South London: Burgess Park

We've fallen in love with this park. It has everything. Soccer? check. Cycling, check. Cafe? check. BMX track? Check X2 (big one and little one). Pottery classes? check. Soccer club? check. Cricket? check. Gardens? check. Water feature? check. Adventure park? check x2.  Fishing? check. Outdoor exercise gym? check. Public Gardens and a community vegetable garden? check... and much much more. Seriously, all this in this in a single, wonderful, urban park.

TENNIS BALLS!!!

Isla has become a tennis addict and a bit of a fixture at the tennis courts, retrieving lost balls from the box hedges (which I wouldn't go in thank you very much since the foxes den there and the Tolkien size spiders reside in the upper reaches). We've actually lost count of the number of tennis balls she's retrieved from those bushes, although it was in the low '90's by about four days in.

Today the local municipal council put on a celebration in the park, along with a fun fair, music and brick-a-brack, there were sheep, food, liquor and a bouncy castle. One of the things we really love about South London are the people. They are really genuine and friendly; not something that we've seen from other Londoner's. They'll engage you in conversation and make you part of the community. I just love it.

This park is connected to the centre of Peckham by a green way made when the canal was infilled. Once the London docks stared closing in the 1960's this part of the canal system was abandoned and became a filthy drowning hazard, so the council filled it in. Some decades later a bulb went off and it was flattened out and used to connect green spaces. In the morning it is a regular cycle highway with cycle commuters zooming off to their day jobs. During the rest of the day it is more sedate with blackberries and other fruits for foraging along the way