£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration

£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration

£10 Million Greenwich Park restoration. 

Greenwich Park is to be transformed with a £10 million overhaul partially help with £4.5 million national lottery funding.

The plans include the restoration of the landscape to its 17t century glory and the building of a new state of the art learning centre.

The four year planned project which was announced last year by the royal parks charity has had to be changed slightly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the use of existing buildings repurposed for learning and building a smaller classroom than planned, using sustainable materials.

According to the charity, Greenwich council has 69 tall building projects in the pipeline around Greenwich so the park will be “an even crucial asset in the heart of the city” and the park will be future-proofed for generations to come.

One part of the plan is to give greater disability access to the park, although one part of the plan that I can see going against this plan is the reintroduction of its 17th century landscape with giant steps leading up to the observatory. Now tell me if I am wrong but giant steps and disability access usually are opposing ideas. I dare say on the 17th-century planning committee, disability access was not high on anyone’s agenda. I am sure there will be an alternative route for the less abled among us.

At the top end of the park on the Blackheath side, the underused contractor’s yard will be transformed into the new ‘Vanbrugh Yard’ with a cafe, community kitchen garden, wild orchard and volunteer mess room and also public toilets and changing facilities for disabled visitors.

Greenwich Park under lockdown 3

Greenwich Park under lockdown 3

 

The wife and I decided to participate in our allotted allowance of exercise as we are supposedly allowed to do under the Covid lockdown.

Our normal exercise would be a walk around the Greenwich peninsular, Blackheath or Greenwich park and back home. Today we went to Greenwich Park and I will warn you if you are trying to avoid a lot of people in this Covid-19 scary time then Greenwich Park is not the place to be.

The weather was cold but that did not stop hordes of people partaking in leisurely strolls with their family or friends covering every path in the park.

One good thing about Lockdown 3 that they should have done during lockdown 1 is that they left open access to the flower gardens, which in summer would have been great. Unfortunately, it is now winter, and the gardens were muddy, and the flowers looked a bit sad and dreary.

When we tried to see the view at the top of the hill by the observatory, we could not get access as the whole area has been cordoned off and a police officer stands guard to make sure you do not cross the cordon. This would normally be busy with throngs of people trying to get a good view down the hillside in summer, but this is a foggy day in winter and hardly a magnet for sightseeing .

I hope this access restriction is only associated with the Covid-19 lockdown and we can get back to enjoying the Greenwich Park as it is meant to be enjoyed soon.