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Chestnuts Park
St Ann's Road, N15.
Facilities
- Café and toilet - open Monday to Saturday, 7am-5pm
- Under 12s play area
- Sensory play garden
- Outdoor gym
- Multi-use games area (MUGA)
- Tennis courts
- Informal basketball area
- Willow garden
- Wild flower meadow and orchard
Green Flag
Chestnuts Park has held its prestigious green flag status for over a decade since it was first awarded in 2008. The Green Flag Award® scheme recognises well-managed parks and green spaces across the United Kingdom.
About your park
Chestnuts Park is a great place to visit for people of all ages. An open playing field surrounded by plane trees on three sides covers most of the western side of the park.
The café and picnic terrace is at the southern end of the playing field, next to the playground. The café is open Monday to Saturday throughout the year.
The eastern half of the park contains an outdoor gym, tennis courts (which are available and free to use all year round). The park benefits from a multi-use games area (MUGA) which, although designed for football, can be used for a variety of sports. There is also a basketball hoop and line markings just outside the MUGA.
The park has a community willow garden and orchard of 21 fruit trees. This area was developed and is maintained by the Friends of Chestnuts Park. The Friends have also recently funded the planting of a wildflower meadow which should be at its best in the summer of 2020. If you want to find out more about the Friends group or to get involved, please visit the Friends of Chestnuts Park website (external link).
The Chestnuts community centre, which is managed by the Bridge Renewal Trust, is located in the south-east corner near St Ann’s Road.
You can find more details about the facilities and management of the park, and plans for the future in the latest Chestnuts Park Management Plan 2020 (PDF, 2MB).
History of your park
The land now known as Chestnuts Park originally housed a watercress farm. The stream which used to run through the land now occupied by the park is now contained within an underground culvert.
A large house, called Chestnuts House, was built around 1850 on the land now occupied by the Chestnuts community centre. Behind the house were gardens with a fountain. The house and grounds together occupied most of the land now known as Chestnuts Park. The house was demolished in the 1980s but some of the brick entrance columns remain.
Latest projects
There have been several recent projects most of which have ben led by the Friends of Chestnuts Park. These include the creation of the willow garden and the circular benches around two mature trees, the creation of a wild flower meadow (in late 2019) and the creation of a new entrance to the park opposite Chestnuts Primary School to encourage greater use of the park by children (and their carers) on their way to and from school.
A project to possibly open up the culverted Stonebridge Brook at the northern end of the park is at an early stage. If successful it could improve the biodiversity of the area, provide new recreational opportunities and help to reduce flood risks and improve drainage in the surrounding area.
