Davy Down Country Park, South Ockendon

A hidden park off A13 🤔☺! A large open green space surrounded by higher grounds and lower valley river - Hillside Wood, Pilgrims' Copse, River Mardyke and Mardyke Valley! A beautiful countryside walking Trail for all abilities and all ages! Sculptor Ptolemy Elrington created 6 sculptures from recycled items including shopping trolleys, motor bikes etc that were recovered during the Mardyke Valley restoration project in 2008. Sculptures include fish, dragonfly, heron, Avely mammoth, kingfisher, and stag beetle! Dragonfly sculpture on the tall water tower can be seen from distance! Wetlands, low-lying lands, lower valley - the Davy Down is a very welcoming corridor for many habitats including Marsh Frogs, Kingfishers and many more interesting creatures! Really pleased and amazed to find out the source of the loud quacking and chuckling by the pond and the River Mardyke - it is the Marsh Frogs - the largest European Frog - thanks to the Information ℹ Display Board! The view is spectacular and cinematic perception! The Viaduct over the River Mardyke going in and out of the woods, large grass area, Pumping Station and Visitor Centre on a hill - a brilliant panaromic Picturesque view! Walking, running, relaxing whatever it is - it is perfect! However, there are very limited number of benches around the park! It would be good to install some benches at intervals for all the visitors! Because of low lying land, some parts of the Park are prone to flooding, muddy puddles and muddy soft grass or trail! Walking Trail is very good and resilient to muds and puddles but some stretch of the trail are fully under water even with little rain ☔! The trail becomes particularly difficult for people with mobility needs, wheelchair ♿ users and may well be pushchair users! A Visitor Centre and historic Stifford Pumping Station and a small car park can be found by the main entrance of the Park on Back Lane off Pilgrims Lane! Across the River Mardyke, Davy Down is well connected with the Mardyke Valley and Mardyke Woods through a footbridge with a fabulous sculpture made from recycled items from this very area! The whole park is well connected with interpretation Texts and maps - a perfect way of ensuring the visitors are on track while getting the knowledge of the area! However, the visitor centre and Pumping Station do not have any opening hours displayed. It would be good to know which days or dates these are open for visitors!

It has a small car park, plenty of woods to explore, a small pond, green field for picnics and ball games, a bridge for trains.... Kids really enjoyed this place.