Warwickshire Country Parks is celebrating another fantastic year.
Warwickshire Country Parks is celebrating another fantastic year, with more than a million visits, thousands of people taking part in events and over 3,000 species recorded at Ryton Pools Country Park.
The service, which looks after ten country parks, greenways and nature reserves across the county, has shared its annual highlights for 2025 to 2026. The infographic showcases the important role the sites play in helping people embrace nature and promoting health, wellbeing and connection with others.
Cllr Darren Cheshire, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Culture and Heritage at Warwickshire County Council, commented:
“Our country parks are something we can be really proud of in Warwickshire, offering special places for residents and visitors to enjoy. These annual highlights show how the team continues to balance creating welcoming, vibrant visitor attractions and making the most of commercial opportunities, while protecting our precious wildlife. It's fantastic to see visitor numbers continuing to grow alongside our efforts to improve biodiversity.”
Visitor numbers across all sites increased by 9.5% over the year, now totalling an impressive 1.15 million. The parks also hosted 5,109 people at ranger-led events and 3,054 children on school visits, helping people of all ages learn about and connect with our natural environment.
Adding to the year’s excitement and record visitor numbers were some major events, including the finish of Stage 4 of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men at Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Kingsbury Water Park also held its 50th anniversary, welcoming 1,500 people to mark the occasion.
The year saw the launch of Park Yoga at Kingsbury Water Park, with 100 people attending the first session. The free sessions proved hugely popular, attracting an average of 85 people each week and reaching a high of 149.
Volunteers continued to make an enormous difference across the parks, contributing an impressive 11,883 hours of their time to support conservation, maintenance and community projects.
In other key developments for visitors, a new food and drink kiosk opened at Hartshill Hayes Country Park, while anglers fishing at Kingsbury Water Park can now discover the fishery through a new website and book tickets via the Go Catch app.
Wildlife remained firmly at the heart of the service's work, with more than 3,000 species recorded at Ryton Pools Country Park during the year. This figure highlights the impact of the team’s conservation efforts and the incredible biodiversity that can be found across Warwickshire's green spaces.
The annual highlights offer a snapshot of another busy and rewarding year for Warwickshire Country Parks, made possible by the dedication of staff, volunteers, partners and the many people who visit and support these special places.
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