Details of Parks in Orpington and the Surrounding Area Can Be Found Below

Orpington Parks

Details of parks in Orpington and the surrounding area can be found below:

Broke Farm Drive Playground

Broke Farm Drive Pratts Bottom Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593 Transport Accessible by bus - bus stop along Sevenoaks Road

Facilities • Dog free children's play area with equipment consisting of two flat swings - two cradle swing- rotaplay - seesaw - junior multi play unit - spring rocker • One basketball post

Charterhouse Playground

Charterhouse Green, Off Abingdon Way Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593

Charterhouse Playground can be accessed either from Charterhouse Road or Magdalene Grove.

Facilities • Children's playground consisting of two cradle swings - two flat swings- seesaw - log cabin - multi-play unit - two rockers • No toilets • Disabled access - difficult for some disabled users • No disabled toilet

Eldred Drive Playground

Eldred Drive Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593.

Facilities

• Children's play area consists of two cradle swings - four flat swings - junior multi-play unit - slide - two spring rockers - swingabout - roundabout

• No car park

• Disabled facilities - disabled access

Goddington Park

Goddington Lane, Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471 Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593.

Sixty-four hectares of large well-developed park, which became local council land in 1931 with recreational facilities, and a collection of trees, which give a fine autumn colour. The main entrance into the car park is from Goddington Lane off Court Road.There is a footpath from Avalon Road.

Facilities

• Children's play area with equipment which consists of four cradle swings - Car climbing frame buggy - rotoplay Duo Disc - two dizzy discs - see-saw - junior multi play unit - roundabout - two spring tractors.

• The sports facilities consist of five senior football pitches and two cricket squares, and two rugby pitches

• The pavilion is used by clubs who pay for the use of the pitches and outside organisations.

• There is use of a shared public car park that is opened and closed by the Parks and Community Service team.

• There are no toilets.

Grassmead Recreation Ground

Dyke Drive Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471 Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593.

A small recreation ground of 9.5 hectares. The main entrance is in Dyke Drive. There are two other entrances: one in Brow Crescent and one in Stanton Close.

Facilities

• Children can enjoy a dog-free play area with four cradle swings - four flat swings - assault course - see-saw - junior multi-play unit - log cabin slide - spring motorbike - spring tractor - roundabout-rotating disc

• Sports: skate boarding- half pipe - quarter pipe - fun box

• No toilets or cafe

Poverest Recreation Ground and Covet Woods

Perry Hall Road, Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593. 17.25 hectares of recreation ground. The main entrance into the car park is from Footbury Hill Road; a footpath adjacent to Perry Hall School, Perry Hall Road, runs up through the park.

Facilities • Use of public car park - bowling green - childrens play area - toilets - two senior football pitches - one cricket square - Active Friends of Poverest Park organise many seasonal events throughout the year Covet Woods is a conservation area situated alongside the Poverest Park entrances: Lockley Drive, Covet Wood Close and Clovelly Way Park history References to Covet Wood can be traced at least as far back as the 17th century, when Captain George Wisley owned 15 acres of the wood. It was not until the 1970s that the area came under threat from developers. The first indication was an application by private owners of the land to develop field and woodland adjacent to the Poverest recreation ground. This was followed three years later by an application to build blocks of 60 flats on part of the woods, a plan vigorously opposed by Petts Wood Residents Association and local councillors on the grounds of the woods high amenity and natural history value. The plan was withdrawn. The then owners of the land, Rush and Tompkins, made a further application for 50 detached houses, in 1983. This again was turned down after local opposition, which included a petition signed by 1,300 Petts Wood people.

In 1986 a new public enquiry was opened with the residents asking Bromley Council to buy the land. It was not until 1991 after the owners went into receivership that the wood was finally bought by Bromley Council.There was much satisfaction that the long campaign to save the wood from development had finally succeeded. The wood was left in its natural state and remains so to this day.

Priory Gardens

Church Hill. Orpington Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593. Fourteen hectares of Ornamental Park with formal bedding, rose garden, rock garden and two lakes with wild fowl. Priory Gardens is mainly a dog-free zone.

