A thorough park tour of West Park, Darlington.
For a second video, and the start of a series, I visit my local park, West Park, to see what sights it has to offer.
hi I’m Mark and this is mid AG days a Channel of walking visiting places today to keep it fairly straightforward I am going to review and visit all of my local parks this is the first Park I’m visiting and it is called West Park inventive name I’m sure to be fair it didn’t even exist until about 20 years ago when they built the first estate they transformed this whole area into a massive Park and it’s lovely uh hope you [Music] enjoy King James of Scotland called this place Dirty Town like to its’s face because its streets had not been paved that was back when the Wen trade was where your fortune could be made those holy PES soon displayed a lamb upon the northern Crest and bought and built the very best D of folk were unimpressed but Henry PE PR for a cure for dirt and illness in the poor could drain to clean a reservoir his waterf the Thirsty TS Us wish for more than drinking Wells just like that time break the [Music] Chas if you want to go looking for trolls you can nothing under here right on top of West backck and here we go this is one of the main entrances into West Park approaching the first map see what we can make sense of there are a couple of paths to follow but let’s go up the one that isn’t officially a path picture of a Castel okay never seen a KRL in this park but reaching the top of this hill we have three different directions to go that goes back to the path that we could have walked up this goes straight forward to the first Monument of description that we’ll see this occasion we’re going to go left because there’s one thing to see here that not every Park in town has and we might as well sneak in the sideway right oh man too old for this nonsense right okay here we go awesome little bike track I don’t really ride bikes so it’s not really for me whoa okay now I just got to hope there’s no bikes riding around in here at full speed or else I’m going to get run down pretty much every time I come down here there’s almost never any one riding bikes around here okay I’m actually quite surprised there is nobody here this is like after school time now you thought there’d be someone here to be fair up to the top as you can see it’s a pretty reasonably sized little bike track just nobody here to take advantage of it oh well well I guess the hill is the only way down cool let’s see what the rules are requires an element of skill pretty sure you can ride a BMX around there but it is strictly not a BMX truck so someone should probably tell Google Hedgehog by the bike track just uh don’t get onto the bike track might be dangerous so now we’re entering the main part of the field they do have several of these benches here and I don’t know about you but a bench without a back well you can’t get comfortable on a bench without a back let’s [Music] see you just can’t get comfy on a bench like that unacceptable so we’re now at the top of the mound with lovely View views all around industrial estate and hills in the background lovely but the main attraction up here is the stone monuments diver from the bank Pearls of air catch in your fur and Scatter and silt I’m not sure what any of these things mean if I’m honest water V I’m guessing it just names a lot of the creatures that are around here a dark hle just above the water’s edge caught his eye something bright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it like a tiny star then as he looked it winked at him and so declared itself to be an eye little excerpt from The Wind in the Willows okay little symbol I mean it’s it’s very cool it’s a nice place to hang out and from here you can also just about make out the other monuments that exist here all three of them are linked by sight and next we are going to head to the centerpiece now you can take the little Trail path down but why do that when you can just go down the hill which is just recently being cut probably for the last time this year we are heading inexorably into Autumn now entering the center feature of this park this little Stone Circle and some inspirational sayings this is Darling town that wears its heart within its name this is looran town where the railways first ran and this is Quaker Town where sharing took rote yes sharing never existed before this town ah okay clearly someone’s come along with a marker pen of some description and decided to ruin this Monument okay someone’s got to come along and overdo this inappropriate symol ah people are just fun aren’t they and here we have the central map here we go so this is us right here in the middle and here is our three mon monuments and everywhere at points too legs crossed Harley Pool Stockton Ros topping fantastic climb tontin okay York jockey cap stainmore Milton teas deal it’s pretty cool somewhere for the teens to hang out on a night anywhere very nice coming to the end of the Wild Flower season still looking quite colorful but not long to go before they’re gone there are several little areas like this scattered about the park Little wildf Flower areas very pretty better about a month ago but there are so many paths some ways to take around this park we have a black bird this time this park is mainly mag pies I’ll be shocked if we don’t see at least one or two mag pieses today it’s definitely been raining so my first idea was just to follow the official path but then I saw this little cut down here across the grass now how could I ignore that okay this path just looks like it leads back to another path it’s just paths and Woodland pretty much what we’ve got here a few Open Spaces to kick a football about maybe oh another one of these the gray Heron there are still some blackberries about I mean they look gross now and maybe a few weeks left before they’re gone completely and here we are approaching our second Monument there’s only three of them this is actually the second biggest park in town just going by the size of the map picture but there’s not a massive amount to see here it’s largely just Open Fields trees Woodland and a lot of trails let’s see what this Monument says steer this Limestone Arc rapid pilot dingi Brown rare as principles well indeed down under this one oh someone has filled this one with all sorts of automnal goods butterfly looks like an apple to me but okay very nice and yet more pleasant views ginormous windmill I mean it’s definitely possible to actually get up on here yeah look these at the flattest of tops though so H Beyond Monument 2 we have the damsel fly more little rods to take it’s just like a maze really here we go onto the