Rockinham Forest seeks help

I am a researcher working on behalf of the Rockingham Forest Trust. They are handling the development of the Stanwick Lakes site on the A45 near Rushden.

Once Hansen move out in a few months, the plan is to create a new country park area.

One aspect of this involves possibly opening up the old Railway line to Thrapston as a Right of Way for Horses Bikes and walkers.

This would be in addition to the numerous trails within the site.

Walkers in Northants, please give us some indication of the sorts of facilities you'd like to see at the site:

Toilets , shop etc

Also if you live locally, where do you walk at the moment?

I live just the other side of Wellingborough and drive past the site every day to work.

The best facilities you could offer would be a range of walks varying in length. Some could have a hardened surface so that disabled access is available. As for facilities I think car parking (obviously) and toilets are the main priorities. Not sure about the viability of a shop, but a little tea/snack kiosk might work. Finally, promotion - I live about 7/8 miles at most and until today didn't know about this.

Currently I spend most of my local walks around the Nene Valley between Northampton & Wellingborough. But generally try to go elsewhere as its all a bit flat!

On the promotion point, a local postal questionnaire has been sent out, however at present there is nothing to 'promote' as the site won't be ready for use for some months / up to a year.

Other things I should have mentioned:

Would you use the site all year round ?

If so what sort of facilities are useful and desirable?

Lockers?

Showers?

Bar / Cafe?

Is cycle rental on site important?

What sort of Childrens facilities are useful?

Fair enough if there is nothing to promote at the moment but I guess you'd want it used from day one. I didn't get the postal questionnaire and I'm not sure anyone else on the Northampton side of Wellingborough did.

As for the other things:
Yes I guess the site would/should be open all year. But as for the facilities I don't personally see the need for lockers/showers, etc. Cycle hire would be good as would a cafe. For kids you could have an adventure playground or something similar.

It depends on whats trying to be acheived. Is it suppossed to be a 'protected' natural environment or a planned park? If you've not already it might be worth looking at the Summer Leys Nature Reserve by Earls Barton or the Sywell Country Park.