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You are here: Home > News > Yarrow Valley Country Park Makes Chorley Smile

• Yarrow Valley Country Park makes Chorley smile

• Date:

  26th February 2008

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

Green Flag Award-winning Yarrow Valley Country Park is continuing to make 'Chorley Smile' with the majority of visitors rating it as excellent in a new user survey.

Over the last 12 months the 700-acre country park has seen a 16 per cent increase in visitors, with more people with disabilities visiting the park than ever before. The survey, which was conducted during August and September last year, found the majority of people visit Yarrow Valley for peace and relaxation and to spend time with friends and their families.

Nearly 250 visitors took part in the survey and the results are now being analysed to help council chiefs plan for the future of the park.

According to the survey:

The majority of people visit Yarrow Valley either once a week or once a month.
Almost 90 per cent of visitors think the ranger service is excellent or good.
Over 80 per cent felt safe while in the park and do not experience any problems
The majority of visitors find out about the park either through the visitor centre, the brochure or in the local paper. However there has also been an increase in visitors using the Chorley Council website to get information about the park.

Councillor Mark Perks, Chorley’s Executive Member for Health, Leisure and Wellbeing said: “As part of the innovative Chorley Smile campaign, the Council has pledged to improve and protect the borough’s parks and open spaces and we can only do this by finding out what people think about the facilities in the area. We are delighted with the results of the survey and it confirms the positive feedback we get on a regular basis. There have been so many valuable improvements made to the park over the last year including the development of the viewing platform, which has now made the fish pass and weir accessible to all. These are the things we want to build upon and surveys such as this help us to do that.”

Around 82,000 people visit Yarrow Valley Country Park every year and around 100,000 use the Visitor Centre - around 2,000 a week.

An annual events program runs throughout the year and features guided walks, children’s activities and family events. The Junior Ranger Service is also very popular.