Fenland Dog Park has now been open a year; thank you all for making it such a success. We will continue to try our best to make it a facility for all to enjoy.
Fenland Dog Park opened at the very end of July 2023, so this week represents our first full year of being open to customers. At that time of opening, it had been a hot and dry spell and we were using the farms giant sprinkler irrigation system to help get the grass to grow. Fast forward a couple of months and then we had one of the wettest autumns on record, which unfortunately continued into the winter and spring 2024.
We are exceptionally grateful for the support you have shown us in our first year, and we will continue to work hard to keep the facility an enjoyable place to let your dogs roam freely off the lead. Over 700 individual customers have visited Fenland Dog Park with over 2,200 bookings being made. With the shorter opening hours during the winter months, we roughly average 4 bookings a day, and in the summer months that increases to 7 bookings a day, with most weekends fully booked.
We have held two feedback session to gain your views on the Dog Park; the first one in September 2023 and the second in January 2024. Following these feedback sessions we took on board various comments and suggestions to help our neighbours and improve the facility. Some of your great suggestions included the hardstanding at the entrance, the sand pit, a selfie board, trees around the outside, discount for booking bundles and making gift vouchers available. We have also put up more signs and poo bag dispensers to help to keep the site clean and enjoyable for all.
You also regularly give us excellent feedback on our social pages and share some brilliant pictures of your dog’s enjoying the paddock. Some photos that spring to mind include the Halloween event, Frenchie Island, the Coundown to Christmas and little Theo tearing around! We now have over 650 followers and 20 five-star reviews; please keep sharing your posts – we love to see them.
We have also enjoyed working with and helping to support local businesses and sports team over the year which has included Long Sutton Hockey Club, Long Sutton Cricket Club, Long Sutton Horse, Pony & Dog Show, Barktastic Bites and K9 Services by Krista, both from Sutton Bridge. And not to forget the local businesses who helped get us up and running, including Dan from Arbor Fencing, Mark from Kwik-Signs and Mark from Hallgate Timber.
The weather has thrown us a few challenges during the year, with the flooded areas (and at times frozen and becoming an ice ring!), to the wind blowing over the shelter, or just being too wet to mow the grass as often as we would like. On that note, I would like to thank Sally the mowing maestro and also Henry, Richard, Martyn & Ashley on the farm to all their help, especially with putting in place some of the suggestions and also repairing or dragging out the mower when it has broken down or got stuck!
The final thank you is to you, our brilliant customers. Thank you for supporting us, and thank you for bringing your dogs to Fenland Dog Park. We look forward to you booking with us again soon.
