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Crystal Palace Park

One of the most remarkable and beguiling parks in the country and amazingly still totally free.

Grays is not without its green spaces, but if you are after something a little grander in scale and content then you have to look a little further afield. 23 miles away from Grays town centre is one of the most enchanting and interesting parks you will ever visit. It manages to be a sort of community within a park and how it can be that its access is totally free is a wonder in a country that likes to charge you something for nearly any utility no matter how small, is a blessing that makes you think.

Crystal palace park has, at a glance, vast fields that are manicured and cultivated to get visitors to dwell, a lake area ornamented with life-size dinosaurs marooning around the waters edge, a petting farm made all the more interesting for having a house exhibiting a number of sizeable snakes, exotic insects and spiders. It also has a small museum and so on . . . we think you should visit it yourself to see what else can be found here.

The managers of this site would seemed to have sat back, looked at this vast space, looked at its history and really asked the question ,"how can we turn this space into one of the best in the world" and then really followed through on this as they have packed it with diversion.

It of course gets its name from the famous crystal palace that was once situated here and burned down all those years ago, the site of the palace is laid out so you get a sense of, if nothing else the view that the front of it had of south London, but it is a little disappointing after all that's there to find the one thing missing is the palace for which its named after. Also they do like to give the impression that there is some homage to the British railway system here, but in fact turns out to be the actual crystal palace railway station, a bit disappointing for the kids that bit but this aside it's a pleasing walk and an interesting one to anyone determined to circumnavigate this park.

It's a bit of a hike to get there in so much as you are likely to become hostage to Lewishams traffic but it's one of the best Sunday days-out you could wish for for free.

Postcode: SE19 2GA


Source: Source: ingrays.com