Access Guide

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Introduction

Parish Wood is a small local park in Blackfen, bounded by Berwick Crescent, Restons Crescent and Parish Gate Drive.
The River Shuttle runs through the park, and with it a section of the Shuttle Riverway public footpath that runs from Hall Place (where it connects with the Cray Riverway) to Avery Hill Park in Greenwich (to connect with the Green Chain Walk).
In addition to a challenging play area and ball court for older children, there is a natural pond with an accessible dipping platform and some more wild areas.

Venue Car Park View
- Parking is free for all users.
- The car park type is open air/surface.
- The car park is off Parish Gate Drive.
- There are 0 designated parking bay(s) within the car park.
- The route from the car park to the entrance is accessible to a wheelchair user unaided.
- The car park surface is tarmac.
- There is a dropped kerb / non stepped access from the car park to the venue.
- The car park does not have a height restriction barrier.
Drop-off Point View
- There is not a designated drop off point.
Comments View
- The car park is next to the Parish Gate Drive Entrance to the park.
- There is unrestricted on-street parking in Berwick Crescent and Restons Crescent, close to the other entrances.

This standard barrier is used at all the entrances to the park.
It is intended to prevent motorbikes from entering the park, but allowing access to other users including pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users and people with pushchairs.
Wheelchair and pushchair users follow the same route past a gate which swings both ways into an enclosure which they then must reverse out of.
The enclosure is 120cm deep and a maximum of 110cm wide.
The clear opening width is 95cm.
Please note that there are horizontal bars above the space which are intended to be above the head-height of wheelchair users.
The bars are 132cm and 138cm high.
The space may be insufficient for electric scooters or taller wheelchairs.

This entrance is located off Berwick Crescent, adjacent to the entrance to Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School.
The gate is located on a smooth tarmac path.
There is an easy - moderate slope up on the path after the gate.

This entrance is on the unmade track which runs to the rear of the houses on Berwick Crescent.
The area around the entrance barrier is unmade and uneven, and may be muddy.
After the entrance barrier there is a small footbridge over the River Shuttle.
There 6 medium steps to climb the footbridge.
The steps are unmarked.
There are handrails to both sides of the steps.
On the far side of the bridge, there is a short moderate ramp down to reach the grassy path.

This gate is located off Restons Crescent, to the north of the Linsted Court flats.
The gate (which is on the Bexley-Greenwich boundary) is located on a tarmac path, but is approached across grass.
The wheelchair/ pushchair route also moves off the tarmac onto the grass.
There is a moderate slope up on the path after the gate.

This entrance is located off Parish Gate Drive, adjacent to the car park.
There is level access into the park at this gate and easy slopes from the gate into the centre of the park.
Note that at the time of our visit, the gate was unlocked, giving 100cm clear access straight through, but this may have been temporary or accidental.

Inside the park, the firm tarmac paths generally have easy - moderate slopes, although there is a steep section leading towards the Restons Crescent North Gate.
There are further unmade or mown grass paths into the wilder areas of the park.
The tarmac ball court is set into a grassed area.
The play structures are set in areas of bark chippings.

The wildlife pond is located to the south of the park, close to the Berwick Crescent Entrance.
There is level access onto a pond dipping platform, which is surrounded by a low level safety barrier.