Warmington's pocket parks came about from an initiative led by Northants County Council. NCC had endorsed the project for Pocket Parks to enable communities to have their own spaces. The county council was the forerunner of promoting the modern-day pocket park concept in the UK - the concept is now a national one, but started here. Originally for natural settings in an urban environment, the appeal of pocket parks spread.
The Big Green Park
This was constructed on derelict land owned by East Northants Council and was later transferred to the ownership of Warmington Parish Council. Big Green is a very quiet green area. It also has some fruit (damsons which seem to disappear into bottles of gin yet to be marketed!).
The Orchard Park in Eaglethorpe
This was a part of an Orchard in the ownership of the Mill House and became vacant when the A605 was constructed, by-passing Warmington. It is leased by NCC to the village on a peppercorn rent. The Orchard has apples, pears, plums of very many varieties some quite old, very many wildflowers including a difficult to rear Yellow Rattle as well as a walnut tree.
Background & Management
Warmington had two firsts with the parks - it was the first community to have two parks and the first to have an orchard.
Wildflowers are encouraged in both parks and biodiversity is encouraged by such initiatives as leaving nettles to grow in places.
At the official opening of the parks, a grand parade was enjoyed, proceeding from Big Green and progressing to the Orchard Park. Various events have been held in the parks ranging from picnics, apple days and even a one-man theatre production (The flower of Gloster describing life on a narrowboat).
School children make use of the parks for various studies and the orchard pocket park is used daily by various walking groups and dog walkers.
The parks required maintenance and proper management to ensure the balance between sustainability, ecology and wildlife and useability. There is a band of volunteers who meet every couple of months and as there as quite a few work does not take very long - if you would like to become involved, please get in touch via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..