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. More people visit the park during the summer months and at weekends, with the summer school holiday period being our busiest time.
Survey results
The most recent survey carried out by the Countryside Service at Dinton Pastures was in April 2006. Contact us if you would like a copy of the results of the survey.
Visitor monitoring
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 of 2 people and coaches of 74. Some vehicles may also have more than 2 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.
In 1999, a car parking ticket machine was introduced at Dinton's main car park, charging people to park at weekends and daily during major school holidays between 10am to 4pm. This gives some indication of car numbers to the park. The figure does not give an accurate view of visitor numbers to the park, as only days when car parking charges apply would be counted. Visitors may also reach the park by foot, or cycle, and there is currently no way of recording these visitors.
A survey of your own
Please let us know if you are planning to carry out a survey of your own at one of our sites. We may be able to help you and compare your results with similar surveys. Any feedback gained about our sites is useful to us so please send us a copy of your results.
Tips for designing a survey
When designing a survey of your own, think about what it is you actually want to know, and what other information could be useful when examining your results. For example if you want to know what improvements could be made to the site it may also be useful to know if they would be willing to pay for these improvements via a higher car parking charge or entrance fee.
