Swanley Park — Attraction in Sevenoaks

Brilliant large park chock full of amenities! There is so much to do, particularly for families: you could spend an afternoon kicking around a ball and having a picnic on the rolling grass, rent a canoe on the lake, and ride on the miniature railway, and that would leave much left saved to do on the next visit!

There is a playground with equipment for a variety of age ranges, a splash park with paddling pool, cafe offering hot food, and lovely open spaces including a lake and some woodland. What really sets Swanley Park apart from the rest are all the other activities, most impressively the New Barn miniature railway but also pedalo and other boat rentals on the lake, the Great Outdoors play sessions, inflatables, electric-powered go karts, and an indoor soft play centre.

The park is well-run and well-maintained, and usually clean and tidy. It hosts council-led events throughout the year such as a Bonfire Night concert and fireworks, it's home to running and walking clubs, and it welcomes special attractions like fun fairs.

Unfortunately there are no sporting facilities such as tennis courts or football pitches. It could also benefit from better public transport access; the nearest bus stop is down a residential road and only served by one route.

But on the whole, I can't recommend Swanley Park enough, especially for families. Swanley is one of the most boring suburban towns in Kent, very car-dependent, lacking a vibrant town centre, and without any USP, so the park truly is a diamond in the rough. We live in Bexleyheath and have other parks nearby but Swanley is well worth the journey. There are so many fun and active things to do, most which are free or just a couple quid - the miniature railway alone is worth the visit - that Swanley Park is the perfect destination for those seeking a large park in the nw Kent/outer se...

5 stars for Park overall, the location, and especially the staff. The youngsters (u18s I beleive) who basically run and fix and do everything more or less, in particular are a great asset. Whatever scheme this is, please expand it, as other local parks in all directions are between 'not great' to abysmal. And also, these young guys are getting amazing experience and skills for their hopefully bright futures. Running literal trains, all of the boating, pools, inflatables, soft play, even laying the paving and creating paths and other landscaping and maintenance. It's fantastic to see, and I hope they are aptly rewarded for their amazing community input.

Playground are could be improved or expanded imo, but it's still very good when compared to alternatives. Parking and cafe kind of expensive imo, but again good value for those who can afford (and I'm guessing this income helps fund the good stuff - it's definitely not unaffordable for most tho, and is good value considering the zero walkable alternatives!) Could do with a drinking water fountain for runners/kids. Especially considering how many bottles seem thrown in bins (so recycling bins added would probably also help with the overflow issues, and also the environment) Would be nice to see more wildflowers and other good stuff for nature and wildlife There's a literal wooded area behind lake, that's fenced off - and seems unused - why not expand park into this area for nature...

The park itself is great (when everything is open/operational). There’s a miniature train, nice large grass area, decent size playground, splash park and flamingo boats. The real downer is the car park. The company running it basically abuses its power to rip people off. The machine makes it tricky to purchase an all day parking ticket, then you are lead to believe all is well. In fact they don’t always take the money, so then they can hit you with a £60 fine. I have trawled through countless reviews and cannot find anyone who has appealed and won. Even when they have provided proof of either trying to pay, or having paid! I was shocked to see these complaints dating back to 2021, this has been happening for a long time! We have been lucky up to now, as we’ve been visiting the park for a few years and not been ripped off. I guess it was only a matter of time. My husband and 2 autistic sons visited a couple of weeks ago, he said there was a large queue at the machine because people were having trouble working it. He tries to pay via phone, it wouldn’t accept payment. He eventually got a receipt out of the machine and assumed all was good. He also displayed our blue badge. We’ve just received a £60 parking charge. Can’t believe companies are allowed to get away with this....