From the sprawling Ashton Court estate to the riverside tranquillity of Conham Park, Bristol is not short of beautiful green spaces to escape city life.
Places like Troopers Hill and Brandon Hill are well-known for their beautiful views of the skyline, while smaller locations like Queen Square and Castle Park offer a sliver of peace amid the bustle of the built-up core..
Particularly for those living centrally, there is little reason to venture out towards the ring road when there is so much to explore within the bounds of the city border.
READ MORE:Forgotten sights you don’t come across in Bristol anymore
Perhaps that is why Page Park, technically across the border in South Gloucestershire, is lesser-known to many people living in Bristol.
Two years ago, in August 2019, the Staple Hill park was voted the best in the South West.
It has everything a little urban park is supposed to have, including a bandstand, clock tower, tennis courts, cricket pitch, play park and café.
And after a public vote, the park was named as the best in the region by the green space charity Fields in Trust.
Situated along the main road between Fishponds and Mangotsfield, it occupies just a square block of green space between four roads.
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In the past few years it has been restored, thanks to a busy group of volunteers at ‘Friends of Page Park’ and with the help of a successful bid for £1.6 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Parks for People programme.
That contributed to a £2.18 million project to create a new café and community space, new playground, to restore the old Clock Tower and work on the tennis pavilion.
The result is that the Victorian park was crowned the best in the whole of the South West of England, during a public vote involving 36,832 people nationwide.
(Image: James Beck/Freelance)
The competition had 364 nominations of parks up and down the country, including 28 in the South West.
Kingsgate Park in Yate was named one of three in the West to be named in the ‘most loved’ category too.
Page Park’s nomination described it as a “jewel in the crown” of the area of east Bristol, and local people who proposed it for the accolade described it as “a place where generations of families come together to enjoy this beautiful green space”.
While Bristol has many parks which are more formal, former country estates, like Blaise Castle, Stoke Park and Oldbury Court, Page Park is a more traditional urban Victorian park.
Even after the coronavirus lockdowns, which led to more people exploring the outdoors, many people in the rest of Bristol are still yet to discover it.
Several people who have visited in the past year or so have left five-star reviews on TripAdvisor, with many people saying they grew up in the area.
‘A treasure for the locals’
One review from last year raved: “This is an amazing park. There are playgrounds for toddlers small children and another for teenagers. There’s a super cafe.
“Plenty of playing grass ares, tennis courts table tennis. Birds to see. Flowers are superb, trees, shrubs. You really would think you were in the middle of the country.
“Plenty of parking space, seating areas. Sometimes the band is there, sometimes a cricket match. No time to be bored. A treasure for the locals.”
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