New Dinton Pastures attraction could double visitors
A new £500,000 adventure play park is part of a package of measures designed to double visitor numbers to Dinton Pastures in Hurst.
More than £650,000 in total will be spent by Wokingham Borough Council upgrading the park near Winnersh.
The council is also doubling parking charges at both Dinton Pastures and California Country Park to £1 an hour.
It said it will reduce parking charges if visitor numbers decline.
At present 500,000 people use Dinton Pastures every year, and the council hopes in the next five years this number will double.
The scheme will be completed by 2016 and funded using developer contributions from new housing in Wokingham.
The new park will include large climbing frames and rope bridges hoisted between trees.
Gary Cowan, executive member for environment at Wokingham Borough Council said: "The big money is being spent on then new play equipment. The equipment at the park at the moment hasn't been replaced for 30 years.
"We also plan to create mini activity areas in the woodland around the adventure park made out of wood."
An additional £60,000 will be spent on a new toilet block and a further £60,000 is planned for training and equipment at the Black Swan lake multi-activity centre, where people can enjoy canoeing, sailing and windsurfing.