted yellow and green to blend in with the surrounding countryside and the Mid Hants Railway Watercress Line station, which they overlook.

Two years in the making, from drawing board to completion, this is the first purpose-built accessible holiday home in the UK and it is a triumph for Tom, who came up with the idea of Flat Spaces following a conference several years ago in the United States, where it was reported that up to two billion dollars was lost annually to tourism as disabled people didn’t travel.

Some years later, when Polish timber-frame house builder Danwood made such a good job of building Tom’s own home in Alton for himself and his family, he decided to approach them with the idea.

Born in 1962 without arms due to the drug thalidomide which his mother took in pregnancy, Tom obtained a degree at Brighton University, where he studied expressive arts, and is a trustee for three charities – The Education And Book Appeal: Ghana (TEABAG), The Mouth And Foot Painting Artists Trust Fund for the Training of Handicapped Children in the Arts, and the Flat Spaces Foundation.

Having worked with people with disabilities for more than 30 years, Tom is acutely aware of the problems they face when staying away from home, as they simply don’t know what to expect and are often disappointed with the accessibility of their accommodation.

“Research shows that many severely disabled people rarely go on holiday because they think they won’t be able to cope,” said Tom, who was named Man of the Year in 1988 for his work with the less-abled people.

“For the first time in the UK, Flat Spaces is offering purpose-built holiday homes to people with mild to severe disabilities, knowing they can have complete confidence that the accommodation will be totally accessible in whichever Flat Space they visit.”

The three-bedroom prototype at Ropley is amazing. Bright, modern and airy, the bungalow is perfectly located, offering sweeping views across the Hampshire countryside, and tastefully decorated with facilities that can be tailored to meet individual needs at the “flick of a switch”.

The unparalleled space, facilities and equipment coupled with full accessibility enables guests to travel with confidence knowing their sometimes very complex needs will be met.

Guests of Flat Spaces have given glowing reviews, such as “Flat Spaces has been beyond perfect – equipped beyond our wildest expectations”, “this is the first and only place I have seen which has surpassed all expectations”, and “we have travelled plenty but never stayed anywhere where our son’s needs have been met so well by the accommodation”.

Supporting Tom with his £270,000 build project was director of Flat Spaces and district councillor Glynis Watts, who was also on hand to meet Princess Alexandra alongside East Hampshire District Council chairman David Andrews, and the trustees of Flat Spaces, including mouth painter Rob Trent, who exhibited his skills.

Princess Alexandra was presented with a floral image by Tom Yendell, who said of the visit: “We were extremely honoured that HRH Princess Alexandra found the time in her very busy schedule to visit Flat Spaces Hampshire. With the success of our first bungalow showing the great need for properties such as ours, the Foundation is now gearing up to raise the funds for the future Flat Space holiday homes around the country.”