Central Park Newsletter - Spring 2025
Golf course tree planting
It has been fabulous to see so many volunteers helping with the planting of new trees across the golf course over the past few months.
The Green Communities team, Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest and Plymouth City Council’s tree planting team have been working hard with the local community and together have planted nearly 1000 trees so far.
This is part of our ongoing project in collaboration with the golf course owners to ‘shape the course with nature', helping to direct players around, and make the site more visually appealing. We are also sowing roughly 1000m² of wildlife meadow.
Our community days have gone really well, with over 70m of hedgerow and nearly 1000 trees put in the ground.
There have also been additional tree planting sessions with primary school pupils, University of Plymouth students, and volunteers from Improving Lives ‘Active for All’ Group and Plymouth Tree People.
Thank you for everyone who got involved. It’s been a huge team effort!
Hedge fun in Pounds Park
Plymouth City Councils’ Green Communities rangers have been working with rangers from the National Trust and Plymouth Sound National Marine Park to complete hedge laying work in Central Park.
Over the course of two days, the team managed to lay an impressive 60m of hedgerow.
Hedgelaying allows the hedge to become thicker and healthier than a standard trimmed hedge, creating a wonderful home for nesting birds, small mammals like hedgehogs, and insects like butterflies.
Hedge laying is a traditional country skill and art form that has been used for hundreds of years to maintain healthy hedgerows in the UK.
It involves partially cutting through the trunks of the trees, leaving two thirds of the bark attached, allowing the trees to still grow.
They lie at an angle, close to the ground, this allows the hedge to become thicker and healthier than a standard trimmed hedge, creating a secure home for a wide range of nature's most fragile creatures.
Big thanks to Devon Rural Skills Trust for teaching everyone on the team how to hedge lay and giving them the confidence to do it! keep your eyes peeled for more rural skills benefitting Central Park this spring.
If you're interested in learning an ancient, rural skill yourself, visit Devon Rural Skills Trust website!
Meadow Café
Discover The Meadow Café, a delightful haven nestled in the heart of Central Park.
It's the perfect spot for families craving delicious ice creams or smoothies and for dog walkers seeking a cozy cup of tea alongside treats for both you and your furry friend
Current offers
Breakfast and a hot drink deal
- Add a regular tea or coffee for just £1.00 with any of these items:
- Bacon or vegan sausage baguette £3.50
- Bacon & cheese turnover £2.50
- Croissants or pain au chocolat £1.25
Kids meal box meal includes:
- Half sandwich
- Carton of juice
- Three snacks
All for just £3.95. Ask at the counter for details
Bring your own cup and receive a 20p discount on your hot drink.
Don't forget to pick up a loyalty card. Get it stamped with every hot drink purchase and at Green Communities project events to earn rewards.
They're open year-round, seven days a week, rain, or shine. Choose from their comfortable indoor seating or enjoy their outdoor, undercover seating area.
Come and experience The Meadow Café today!
Events
We are ready for another fun packed year at Central Park with our amazing events space.
Here is the calendar for spring and summer 2025:
Easter Fair
27 March to 27 April
Main Event Space
Open weekends & holidays from 1pm, weekdays from 5pm
Vegan Festival
Saturday 10 May
Life Centre Field
Open 10am to 4pm
www.veganfairs.co.uk
Inflatable Plymouth 5k
Sunday 24 May
Cottage Field
8.45am to 3pm (last wave at 2pm)
Plymouth - Fun Inflatable 5K Obstable Course | UK Running Events
Overplay
19 June to 3 August
Cottage Field
Sessions throughout the day from 10am – 7pm
www.overplay.uk
Pretty Muddy
Sunday 20 July
Life Centre Field
10am to 2pm
Plymouth Pretty Muddy 5k 2025 | Race for Life
The Big Tribute Festival
Thursday 31 July to Sunday 3 August
Main Event Space
Thursday 5pm to 10pm and Friday, Saturday & Sunday 12pm – 10pm
The BIG Tribute Festival 2024 - The Big Tribute Fest - Plymouth
Central Park Fun Day
Sunday 24 August
Main Event Space
11am to 4pm
Central Park Newsletter – Winter 2024
Green Communities round up
It’s been a fantastic year for our Green Communities team and there’s still so much more to come in the new year.
Green Communities is all about connecting people and wildlife in Central Park, Devonport, and in Keyham and the West of the City.
