21/07/2020 - Permalink

Opening hours at Severn Valley Country Park extend as summer holidays activities are introduced

Related topics: Community / Coronavirus / Health / Leisure, culture and heritage

Opening hours of onsite facilities at Severn Valley Country Park are to be extended from Wednesday 22 July 2020 as families and children get ready for the school summer holidays.

From 22 July 2020, the refreshment kiosk and toilet facilities will be open five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday.

The refreshment kiosk is serving hot drinks, cold drinks, ice cream, crisps and snacks. Staff who usually work in the café are now serving in the kiosk so visitors will see some familiar faces. For visitor safety, it is card only payment in the kiosk (and at car park machine).

Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council Cabinet member for culture, leisure, communications and waste, said:

“Shropshire’s stunning countryside has been a lifeline for many of us as they remained open throughout the pandemic, albeit onsite facilities were closed.

“It’s fantastic news that we are able to extend the onsite service offer for visitors to Severn Valley Country Park and add some family activities to help children learn and develop a growing interest in Shropshire’s Great Outdoors as we inch closer to something like normality.”

Themed family activities & visitor safety

Each week during the school holidays, the ranger team will have themed activity sheets available for families on the days the kiosk and facilities are open.

The activities will help our younger visitors explore the park while looking for bugs; making mini beast houses; playing nature bingo and even searching for dinosaurs!  Visitors can keep up to date with each week’s theme on the Severn Valley Country Park Facebook page.

The play areas and family play trail are now fully open. They are being cleaned daily and guidelines are on display so they can be used safely. Since the play areas have reopened it has been great to see the equipment being climbed, balanced and jumped on again.

An image of the play area at Severn Valley Country Park.

The play area at Severn Valley Country Park is now open

Social distancing queue management and hand sanitiser points are in place at the kiosk and outside the toilets to ensure visitors remain safe when using facilities. Hand sanitiser points are in place at the car park ticket machines.

At the moment, one toilet cubicle is open to help support a one in-one out system to aid social distancing. It also ensures that the toilet can be regularly cleaned through the day. The team are looking into how more cubicles can be opened safely.

The kiosk is open 9.30am-3.30pm and the toilet from 10am-3.30pm Wednesday to Sunday.

For more information about Severn Valley Country Park and the rest of Shropshire’s Great Outdoors, visit the website.