Farmoor Reservoir

An interesting trip to a dinghy team racing event was an opportunity to review the performance of interpretive signs, panels and entrance signs after 10 years in the field. A number of the Shelley Signs competitors make bold claims about guarantees and life expectancy but nothing beats seeing interpretation signs in the ground after several years.

The park entrance signs at Farmoor were designed by Philip Crome and produced by Shelley Signs. Manufactured in Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) these panels are robust, colourfast and easy to clean. The entrance panels were large, over 2 metres by 1 metre and mounted in a pressure-treated softwood frame and posts. After 10 years in the ground, the colours looked as good as the day they left our factory in Eaton on Tern.

The project included a series of interpretive panels with the design including maps of the reservoir, and routes around the reservoir to aid wayfinding and direction. Each panel included several images to interpret natural history, flora and fauna – the colour photographs after 10 years in the ground showed no fading at all. One of the most notorious colours for fading quickly is red – this project used red for the You Are Here indicators on the wayfinding signs. These red dots had shown no fading at all.

Thames Water at Farmoor Reservoir also used Shelley Signs gauge boards and these were seen in several locations around the reservoir. Gauge boards are an excellent example of the durability of the Shelley Signs encapsulated GRP product as they spend their lives submerged in water – these are exactly the same product as used for our interpretation signs and interpretive panels. A very tough and robust finished GRP product.

This very well-established series of signs, wayfinding panels and interpretation signs is a very confidence increasing example of the excellent colour fastness of our outdoor or external full-colour graphics.

Timber frames are a popular method of mounting nature reserve signs and signs for open spaces. Timber frames are commonly used as either lectern frames at a 45-degree angle or are produced as vertically mounted frames. Posts are pressure treated and after 10 years show no movement or any weakness. Oak posts and frames are also a popular choice with oak usually being sourced from FSC suppliers.

Welcome to Shelley Signs. We are a leading supplier of external signs and panels with particular expertise in Farmoor reservoir signs. Please explore the website – the Showcase Section has a large library of photographs illustrating signs, panels, framing structures and graphics. For a chat about the options phone Robert Shelley on 01743 460996.