Gunners Park — Attraction in England

Gunners Park is undoubtedly a brilliant blissful natural attractions for all of all ages and abilities without the roars and buzzes of the long list of Southend-on-Sea beaches. It is a picturesque coastal park along the Thames Estuary and North Sea with many environmental, historic and heritage characters including Coastal Grasslands, Inland Lake, Shoeburyness Old Ranges Nature Reserve, Grade II Listed Historic Military Buildings owned by MoD (Ministry of Defence) Shoeburyness, Danish Camp - a Scheduled Monument.

Unlike Southend-on-Sea Beaches (Westcliff Beach, Jubilee Beach, Thorpe Bay Beach, Shoeburyness Common Beach etc), Gunners Park doesn't have public access Beach. Presence of Groynes as a means of defence strategy and protection of the Beach/Shore makes it inaccessible for public use. However, it has a long promenade along the shore providing excellent view of the sea, muddy nature reserves, Marshes, and glimpse of what it used to be as an active MOD Weapons Testing & Training Site - inevitable from the road names in this neighbourhood ☺! Gunners Park is much more interesting compared to the well-known beaches in the areas. Away from hustle and bustle of Seafronts, Beaches and City Life - Gunners Park provides a very peaceful, quite and blissful for anyone to have a walk along with the breeze of fresh air, soothing noise of waves and chirping of birds!

There are Recreation Facilities available for children, teens and adults - Play Areas, Skate Park, TENNIS Courts and Picnic Areas by the Inland Lake. Two Children's Play Areas off New Barge Pier Road, and off Warrior Square Road provide spaces for children and families to enjoy this historic site. Very intelligently, two car parks available are also located right next to each of the Play Area. Dedicated bays are available for Disabled ♿ Blue Badge Holders only parking. Cart and Wagon Shed, located just opposite the Gunners Park Car Park off Warrior Square Road, is a Grade II Listed Building and repaired as part of new housing development in Shoebury Garrison. It is re-purposed to be used as a Heritage Centre offering services, activities, local archives for the local communities and visitors!

Shoreline Promenade and Footpaths are made of either tarmacked or gravel making it accessible for all including wheelchair ♿, mobility scooter, and pushchair users!

Gunners Park is a goldmine of wildlife habitats. The whole Gunners Park is not a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) except the Shoeburyness Old Ranges. As per the EWT, the Gunners Park "has more than 12 habitats to walk through, from coastal grassland and a large pond to remnant sand dunes and historic military buildings." The Gunners Park is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) in partnership with the Shoeburyness Borough Council. Shoeburyness Old Ranges and Military Buildings are closed to public. However, authorities have installed Information Boards next to the historic buildings and sites making it easier for visitors to learn about the historic...

This entire area of the coast was once the property of the Ministry of Defence, but has slowly been turned over to the council, who have stuck housing on most of it. One pocket of it was kept back as a nature reserve, Gunners' Park, a nice patch of greenery which joins the East Beach promenade. You can easily access the coast path from here, but there are dog restrictions on the beach. Your dog can only go on the beach from 1st October to the 30th of April. The centre point of the reserve is a large lake, with plenty of benches to sit on, and leftover brick buildings from the days of the military to sniff at. We've always found other dogs to say hello to, and my dog loves racing around the lake, dipping her toes in to the water and running through the long grass. You can look across the coast to Kent, into Southend at the famous pier, or head down the coast to Shoeburyness, which makes a longer walk of about three miles there and back. The path to Shoeburyness is concrete, so perfectly fine for pushchairs and wheelchairs, but you will be walking along roads at times, so you'll need a lead for those bits. There's even a play field for more off-lead time along the route. There are toilet facilities once you head along the coast path, and there's usually a static caravan selling hot food and drinks if the coastal breeze is a bit brisk. There is plenty of parking around, with a couple of official (free) car parks, although they're not massive. Plenty of car parking around the local streets, as long as you park...

Come here often! It's a nice place to walk around in good weather! Ca get very blustery though as it is by the sea wall. But it's well paved (if you want that sort of thing, has a skate park and little basketball area, and can see plenty of wildlife. I don't mind this, but for some whom it might bit be most pleasing, the inly thing to bear in mind is that it can get quite busy on sunny days, and if you're looking for being surrounded exclusively by nature or greenbelt land (without seeing houses etc.) it might not be the place as it is overlooked by the Garrison estate. This being said, it's a nice estate to walk around in and of itself because it has some very attractive areas and hiuses, especially the old...