Cold Sunny Sunday Walk in Beckenham Place Park

I wonder how many posts I’ve started by talking about the weather. It’s just soooooooo very British of me! But I just have to mention how freezing it is around here!  Temperatures have certainly plummeted here in the south, meaning log fires and hats and casseroles all round! It’s glacial in the mornings and as much as I love bundling the small people up coats and scarves and hats….it’s certainly taking us longer to get up and out in the mornings! In fact it’s meaning we haven’t actually been out a great deal. Orla has a cough which seems to get better and then reoccur so she’s done a lot of snuggling on the sofa and watching films of late. If you’d like more ideas for fun activities to do outdoors during the Winter – check out our bumper post of Outdoor Winter Nature Activities for Kids. 

However, we did venture out to a local park/ woods on Sunday. We’re quite excited to be living in such close proximity to Beckenham Place Park because if you’re local, you’ll know there are big plans afoot to completely renovate it which is good news for us families. There does seem to be a bit of a social media backlash against the Beckenham Place Park plans which is ludicrous because the plans look so inviting for all of the community. The heritage lottery fund has pledged 4.9 million to totally transform the park and include a 5km running route, open water swimming, a new BMX track and better skate park. There are plans afoot to restore the natural lake and add an orchard as well as two children’s play areas along with community food growing. As a family with young children who can walk to the park, you can see why we’re excited- we’ll never leave! Hopefully they’ll be lots for the children to do as they grow up and become teenagers too. For more of our Best Places to visit in South East London with kids – check out our list here….

For now though, there’s lovely big open space and a stream to paddle in in the summer and plenty of trees to climb and that’s good enough to keep my little people busy, for the moment anyway! We had fun just toddling along and letting the children have a run around and let the crisp winter’s air brush off some of the stuffiness of being cooped up in the house . We only lasted a couple of hours though, before we had to dive back into the warm comfort of home and a roast dinner. Ah. Happy Sundays!

See here for more Family Friendly woodland walks in South East London – see our full list of the best woodland walks.