We have a team of National Trust rangers and Council officers in each of these three neighbourhoods. The Central Park team, Holly (right) and Jess (left), have been working with groups in the park to make good things happen.
Here’s a little look…
Events
We regularly host events and activities at Central Park - anyone and everyone is welcome to join.
We run a broad range of activities, including nature arts and crafts, wildlife ID walks (with help from the Devon Wildlife Trust), foraging walks (with help from Joanna from Incredible Edible), and practical volunteering sessions. Find out more about events here.
Student-led volunteers
We have been working with the University of Plymouth to create volunteering opportunities for students.
So far, we have shared skills in tree care, hedgerow management in Swarthmore allotments, and ecological monitoring to help us keep track of all the amazing nature in the park.
If you are a student and would like to get involved, contact the student led volunteers or look on the SU website, here, and they can point you in our direction!
Improving Lives
We have linked up with an organisation called Improving Lives and have been working hard to help their groups get outside and experience the park in new ways. We have helped organise heritage walks for groups of individuals with hearing and visual impairment and we host monthly practical volunteering for some of the groups they work with.
Working with Plymouth Tree People
We have been working closely with the Plymouth Tree People. Amongst many sites across the city, Plymouth Tree People help to look after the Family Tree Field in Central Park. Recently, we supported them with their corporate volunteer day for Suez Recycling Centre.
Dry stone walling with the National Trust
With help from Plymouth Tree People, we started an amazing project run by our National Trust Ranger, Jess. She looped in wider National Trust teams from Wembury and they spent a week fixing a dry stone wall outside the Family Tree Field. These ancient skills are slowly being lost so it’s amazing to see the walls looking new once again, and ready to withstand another few hundred years. This will hopefully be the start of much more work being done to preserve the green heritage of the park while also upskilling the team and community!
Keep an eye on our socials, @NaturePlymouth on Facebook, to join us in the future!
Golf course planting
More than 1,000 new trees are set to be planted across the Central Park Golf Course this winter.
With the help of the Green Communities team and the Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest (PSDCF), we will also be sowing roughly 8.900m² of wildlife meadow.
Early this year we met with Jez, one of the golf course managers, and he explained to us how he wanted to 'shape the course with nature', to help direct players around and make the site more visually appealing.
Not only will this be great for the people who use the course, it’ll also be a brilliant boost for wildlife around the area.
We have been working hard behind the scenes and we are now ready to put trees in the ground this winter.
We want to make sure the community is involved, so keep an eye on our socials for any up and coming planting days for you to get involved in.
Let us know what you think of the design
Compost volunteering
Another Green Communities initiative in Central Park is the monthly compost volunteering sessions, set up with Generous Earth.
Thanks to Generous Earth’s efforts to source and fund the composting kit (from Starbucks Hubbub funding), we have been able to establish composting in the park.
It means that food waste from the Meadow Café never leaves the park and turns into an important resource to help grow food and help our young trees in Central Park thrive.
So far, we have held woodchip workshops and planted and harvested pumpkins, as well as other food items. With the help of our wonderful volunteers, we have begun to slowly transform an unused area of the park into a community growing space.
People of all ages, experience, and abilities are welcome to take a the volunteering.
Join us on the third Thursday of every month between 11am and 3pm. Get involved here.
The Meadow Café
Discover the Meadow Café, a delightful haven nestled in the heart of Central Park.
It's the perfect spot for families craving delicious ice creams or smoothies and for dog walkers seeking a cozy cup of tea alongside treats for both you and your furry friend.
Enjoy their fantastic offers:
- Savour a breakfast bap or pastry paired with a hot drink for just £1.
- On Plymouth Argyle matchdays, indulge in a pasty or sausage roll with a hot drink for only £1.
- Treat your little ones to a Kids Meal Deal Box, including a sandwich, juice carton, and three snacks, all for just £3.95.
- Bring your own cup and receive a 20p discount on your hot drink.
Don't forget to pick up a loyalty card. Get it stamped with every hot drink purchase and at Green Communities project events to earn rewards.
They're open year-round, seven days a week, rain, or shine. Choose from their comfortable indoor seating or enjoy their outdoor, undercover seating area.
Events
We have had an action-packed year of events, including Oktoberfest, Gravity Circus, Plymouth Pride, and the Fun Fair.
As we wrap up the year, we once again have the incredible Winter Wonderland on site until the 1 January 2025.
With a host of festive delights for all ages, step into an enchanting Winter Wonderland of twinkling lights, festive music, and Christmas cheer.