The Freedom of the Park

 Origin: The Ouseburn running through the last part of the dene
before the culvert that takes it to the River Tyne

It's time to stop pretending that the piece of 'green space' I re-named 'Battlefield' is anything other than park and part of a continuous series of parks that follow the course of the Ouseburn as it makes its way through Newcastle to the River Tyne.

Ouseburn Park (off site link) is here to stay says I!

 

The Ouseburn culvert entrance

Wet and wild

It's July. It's raining. What's new?

Still, let us look on the bright side if only metaphorically.

Having felled a large number of trees – almost certainly too many trees, – to make a cycle way over Battlefield the Beautiful, the Council turned up and rolled out a wild flower carpet ...

 

October 2015. Wild flower turf.

I expect to be believed when I say I admire the (mostly defunct) Environment (Parks and Gardens) Division of the Council. Believers to a man and woman they always seemed to me to be on the side of the angels. Yet, here I thought this a long shot. "All to be mud and bare soil soon" I thought grimly.

"Needs less maintenance" one gardener explained to me.

Happily, I was wrong. What a triumph!

More here: (Off site link)