Country parks in Buckinghamshire reopen

Black Park Lake. (Image supplied by Buckinghamshire Council)

The country parks in Buckinghamshire have re-opened to help visitors enjoy more outdoor activity.

On Wednesday 13th May 2020, Buckinghamshire Council reopened its four country parks following the latest Government coronavirus advice which now allows people to make more of the outdoors.

Langley Park, Black Park, Denham Country Park and Thorney Park in the south of the county have reopened to allowing visitors to exercise more, take a walk or simply enjoy a picnic in some of the most beautiful surroundings in Buckinghamshire.

However meant introducing a number of restrictions in place to meet current social distancing requirements.

The toilets, cafes, playgrounds and play areas in the parks will remain closed along with the Go Ape facility at Black Park.

However areas areas in other parks will also remain closed until new arrangements have been made to enable social distancing, such as the Temple Gardens in Langley Park, visitor centres and main office.

Additionally charges to use the dedicated car parks remain in force, so anyone wishing the car park will need to purchase a ticket from one of the machines or ensure existing parking season tickets are clearly displayed.

The full details of the parks and current restrictions are:

Black Park Country Park

• Pay and display parking in operation.
• Car park height barrier in place – 2m height limit for vehicles.
• There are no hand washing facilities on site.
• Toilets, cafes and play areas closed.
• Go Ape closed.

Langley Park

• Pay and display parking in operation.
• Car park height barrier in place – 1.8m height limit for vehicles.
• There are no hand washing facilities on site.
• Toilets, cafe and play area closed.
• Temple Gardens (the Rhododendron collection) closed.

Denham Country Park

• Pay and Display parking in operation.
• Car park height barrier in place – 2m height limit for vehicles.
• There are no hand washing facilities on site.
• Toilets, café and play area closed.

Thorney Park

• No on-site facilities or parking. Local access only.

Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member for Sports and Leisure, Clive Harriss, said: ‘In addition to our municipal parks, footpaths and rights of way which have all remained open during the pandemic, I’m delighted that, as the government has now relaxed restrictions on exercise and travel, we can now reopen around 800 acres of beautiful county park land to the public.

Of course, we do need visitors to play their part by maintaining a two metre gap from anyone not in their household, keeping dogs on leads at all times and taking all litter home. With the toilets not currently open, there are no hand washing facilities, so we’d also ask visitors to bring their own hand gel or sanitiser as they would do when out and about anyway. We are looking at how we can resolve this issue in the longer term.

To help us and to maintain the safety of others, please ensure you read all the relevant signage in the parks and leave extra gaps between cars when parking in the car parks. Height barriers are also in place at the car park entrances so please check the height of your vehicle, particularly if you have a roof mounted bike rack and bike attached.‘

Further details on the reopening of country parks and all other service area changes can be found on the Buckinghamshire Council website at www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/coronavirus/.

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire Council.