Visitor numbers

The information below is for schools to help pupils with visitor surveys at Dinton Pastures Country Park.

Visitor surveys are used to understand who visits sites, and why. The most recent survey carried out by the Countryside Service at Dinton Pastures was in April 2006.

Please contact the Countryside Service if you would like to be sent a copy of the results of this survey.

More people visit the park during the summer months and at weekends, with the summer school holiday period being our busiest time.

In the past, visitor numbers have been monitored with the help of a car counter. Calculations then have to be made to this, estimating the average number of people in each car. Unfortunately the car counter can not distinguish between cars with two people in and coaches with 74 people in. Some vehicles may also have more than two sets of wheels, but the counter would register these as more than one vehicle. Delivery vehicles and members of staff entering and leaving the site would also be counted. Again a few calculations would be made to try and account for these problems. Graphs showing the last figures available from the car counter can be found by following the link at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, the car counter has been out of use since mid 1998, and a cost effective solution to replace this system is yet to be found.

In 1999, a car parking ticket machine was introduced at Dinton's main car park, charging people to park at weekends throughout the year and daily during major school holidays between the hours of 10am – 4pm. This gives some indication of car numbers to the park, and can be compared somewhat from year to year. The figure does not give an accurate view of visitor numbers to the park however, as only days when car parking charges apply would be counted.

With both these methods there are a few other problems that need to be remembered when trying to estimate visitor numbers. Firstly there is more than one car park for Dinton Pastures. These can be very popular, especially in the summer months, when the main car park is often full. Visitors may also reach the park by foot, or cycle, and there is currently no way of recording these visitors.

Use the links on the left for more information such as:

• Why visitors come
• Management of visitors
• Surveys