 So much to do at Dinton this summer!
Whatever your age, experience or ability level, Dinton Pastures Country Park near Hurst offers the perfect opportunity to get active, both on the water and on land.
Between now and early autumn, it's staging courses in a range of activities including sailing, stand-up paddleboarding and much more.
Youngsters aged eight to 17 can take part in our junior and teen RYA sailing weeks or keep up their existing skills at junior and teen sailing club sessions.
There's also our Wild Days Holiday Club scheme, offering all kinds of adventures like watersports, climbing, archery, fencing, survival and team challenges.
Adult courses include dinghy sailing (beginners and improvers), open water swimming, stand-up paddleboard yoga and an RYA powerboat licence.
There are all kinds of inclusive activities for those with disabilities or special educational needs, while families can enjoy paddling and sailing taster days.
Even our four-legged friends can enjoy a "doggy paddle" as part of our programme of guided activities!
Places are still available but some dates are already sold out, so please book soon to avoid disappointment.
This is in addition to our boat hire service, which is now open seven days a week during school holidays and weekends until the autumn, and our lake access passes.
 Activity centre ready for first summer season
This year's fun will be run from from our new £2.4 million activity centre at Dinton Pastures, which we opened last September.
It's the borough's first carbon neutral building and boasts a high-tech indoor climbing wall, accessible ground-floor washroom, terrace with coffee bar and much more.
Designed by HLM Architects, its green features include rooftop solar panels and windcatchers, low-energy LED lights and ground source heat pumps.
We've also made improvements to the surrounding grounds and car park.
 Dinton tribute festival will have fans seeing double
Fourteen top tribute acts will be rocking the stage at Dinton Pastures on the weekend of 23 and 24 July.
Music lovers are invited to kick off their summer break in style at the Marvellous Festival, which boasts some stunning rock and pop acts for all ages to enjoy.
Performing on the Saturday are The Chicago Blues Brothers, No Jacket Required (Phil Collins), Re-Take That and Robbie, One & Only Adele, Wildboys (80s hits), UK Foo Fighters and The Rat Pack.
Sunday's line-up is How Sweet It Is (Motown hits), Platinum (ABBA), Oye Santana, The Jam'd, Katy Perry by Katy Ellis, Flash (Queen) and Definitely Mightbe (Oasis).
Happy's Circus will be putting up a traditional big top and performing two family-friendly cabaret-themed productions featuring music, dance and comedy.
There'll also be bars, food stalls, a funfair, kids' activities and camping, including a newly-revamped glamping area with power, showers, a coffee van and more.
You can book tickets and view the full terms on the Skiddle platform.
Image courtesy of Marvellous Festival.
 Go for a run - or put your feet up with a film!
Don't forget that the Barnes Fitness Summer Series races returns to Dinton Pastures for its 10th anniversary series on Thursday (12 May).
This friendly series of 5km and 10km runs is held on a beautiful, flat and traffic-free route around the park with its scenic lakes and wildlife. And if you can't attend in person, you can still take part in a virtual run instead.
The dates - all Thursdays - are this week, 9 June and 14 July (all 7.30pm) and 11 August at 7pm. Find out more and sign up on the Barnes Fitness website.
Gocinemas' fantastic outdoor screenings will also be back at Dinton Pastures with an evening celebrating indie legends the Stone Roses on 21 May. This includes a live DJ set and screening of the documentary Made of Stone.
Also coming up are The Greatest Showman (30 July), Bridget Jones' Diary (13 August), Steven Spielberg's West Side Story (20 August) and a double-bill of Clueless and Legally Blonde (27 August).
Image courtesy of Barnes Fitness.
 Runners and others will enjoy smoother path
The footpath around Black Swan Lake at Dinton Pastures, which is the most popular one at the site, is fully open again after extensive resurfacing.
We flattened it and laid a tarmac base before Easter as well as laying down grass seed, and now we've also applied a layer of sturdy bonded gravel.
The path is linked to the three main car parks and activity centre as well as the original access trail around the play area and Mungells Meadow.
These changes will make the area much more accessible to those with mobility issues or pushing prams and buggies and we're already seeing a difference.
The path was originally made of hogging, a mix of sand, stone and clay, that was laid in the 1980s. We maintained it regularly but the time had come for replacement.
 Cafe reopens with bright new look
Jackson's Café by the lake at California Country Park, near Finchampstead, has reopened following a long-awaited refurbishment.
It's open every day and the Jackson family, who've run it for the past eight years, are looking forward to welcoming both regulars and newcomers.
Their menu includes a wide range of breakfast, lunch and main meal choices with some exciting new additions including bagels.
The café specialises in fresh, locally-sourced produce and changes its menus to seasonally to ensure there's always something different to try.
It's become increasingly popular, which is why the overhaul also included an extension to cope with a growing number of visitors.
All customers are seated on a first-come, first-served basis so large groups should arrive early to avoid disappointment.
There's also a large dog-friendly outdoor seating area, though please be aware that dogs aren't allowed inside.
Image courtesy of Jackson's Café.
 If that's not enough to tempt you...
California Country Park boasts an award-winning play area with features including a sensory garden with water play for younger children, a "wild wood" with climbing obstacles based in a series of tree houses plus swings, hammocks and a trampoline.
The park opens daily and offers scenic walks, wildlife watching, fishing and more, with a hard surfaced footpath around Longmoor Lake plus other trails.
Its paddling pool will reopen for the summer on 16 July and entry must be booked online in advance.
Tickets for a 1hr 45m session are £2.60 for anyone entering the water and £1 for adults supervising children from the poolside. Full terms are on the website.
 New green spaces will accompany homes
We're still working to ensure that residents are well served by public green space as new homes are built in the borough.
These include an upcoming 1.6-hectare site at the Parklands development in Three Mile Cross, part of our Shinfield Parish major new community, with footpaths, bridges and homes for bats, birds, beetles, hedgehogs, reptiles and amphibians.
We're also working to secure a nature park in the Hogwood area at the southern end of our Arborfield major development, beside the existing one at West Court. We'd take over management of both once housing developers finish the work.
Preliminary work is also underway on the extension of Langley Mead nature park, south of Shinfield village, which will grow it from 18 hectares to 40 hectares.
 It's back to business as usual!
From this edition onwards, your Countryside newsletter will return to its usual schedule of one edition every other Tuesday evening.
In recent weeks, we had to publish less often to comply with national rules on how we communicated with you in the run-up to last Thursday's borough council elections. We look forward to keeping in touch more frequently!
You might be interested to know that we publish newsletters on all kinds of topics including waste and recycling, traffic and travel, sport and leisure, libraries and more. Find out more or sign up using the button below.
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