Victoria Gardens
…is the smaller of the two green spaces at the north end of Sutton High Street with Bushey Road bisecting the two. It is also the quieter of the two Greens having no play facilities for children nor exercise equipment. It is a nice place to sit quietly on the benches and just let the world rush past on the other side of the railings.
Victoria Gardens also has a long history and did you know it used to have a shallow ornamental pond? Unfortunately this had to be removed in the 70’s not long after Health and Safety was invented. The pond was filled in and grassed over but the grass is usually left to grow a little longer as a wildlife friendly place, perhaps benefitting some of the hedgehogs that frequent the area.
It was the retired park keeper, George Potter, who back in the 90's designed the remodelled Victoria Gardens, minus pond, in partnership with the Council. He went on to become the first Chairman of the Friends of Sutton Green. It shows what can be achieved when partners work together. The revitalised Friends of Sutton Green group will be looking to improve on George’s design over time, and perhaps we will be able to provide a few more benches or even a drinking water fountain. We were discussing whether to install a mural for the long wall alongside Topps Tiles but there is now a planning application to turn it into yet more flats.
More work has been carried out on the raised flower bed near to the Bushey Road bus stop. We did try to remove the undergrowth and brambles back in 2019, but the roots go deep and they mostly came straight back to life as soon as our backs were turned! We planted several hundred daffodil and crocus bulbs in early 2020 and we dug it over again in January 2021. The area around the Bushey Road entrance gate had a lovely show of daffodils.
