Comments and Frequently Asked Questions
We receive lots of comments from visitors by e-mail, in person, and in our comments box. Some themes come up again and again, so here we share some of them with you, and hopefully help to answer them… Food & Drink “It would be nice to have been able to have a cuppa!” “Would be good to have refreshment facility” “Great snack bar, so nice to see organic, local produce. Pity they will be leaving. Hope you get equally crucial café!” “Please can you make a bigger seating area for people who wish to sit and have coffee or eat.” We have recently cleared the interior of an old classroom building in preparation for our proposals to give it a new lease of life as a café. We hope to get the full go-ahead for this project soon.
The new café will replace the mobile catering we currently have on-site, which is only able to open on weekends and school holidays. We will continue our commitment to healthy, locally sourced food, and aim to have the café open 7 days a week, all year round. There will be indoor and outdoor seating for customers, as well as the existing picnic benches for all visitors. Otherwise space is limited in the hub so more picnic benches are not planned. However, there is an additional picnic area a short distance away, at the start of the Play Trail. Cycling “Jet wash would be good” “No cycling on the Play Trail!” “Adventure Cycle Trail – excellent bit of fun. Family Cycle Trail – pants!” Besides the café, another part of the development plan for Haldon is to overhaul the cycle trails to improve them in a vast number of ways, which will solve the problems experienced above, and more.
A bike wash is also being considered for the future, but as we are not on mains drainage here, careful consideration must first be given to the waste water. Rubbish“Dog bin at main junction” “…now the family is coming as well [we need] bins for litter and dog waste…” Several dog bins are available, and most of them are close to car parks as this is where they are most needed. Currently this is enough to cope with the volume of dog waste generated at the park. In light of the extra cost attached to collecting the waste an additional bin would not be justified.
We do not provide litter bins at any of our sites because we believe people should always take their litter home with them. Covering the cost of emptying litter bins would mean raising parking charges – we think most people would prefer to take their litter home instead!
The Comments Box......can be found outside the rangers' office, and and comments slips and a pen are inside. We don't usually respond to individual comments, but it is useful for us to know what is important to our visitors. So if you have a comment you'd like to make then pop it in the box next time you're here - it could make a difference!
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