Country park

A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.

United Kingdom

History

In the United Kingdom the term 'country park' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised Country Parks in England and Wales attracting some 57 million visitors a year. Most country parks were designated in the 1970s, under the Countryside Act 1968, with the support of the former Countryside Commission. In more recent times there has been no specific financial support for country parks directly, and fewer have been designated.

Most are managed by local authorities, although other organisations and private individuals can also run them. There is nothing to stop anyone opening a site and calling it a country park, although they would no longer receive recognition or particular support from the government. Indeed there are quite a few such private parks in existence, some of which are very far from what one might normally expect a country park to be.