Beckenham Place Park — Attraction in London

It is a nice park but it seems under staffed. The pond near the mansion is always full of rubbish and they leave dying, dead trees to fall down rather than safely removing them for the most part. It also seems like they hire in people to do tree surgery when maybe they should train some of their own workers to be able to do that. The problem then is that the tree surgeons destroy most of the leftover trees and turn it into mulch but creatures like stag beetles and their larvae need that natural rotting wood. There are loads of these lime bikes dumped all over the place, why? Maybe because lime pays the council to allow them to do so. It is basically fly tipping at this point. Generally things are quite dilapidated once you venture out of the most popular areas. They also love to hire out the grounds £££, last time the festival people left a big diesel spill on the grass right next to the ancient pond, it went all the way down the hill towards the black gate that's normally shut. This wasn't cleaned up until reported, if you don't report something it seems very rare that they venture out into the park in order to find these problems for themselves. It also seems like if the location doesn't have some sort of financial benefit then they are not interested in maintaining it. Park ranger? Not seen one of them in 15 years of using park pretty much daily. A lot of general rubbish is from people who turn up and have picnics or celebrate somebody's birthday on the grass. Often these people just leave all their rubbish behind, mostly a summer issue. For the most part, 95% of the time I've had no issues with dogs or dog walkers. It's a public open area so you need to expect that some dogs might come up to you, this is not your own private space, especially if you're foolish enough to put your food or belongings on the ground. As a place of beauty I'd give it 4/5. As a rating of how well it's cared for it's a 2/5. The council could do a lot better but they are too busy trying to make money from it's attraction which is harming it. Now, rather than spending our money caring for it, in it's natural glory and making it safe for everybody they have spent our money creating more attractions than they won't be able...

After my last few visits, I need to change my feedback. Some observations below. I love this park in general but there are some things I don’t appreciate. It is in renovation stage at the moment- new gardens, pond and more. I am sure, it will get more wildlife when there will be more water. Also, more toilets were recently added. And I love those ancient woods.

Prices in a cafe are ridiculous. Almost £5 for a small water and little snack bar. Way too much. And I believe, staff gets minimum wage. Next time I will definitely bring my own food and drink. Many dogs are running loose everywhere, sometimes leap at people and owners don’t clean their 💩 . I saw one couple walking with their dog. Dog was way behind them and unsupervised, had a big poo and left it unoticed. I understand, this is a way to avoid cleaning? There was a marathon at the park. People with loose dogs, walking in the middle of the path, their dogs running amongst runners. What a lack of consideration! People, there are many places there dogs can run loose. My blood was boiling. Lime bikes are now left everywhere at the park blocking paths etc. This is a new, annoying niuance around London. Pond near a mansion looks terrible- overgrown and has lots of rubbish in the water ☹️- most left by selfish drinkers- beer cans, bottles etc. Pond needs a deep cleaning. It is a nice place. I saw turtles, heron, geese etc. there. They need nice place to live too. I am not keen on festivals in the park- not many of them but music is loud and it destroys wildlife and scares animals living there. This is not quite outside London as well- many people live arouns the park. But it is all about money. Some money wasted on different projects, for example way too small and separated lake.

Not sure what else. This is a very busy park. I know, it is difficult to keep it under control but...

Hello People it’s Kay here from Planet Zog. Today I’m writing about an experience I had when I went to the Taste of the Caribbean event earlier this month. My experience started when I booked a ticket for me and my husband which was £26 overall as we were excited to enjoy the sun and eat some food. Now this is where I was FUMING At 3 am the morning of the event I woke up to a ring a ding a ding in my ears waking me up from my nice slumber. I reluctantly rolled over as I was laying on my iPhone 3GS turning it into an iPad. I opened my emails and saw it was from the event team telling me I couldn’t bring outside food or drinks to the event. I WAS STEAMING as the day before I bought a few items for the event. I spent the rest of the night BOILING IN RAGE. When it was time to leave for the event we pulled up and went to the entrance where there was security checking people's bags for food and water smuggled in from the outside. I felt like a prisoner entering a maximum security facility. When we got inside I saw loads of people with their dogs meaning they allow dogs but not a drop of water or a crumb of food which was absolutely ludicrous. What made it worse was I swear I saw a dog steal someone’s Jerk chicken and run away. Once we found an empty spot to sit and enjoy the event we heard loud chanting in the distance. I looked over and to my horror, they had the Euros football game playing on a big screen during the event. For I moment I thought I walked into an IMAX cinema with how big and loud the screen was. While my husband was trying to figure out how they powered this big screen. The people watching were so loud it was hard to enjoy the music or have a decent conversation without shouting over the sound of football chants and disappointed booing. We left the event early and safe to say I’ll never come back. I wanted to go to an event in the park, not...