Abberley Park

Abberley Park runs two separate play areas, one on the East Lawn and one on the West Lawn, set inside a Victorian garden estate of towering elms and oaks first planted in the 1860s. It's a true park with a playground rather than the other way around, and a fenced paddling pool operates on the far side of the lawns through summer.

Equipment

Equipment across the two lawns includes a wheelchair accessible carousel, a see-saw, a slide, swings with an infant seat and a basket seat, a maypole and a rocker. The play equipment was renewed with a monkey pole, a talk tube, a rocking horse and further swings, with new safety matting underneath.

Access and Inclusion

A wheelchair accessible entrance lets visitors using mobility aids or prams move onto the lawns and paths linking the two play areas, and the carousel itself is wheelchair accessible, giving children with mobility needs a way onto one of the park's most popular rides.

History and Cultural

The park began as a private Victorian garden, planted from the 1860s by Thomas James Maling, who named the estate after his home village of Abberley in Worcestershire, England. Christchurch City Council bought the property in 1939 and turned it into a public park while keeping its garden character, planting 712 trees plus thousands of herbaceous plants and annuals during the changeover; the old homestead was dismantled, though one room survived as a park pavilion. In the mid 1950s, Botanic Gardens director Huia Gilpin designed a scented garden here for residents of the nearby Institute of the Blind hostel, Fernwood, opened in 1964, and elements of that garden survive today as the park's Scented Garden.

Practical Info

Abberley Park is reached from its main entrance on Abberley Crescent, St Albans, plus Ranfurly Street and Kinleys Lane, with on street parking. Dogs are welcome on a lead throughout, and off lead under control on the flat eastern lawn, though owners should keep them a metre clear of the play equipment. The paddling pool runs mid November to the end of March. The whole site, including the playground, is smokefree and vape free under council policy.