Facilities • There are toilets at each end of the Gardens • Limited car parking is available on the forecourt of the library • There are public car parks nearby in Orpington town centre. • Children's play area consisting of four cradle swings - four flat swings - spring rocker - rotaplay dizzy disc - seesaw - helter skelter slide -two roundabouts - junior multi play unit - galaxy special unit - supernova unit - rope nets -toddler multi play unit • Two goal mouths • Disabled Facilities • There is partial access to the museum/library building for wheelchair users • Guide dogs may be admitted • Toilet facilities available for the disabled • Gentle gradients of park paths

Public Transport Buses - Orpington High Street Trains - Orpington Station History of Priory Gardens

The the earliest documentary reference to the land of The Priory dates back to 1032. The first mention of a building on this site dates to 1270. Orpington became an important Christ Church Manor, with income generated from The Priory farm. It was also an important stopping place for the Canterbury priors and monks en route to and from London. In the 1530s the entire Manor House of Orpington was broken up. In 1670 it was leased to a Royalist family and in the late 17th century the Rectory was leased to the Gee family, who were keen gardeners and also made changes to the building. By Victorian times the name had changed from the Rectory to "The Priory". In 1919 the last private owners bought The Priory and they lived there until 1941.In 1947 Orpington Urban District Council bought the Estate for use as their offices. The Priory was listed as a Grade II building in 1954; a library was built on the site of the service wing in 1959. The museum was added in 1965. In the 1990s, following research into the history of the site, investments were made to restore and upgrade parts of the garden. In December 1999 Priory Gardens Park was added to English Heritage's Register of Parks and Gardens, at Grade II. The character of the gardens is a curious mixture of the old and the new: a cross between the municipal park that was created by the Borough of Bromley in 1965, and the history and horticultural excellence of the past.

Chislehurst Parks

Details about parks in Chislehurst and surrounding area can be found below:

Chislehurst & Walden Recreation Ground

Empress Drive Chislehurst Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593

Fifteen hectares of recreation ground with woodland. There are four entrances. The first is from Empress Drive, off Willow Grove, and a second is from Walden Road. There is a footpath from the library in the High Street along side the school playing fields, which leads into the open space. The final entrance is from Victoria Road via Walden Rec and Whytes Woods by tarmac footpath. Facilities • One senior football pitch • Football pavilion used by local club • Dog-free children's play area consisting of four cradle swings - four flat swings - roundabout - car climbing frame- seesaw - rope net - junior multi-play unit - spring rocker. • Four tennis courts with all-weather surface. • No car park

Scadbury Park

Old Perry Street, Chislehurst. Landscape Help Desk 0208 313 4471. Emergency contact number 0208 658 1593. Scadbury Park covers 300 acres of countryside at the northern edge of the London Borough of Bromley. The estate was acquired by the Council in 1983 and is made up of extensive pasture and woodland around which runs a network of paths for public access.

The mixed woodland, which covers nearly half of the estate, includes the remnants of ancient oaks that would have formed part of a Royal Hunting Forest. Today these ancient trees grow alongside a variety of trees including ash, alder, hazel, sweet chestnut, sycamore and birch.

A number of ponds can be found scattered around the woodland. These would once have been well stocked with fish, an important source of fresh food for all those living on the estate. Today the wildlife of the ponds includes the nationally scarce Great Crested Newt.

The 110 acres of pasture is let to a tenant farmer who works the grassland using traditional hay meadow management techniques. These fields, ancient trees, ponds and old hedgerows all offer an incredibly diverse range of habitats which provide for the needs of insects, newts, bats, birds, foxes and many other forms of wildlife. The site's historic importance has arisen through the association with the Walsingham family who took over the estate in 1424. Sir Thomas Walsingham III was a cousin of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I. Sir Thomas is also famed for his association with the Elizabethan poet Christopher Marlowe, who was staying at Scadbury at the time of his arrest in May 1593. In 1597 Elizabeth I knighted Sir Thomas Walsingham IV at Scadbury, an event that is depicted on the Chislehurst Common Village sign.

The ruins of the 14th century moated manor, which are situated to the south of the farm, can be seen from the path that skirts the southern boundary of the site. This area is licensed to the Orpington and District Archaeological Society (ODAS) who are currently exploring the area. Tours around the site are given by ODAS during their open weekend, which takes place in early September.

The Field Studies Centre based at the southern end of Scadbury trains and supervises Task Force Volunteers who carry out many of the management tasks in the park. The centre also provides Environmental Education for many of the schools in the Borough.