Parks

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Cricket’s Duckpond

Cricket fans the world over would be familiar with St Georges Park in Port Elizabeth, the oldest test stadium in South Africa.  Those same cricket fans would have watched or listened to commentary about games at the stadium and heard the commentators refer to the two ends as the Duck Pond and Park Drive Ends.  These days people would think that the Duck Pond End refers to the Duck Pond Pavilion that is on that side of the field, but do they know…

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14/10/2013
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History of St Georges Park

Last weekend I was part of the most informative walking tour of St Georges Park.  Photographer and journalist Ivor Markman has done some tremendous research on the park and it's history over the years and in the process not just collected tons of interesting information, but also some very rare photographs.  Here he is showing off one of the oldest known pictures of the park while standing on the same spot it was taken way back then.

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30/09/2013
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Theescombe Wetland Conservation Area

Just when I think that I know or have seen just about everything there is to know and see in and around Port Elizabeth something else presents itself.  And truth to be told, through Geocaching I'm discovering something new just about on a weekly basis.  Last weekend I took the KidZ to look for a cache in the Theescombe area and discovered the vulnerable Theescombe Wetland Conservation Area.  The sign says: "This Colleen Glen Grassy Fynbos is classified as vulnerable.  The small wetlands are classified…

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05/09/2013
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Conservatory history

The Pearson Conservatory in St George's Park was opened by Honourable John X Merriman on 12 September 1882 at a cost of £3,800.  It is named after Mr HW Pearson, the Mayor of Port Elizabeth at that time.The Eastern Province Herald discribed the conservatory as following in an article the next day.  The structure consists of a centre building and two wings.  The central building measures 25 feet by 50 feet by 29 feet high to the centre of the skylight.  The roof…

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16/08/2013
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The history of the Pearson Conservatory fountain

The Pearson Conservatory was originally built in 1882 and restored to its former glory between 2009 and 2011.  The centre piece of the conservatory is an ornamental fountain made by Andrew Handyside at the Duke Street Foundry "Britannia Iron Works" in Derby in the UK around the same year.  The Britannia Foundry's work was well known for its fine quality so these fountains can be found all over the globe.  This particular design of fountain is listed as Design Number…

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10/08/2013
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The Baakens River in Settlers Park

As you may have noticed lately, I have developed a special fondness for the Baakens Valley.  I've always had a bit of a soft spot for it, but since taking up geocaching I've had to venture into it a couple of times to look for caches and have taken my camera with on every occasion.  The spot in the photo is in Settlers Park at one of the places where you cross the river hopping from stone to stone.  The river dams up a…

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01/07/2013
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Mushroom Farm Park – greening urban areas

Johannesburg boasts that it's the world's largest man-made urban forest and that's difficult to imagine until one actually visits the city and see how many open spaces, parks and nature reserves there are.  One of these parks is Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton.  I've passed here a couple of times before but visited for the first time on my last visit to the City of Gold. Sandton started out in the 1930's as farms and estates and only transform from a farming community to a…

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01/07/2013
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Victoria Park stone bridge

I often wonder how many people realise how many beautiful open spaces Port Elizabeth has. Some of them are natural open spaces like the Baakens Valley which includes Dodds Farm and Settlers Park, Cape Recife Nature Reserve, Sardinia Bay Nature Reserve and Maitland Nature Reserve.  More formal open spaces like St Georges Park, Victoria Park and the Kings Beach lake area gives one a place to go for a walk where you are surrounded by paved paths and gardens.  This spot with the…

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13/06/2013
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Picnic at Dodds Farm

The Baakens Valley is crawling deeper and deeper into my heart.  I really wish more people realised what an amazing place we have running right through the city.  The Damselfly packed a picnic basket the other day and we headed into the Baakens Valley for a spot of geocaching, ending up at Dodds Farm with a picnic under the trees.  There were a couple of other people having a picnic and painting while a number of joggers and mountain bikers passed us on…

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03/06/2013
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Baakens Valley

I explored a bit of the Baakens Valley along Lower Guinea Fowl Trail on a geocaching outing with the family and as always my camera went along for the walk.  This spot is looking east towards Dodds Farm and down at the Baakens Valley from the mountain bike trail.

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01/06/2013