Lea Park Plan 2020

Lea Park

It has been wonderful to see our village park being used so much during this pandemic year. The Parish Council and local volunteers have been working hard to open up the park to provide more usable space and enhance the presentation of it. We have prepared an area in the orchard to become a Wildflower Meadow. We have used native British wild flowers and grass seeds providing an important habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The fruit in the orchard was popular this year with our parishioners commenting about the different recipes they were going to use the fruit for, such as apple sauce, apple cakes, apple chutney and plum crumble.

The entrance off the main road to the park has been cleared to provide a smarter appearance to our village. This is an ongoing project which we hope to see the full benefits of next year. We are hoping that there will be a mixture of bulbs to be seen in the spring. There were glimpses of daffodils through the undergrowth earlier this year.

Due to the increased numbers of people using the park we have installed 3 new bins in the area. One is replacing the large bin behind Butler’s Pantry that got damaged and disappeared; a small one near the tennis courts that can be used for general waste and dog waste; and the 3rd one is between the entrance to the woods and the cricket field for dog waste only. Also, there is a replacement bin in the play area.

The Parish Council have been assessing the benches and have noted there is some repair and upgrading work to be done. It was decided to create a picnic area behind Butler’s Pantry. We have put 3 new picnic benches in this area along with a couple of benches. The bonfire crater has been filled-in and grassed over. Some of old benches are being repaired and will be placed elsewhere in the park.  

We received some sapling trees from the Woodland Trust and these have been planted to form a hedge along the side of the play area and the first entrance to Lea Park. Hedges offer food for wildlife in the form of leaves, nectar-rich flowers, berries, fruits, seeds and nuts. They are also good hunting grounds for predators seeking insects and other invertebrates. We have also had donated to us a couple of oak trees that have now been planted.

We hope you will come and enjoy the park. If you have any spare time and would like to join our volunteer working party then please contact the Parish Clerk.