Gini Mitchell Appointed as Disability and Access Ambassador for the Countryside

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11th June 2026

We are excited and proud to announce that our Putting Down Routes project partner, Gini Mitchell, founder of Wild With Wheels CIC, has been appointed as a Disability and Access Ambassador for the Countryside on behalf of the Government’s Disability Unit, which is part of the Cabinet Office.

Disability and Access Ambassadors play a vital role in driving improvements in accessibility and service quality for disabled people across their sectors. In this voluntary role, Gini will work with countryside partners to help ensure they are doing all they can to better support visitors with access needs.

Through Wild With Wheels, Gini has played a key role in the Putting Down Routes project, delivering inclusive and accessible nature experiences across the Kent Downs National Landscape and North Downs Way National Trail. As an Ambassador for both the North Downs Way and the Cross-Channel Geopark, she has led a wide programme of free guided walks and events designed specifically for people with disabilities, including wheelchair users, neurodiverse participants, and those with sensory needs.

These activities focus on enabling participants to connect with nature through sensory exploration and shared experiences, helping individuals who are often excluded from the outdoors to engage with landscapes, wildlife, and heritage.

Alongside delivering activities, Gini has been instrumental in widening participation by working with diverse groups. Her work supports the project’s wider aim of positioning the North Downs Way as a safe, welcoming, and inclusive destination for all. By tailoring activities to different access needs and abilities, she has helped remove social and practical barriers that can prevent people from accessing the countryside.

A significant part of her contribution has been using her lived experience as a mobility aid user to influence how accessibility is understood and improved. She has supported lived experience sessions for planners and decision-makers, giving them first-hand insight into the challenges of navigating trails in a wheelchair. These sessions highlight barriers such as uneven terrain, steps, and narrow gates, helping ensure that accessibility improvements are informed by real user experience rather than assumptions.

Gini has also contributed directly to identifying and addressing physical barriers along the trail network. By exploring routes herself and working closely with project partners, she has helped audit paths and highlight priority areas for improvement. This has informed infrastructure changes and long-term planning to make more sections of the North Downs Way accessible to wheeled users.

Overall, her work bridges practical delivery and strategic influence. Through Wild With Wheels, she has not only enabled more people to access and enjoy the Kent Downs in the present, but has also helped shape a more inclusive and accessible future for the trail network—ensuring that improvements are rooted in real experience and genuine user needs.

 Peter Morris, North Downs Way National Trail Manager:

We couldn’t be happier for Gini, or more proud. We first met Gini as a candidate on our North Downs Way Ambassador Training Programme, and we have learnt an incredible amount from her.

Working alongside Wild with Wheels we quickly learnt that the countryside wasn’t accessible to everyone and have been working hard through our Putting Down Routes project to rectify this. We now work together to improve access and inclusivity not just locally but across the country.

 Gini Mitchell – Wild with Wheels CIC Founder, Director:

I am grateful for all the ongoing support from Kent Downs National Landscape and North Downs Way National Trails, who have helped to transform areas of the Kent Countryside into accessible routes.

The improvements and removal of barriers mean that many more people with disabilities can now independently visit green and blue spaces, which benefits health and wellbeing, whilst connecting with nature and exploring areas of heritage and biogeological interest.

 

 

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