For many families, a trip to the beach is simple. For Catriona and her nine-year-old daughter Leila in Felixstowe, it has often been anything but.

Catriona, who lives a short walk from the beach in Felixstowe, Suffolk, said days by the sea are rare because Leila, who has severe developmental delays, needs a wheelchair.

“It can be quite difficult to leave her wheelchair up on the prom, and then try and carry her down, so we don’t tend to do [go to the beach] very often,” said Catriona.

“It’s a massive challenge a lot of the time. I hope someone I’m with will go ‘I’ll carry her’ because I’m not that strong anymore and she is getting bigger.

“But she does like the beach when we do get down here and it’s lovely just to see her enjoying herself.”

She said there was also concern that Leila could get hurt.

“There’s a bit of a drop down onto the beach, then I’ve got to carry her over the stones or let her crawl, which obviously can hurt her knees,” she added.

Figures show that 20.6 percent of people in east Suffolk are registered disabled, some of whom may have had difficulty accessing the beach.

East Suffolk Council has made special beach wheelchairs free to hire in Felixstowe, Southwold and Lowestoft.

The chairs have bigger wheels to get over stones and sand more easily and are available between 1 May and 31 October, or on other dates on request.

They are stored in lockers and can be accessed using a pin code sent to the user once a request has been approved by the council.

Sarah Whitelock, a councillor and the cabinet member for communities, culture, leisure and tourism, said the beach wheelchairs enabled “people to access our beautiful beaches more easily”.

She added: “We are committed to providing welcoming, accessible seafront spaces for everyone, including our beach boardwalk, accessible outdoor gym equipment and changing places toilets in Lowestoft, as well as our accessible beach chalets at the seashore village in Felixstowe.”

For Catriona and Leila, the wheelchairs are “life-changing”.

“This is a much easier option and something hopefully we can do a bit more often now,” she told the BBC.

“We can leave her chair in the locker, so I know that’s safe, and then there’s a nice ramp down onto the beach as well which is really helpful, and it moves really easily over the stones, which is great.”

With schools due to break up for the summer soon, Catriona said the beach wheelchairs would mean more opportunities for days out with Leila.

“It’s always hard to find things to do with Leila where she’s going to be safe and not hurt herself,” she added.

“So, hopefully we can do this a bit more often and sit on the beach for a while.”

Read more from BBC News.