Bramcote - Bramcote Hills Park - Part 01
w/e 18 May 2008
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

Before setting out to take these photos, I looked up Bramcote Hills Park on the Broxtowe Borough Council website where it says that the park can be broken down into a series of areas. I noted that there were six of these areas and thought "Six areas, six photos" but on closer inspection I found that some of them were sub-divided into smaller sections. And being somewhat snap happy, I've decided to split the photos into two lots and spread them over two parts.

Play Area

The first area conveniently situated close to the car park is the children's play area which has benefited from a £65,000 investment by the Council enabling it to be refurbished and extended in 2007. It was officially re-opened by the Mayor of Broxtowe on 10 July 2007 and is now enjoyed by children from both Bramcote and adjacent Stapleford as well as visitors from all the surrounding area.
Dairy Cottage

The park spreads over some 21 hectares but most of the points of interest are situated close to the car park in the south west corner. That includes the footings of former single storey Dairy Cottage, one of the original park buildings that had stood on the site for well over 150 years. It was shown on the Tithe map of 1846 but fell into a state of disrepair and was demolished in 2001. Now, as we can see, it provides a pleasant spot for visitors to sit and pass the time of day.
Walled Garden

The path that passes the Dairy Cottage leads to the Walled Garden which was first created about 1850 and took thirty years to reach completion. The walls surrounded a working fruit and vegetable garden and more recently the area within was used as the Council's parks maintenance depot and nursery.
Sundial Maze

Included within the walls now is an interactive Sundial Maze and an information board shows three ways that the feature may be used. They are a) Get to the centre without crossing the red circles or the stone slabs, b) Visit the numbers 1 to 12 in order that are marked in the maze again without crossing the red circles or the stone slabs and c) Stand in the centre and let your shadow indicate the time on the sundial. On this sunny afternoon having stood in the centre, I can confirm that the sundial is accurate to Greenwich Mean Time although my watch on British Summer Time was showing an hour different.
Memorial Garden

Beyond the wall and across Coventry Lane, Stapleford Hill rises where a large weathered sandstone rock (seen here as a dark patch where the grass meets the trees) is associated with many myths and legends. This is the Hemlock Stone. Within the Walled Garden though is the Holocaust Memorial Garden. The garden was officially opened on January 27th 2001 having been created towards the end of the previous year. An annual memorial service remembering the victims of the Holocaust is now held in the garden towards the end of January.
Refugee Sculpture

A sculpture called "The Refugee" created by a survivor of Auschwitz, Naomi Blake, is the centre point of the Memorial Garden. Several information panels surround the sculpture including one that reads "This garden is dedicated to millions of victims of oppression, torture, mass death and genocide. We mourn their loss as our loss and that of all humanity." And another says "We remind ourselves that the duty to uphold the values of humanity are shared equally by everyone. Looking back, we look forward to make a world free of intolerance and pain." Surely sentiments we can all subscribe to.

Forward to Part 02

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