Haggerston Park, Shoreditch, London

Great place to play football. Find out more about this park and its football pitches at http://www.londonpitches.com

Haggerston Park seems to be quite old and established but is in wonderful condition. It has baseball diamonds and well groomed gardens and paths. It seems to be more of a sport park than a relaxing park, but that is just my impression. I like the relative tranquillity and the location. There is also a farm nearby where they have REAL animals and a lovely restaurant.

Well, this park is absolutely amazing. A real hidden gem.

Growing up in the estate opposite (Queensbridge Crt), mum and dad often referred to this as our garden. You’ll do well to find anything better.

I love popping back to this park, brings back a lot of happy memories, plenty to do, football, bmxing, chilling, city farm.

Plenty nearby too, Broadway Market, Colombia Rd, Bethnal Green, Hoxton not a million miles away.

In spite of living near by it took me years to discover this place. I think I had it labelled as the grounds of a nearby school. I’m glad I eventually found my way in, because this park packs a lot into a small area. The Northern end is mostly surrounded by a high brick wall, with only one gate onto Whiston Road. Inside there’s gardens, with geometric pits in the grass suggesting there was once much more. There’s also football pitches. Pass through a square arch in the wall and into the South and you’ll find sports courts, a wood chipped play area and a nature area with a real wood. There’s also a bmx track and even a city farm. Though not generally crowded, Haggerston is an active park: there’s usually a game of football, or kids playing or people using the courts. For running it’s a strange place: all the changes of scenery, level and surface make it interesting, but not practical for time trials! But it’s definitely a good place for getting some exercise in: you won’t be the only one.