Delapre Park

Delapre Abbey is surrounded by gardens and glorious parkland, which have long been popular with Far Cotton residents.

Lady with Kittens – sculpture by Walter Ritchie

The gardens include an informal water garden, dating from the 19th Century. At around the same time, the glass houses for growing fruit were installed in the walled garden. The walled garden also features a number of works of art, including two brick relief panels by Walter Ritchie: “The Lovers” and “Lady with Kittens”, donated to the town in the 1970s, and “Woman and the Fish” a listed statue by Frank Dobson, which was created for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

The surrounding park includes a mixture of woodland, open grassland and water, and provides many opportunities for sport and leisure, from angling, water sports, golf, and horse riding, to gentle walking routes. One of the most recent additions to the parkland is Charter Wood, a plantation of 800 oak trees planted in 1989 to mark the 800th anniversary of the granting of the town’s charter by Richard I.

Visit the Delapre Park Friends Facebook Group for links to walks leaflets that explore the history and heritage of Delapre Park.

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