Crystal Palace Osteopathic Practice

Entering the park from the top always used to be a great experience as you are at the footsteps of where a grand palace used to stand, but now its getting a little run down, and most of it is fenced off with no sign of them re-building any of it,

they are currently renovating the swimming pool so lots of work going on in the park, but if u carry on to the main park its an lovely place.

The dinosaurs are great to take the kids to see and they have really done it up, and its really smart and very accessible now,

there is a maze for the kids which even us big kids still have a laugh in, but its a little out the way of the main park.

the main green area of the park is not massive and can get a little overcrowded at times.

I found Crystal Palace Park a little frustrating… I arrived at the North, near the transmitter. Having got across a very busy road with no crossings in evidence I found my route into the park blocked by a campsite. It was getting late, I wanted to get to the dinosaurs and take some pictures before it got dark… but I ended up trekking quite a way along the top past the transmitter before I even made it into the park. And then there were no maps in evidence! Most parks have maps at the entrance, I’ve sort of got used to it, and it seems a good idea… Even by the museum (not open most days it seems) there was no map.

In the top section you’ll find the terraces, with balustrades, great sweeps of grass and the occasional sphinx. I rather like old ruins, but these are in a little bit of an in-between stage. Grass occasionally mown and little enclosures blocking you off from the interesting bits, like they are going to do some work but haven’t got round to it yet. Impressive, but also a little sad.

Due to fenced off bits and the National Recreation Centre you can’t head south east down the hill, but have to head across the top (back towards where I started for me…) and then down the other side. Past the terraces there’s a fence with a gate, which seems to mark the end of that part of the park (I believe there are plans, being loudly protested locally, to develop the area of the terraces. A big cinema complex was narrowly avoided. But the area in question is clearly in limbo). Past that gate (which still has no map…) you come into parts of the park that are clearly more looked after and rather beautiful. I kept asking the way and kept getting directed onwards and downwards. Each section of the park a new vista opening up. I was very puzzled by a great slab of a metal building sitting in a lake. I thought it might be a café, but there were no windows, only a single door in the back. Finally I worked out it was a stage! There’s a maze, bare of leaves at this time of year, but probably great fun for the kids.

For runners I guess heading back and forth across the terraces would allow a flatish and reasonably long run without too many repetitions. Heading down the park would bring in some hill work!

Finally after what seemed like hours I reached the bottom end of the park, and the lakes where the dinosaurs are. I’ll write a separate review for them. But… guess what… suddenly there were maps everywhere! After seeing the dinosaurs I stopped off at the loos (graffitied, scrawl not art). The café was closed by then (it was dark…) and I passed by the information centre, though it looked like there was an exhibition about the park in there.

My view… what an amazing park, and what an opportunity missed! This could be the best park in London with those fabulous terraces and the dinosaurs lurking at the bottom. Instead, you have got some nice bits, but there also seems to be too much interest in parcelling it off, and too little in making it what it could be. Those signs just typify it: it’s like the leafletters who dump a load of leaflets in the hallway of a block of flats and tell themselves the boss will never notice they haven’t bothered going door to door.

Still well worth a visit, but it’s annoying to see it so under appreciated.

This place is just five minutes from my door so I count myself really lucky. Great for a stroll round on a Sunday, there's a fishing lake, huge plastic dinosaurs (reviewed elsewhere on Qype), the sports arena, the remnants of the Palace of course (including Brunel's cooling towers), a maze...what's not to love!?

They have a quite a few events on here during the summer: http://www.crystalpalacepark.net/pages/events.html

Quite a cool park, and really large. Did a 10k wellness run through the park, and by the 3rd time around I swear the Sphinxes were beginning to purr at me. Really nice view from the park as well, doesn't really show in the photos, but it is quite high up.