Brockholes nature reserve announces phased reopening

Opening hours will be 9am – 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday. But the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has warned that the Visitor Village, cafe and toilet facilities will not be open.

Staff will also be keeping a close eye on the car parks to prevent an overload of visitors. Would be visitors are asked to keep up to date with the parking situation by checking the reserve's Facebook page with Reserve staff advising: "We will update you here if our car park becomes full; we need to keep everyone safe and ensure we keep our visitor numbers at a safe level."

Parking will be charged at £5 for the entire day, with visitors offered the opportunity to pay by cash at the parking machines, by contactless at a car park gazebo, or by a new app, RingGo where payments are made online. Some light refreshments will be available from the gazebo on the car park, but visitors are being encouraged to bring their own refreshments.

A spokesperson said: "It costs £2,000 every day to run Brockholes and as we don’t receive government funding it is this (car park) income that enables us to keep Brockholes as a nice place to visit. With a pause on our income streams since mid-March, it is important we build up our income again to ensure we can continue to maintain the site and look after the wonderful wildlife you can see while walking around."

Dogs are not allowed on the reserve with the exception of assistance dogs .In addition people walking around the Guild Wheel can pass through Brockholes with well-behaved pets but must stick to the path and not stray onto the reserve.

Visitors are being reminded to observe social distancing. The reserve team want play area users to follow advice from The Register of Play Inspectors International (RPII):

"If the playground is busy, consider coming back at a later time. Talk to your children about this possibility before visiting. Wash your and your children’s hands before and after visiting; Take hand sanitiser with you and consider taking a bottle of water for if your children’s hands get covered in mud. Ensure your children are using hand sanitiser frequently."

All visitors are asked to follow advice signs, walk on the left ,keep a 2m span apart and sanitise hands after touching gates and surfaces.

Trust Chief Executive Officer Anne Selby says the Trust hopes to fully reopen all its sites withing the next three weeks, as long as there is not a spike in Coronavirus cases or changes in Government regulations

Meanwhile Preston City Council has announced that two park cafes are open for takeaways - Avenham Pavilion on Avenham Park and Rosemary on the Park on Moor Park.

Toilet facilities are also open at both parks - Avenham from 11am - 4pm and Moor Park 8am - 4pm.

The council said that park play areas will be open again from July 4 following lifting of Government restrictions and it hopes to be able to give an update soon on when the café will fully reopen.