This park right is right in the heart of Chipping Barnet, yet if it weren’t for the signpost to the Courthouse Café on Wood Street you might not know it was there. When we were first looking at properties before moving, it was such a lovely surprise to come across it as, apart from Hadley Common and Woods, parks in this area seem rather tucked away.
As well as entering on Wood Street near Barnet Museum, the park can also be reached from Orchard Road (off Fitzjohn Avenue) or Mays Lane. It is a long, thin park that follows the shape of the hill with beautifully planted gardens and a children’s play area at the top where the The Old Courthouse Café is also located. As you walk downhill there is a bowls club and then tennis courts as it tapers towards Mays Lane.
The park can get pretty busy, especially in good weather with people sitting outside the café at picnic tables. The café organises a bouncy castle for customers’ children, so families can relax and enjoy a drink or some food in this enclosed part of the park. It’s particularly gorgeous here at sunset, looking through the trees across the valley towards Totteridge, watching the sun go down.
It would be nice to visit the beautiful gardens and use the car park. However, the barrier is locked until midday. This means anyone with a child’s buggy, or elderly people cannot get down Manor Close during the morning. Manor Close is not very wide, so access is difficult anyway. This car park is a Barnet Amenity, is there any way or any Barnet department you suggest could be lobbied, so that full use can be made if the playground, coffee shop and gardens especially during summer months. Half a day’s use of a strategic car park is just not fair
Thanks for getting in touch Hazel. Your local councillor would probably be the first port of call for this, although the parking availability is very limited as the park is right in the town centre.