largest open area of the park through this little tunnel of trees very wild with growth is just starting to die off for the Autumn there’s that Monument we just visited bench with quite a nice little view out into the sunshine let’s just head slightly into the roof to find the common shrew all righty another unofficial path trample down by time I’m assuming it’s just going to lead to another path because that’s where all of these Trails lead to oh yes look there it is oh but another little wild area of wild flowers say there are plenty of these along the way and that path just led to another entrance local nature is oh that’s sharp yeah that SS F these are fairly new these signs they got pull up maybe last year year before bit of information about the area and we come back into the park and the only part of the park that actually has a bench with a back on it in a profitable dream Edward Peas the dad of steam move Quaker Captain clean spend his cash on coal and wool upon P an engine that could pull 600 people on it full local motion number one invented by Jor Stevenson to Skipper peas and everyone a nation dragged by this pen Fury into a Dy Century of Empire greed penury Ned’s Carriage was called Experiment full steam ahead and off we went full steam ahead that’s good advice for us all and the second map it’s again that leaf designates where we are the iron Circle that would be the area that we just visited there cycle track sunstor Ah that’s the first entrance there Stevenson gate and we’ve just entered at comet’s gate so there’s still Village Gate and Nick stream gate to go okay back to the park ah the classic dragonfly I told you we’d see some magp pies the most common bird in this area there it goes they really do make an effort with the wild flowers that they plant it’s a shame I didn’t come down about a month earlier they would have been quite spectacular never mind as you probably noticed this park is quite hilly I mean it’s not significant it’s not undoable undoable it’s it’s not not doable oh what do you know there is another bench with the back but this one I do believe is fairly recent has not much of a view and it was only put here and uh well they had to replace that sign originally it contained a name like they were taking credit for it I guess I believe it got removed and replaced with one without someone’s name on it I see I’m not sure why You’ sit on that bench with that view when you could sit on this bench again no back but we have one of the best views in the park isn’t it lovely and in pretty close proximity is the next bench right at the top of the hill unfortunately that Ben now leads us to our third main stop of this park and the third Monument just behind this bush there it is with a handy little pigeon just having a nice sit huh it’s an interesting angle where you can see all the way through oh there he goes didn’t take long to scare him off all right what is this this one sir straw leg sprinters who’s the third eye yellow ringed helping your chicks Thrive what have we got here we have a PL and I’m not sure what that’s supposed to be to be honest oh well time to climb out there and there we go we can now see number two number one and the little Center Spot there as well this is by far the best Monument to come to it’s more out of the way and well what’s the next one so Piper piperr piperr they’ve really tried to hide this one but I found it it’s a bunny rabbit okay let’s see how close we can get before it escapes as he see me oh careful ah there he goes didn’t take long now this is the steepest climb down which is fine most of the time but uh if it has been raining or it’s icy this hill is actually a bit of a death trap man my legs look really long long in that shadow the longtail tit and here we find the information for the third entrance all about the quers and the peases and the entrance where to the children’s player Park not going to film too much of that because there are actually people in there right now it’s a pretty cool park though it’s got a lot of stuff I have come back to the play Park a different day because it is one of this Park’s best features magical creatures pirate ship in sand pit a nice Lookout somewhere to leave your name uh-oh Joseph P stood in a Furrow in the Parish of Middlesboro and saw a town in his tomorrow take flight so anopolis furnace that fed on its populace was once as pastoral as this a park now rescued from the flood of prophets Joseph Dream did good and handed back to bird and wood the P’s symbol was that Dove a pea pod in its beak that hovered over Waters like the Plover that now is nesting in this park a prophet for a limestone Ark right next we have a Jabba walkie is that not from Star Wars and here’s our third map we’ve come in from the Village Gate this time one final entrance to go we are going to take this little sideways path here oh is starting to look way more awe to me now leaves are starting to come down in their droves we have a new these are some tall blackberry bushes dozens of unen untouched rotting blackberries and there’s a path down there which I probably shouldn’t take but um let’s go I’m assuming it’s just a little walk into the woods I can’t imagine there’s much more to it than that oh yeah yeah it’s literally just a little Trail down to the back somewhere to come and hang out and drink okay someone’s put a fence up but people were like not stopping us getting to the back there’s a few of those as well little offshoot paths going into the woods and whatnot found another one slightly off the trail this time the fields scabious this cut just brings you back onto the original path I arrived in I’m going to go straight across and find the other entrance the fourth and Final official entrance which obviously forms part of this public pathway the remnants of the Old Railway line all that’s left of it and another something post here the trans penine Masterpiece the fourth and final map ented at Nick stream and that’s pretty much it and the fourth entrance has a coot and the birds sure do like sitting above these stumps when it comes to unofficial entrances you have ones like this which go straight into the bike park which is also on this public foot path someone has left their homework behind well it’s all about nature I suppose and that fourth entrance essentially makes part of this public walkway SL cycleway that runs from this old and decrepit Railway Bridge and you can actually get up there but I don’t recommend it there’s not much to see and it’s quite difficult to walk on BS it’s real Bridge stretches all the way down along this Old Railway line to what I always thought West Park needed which is a water feature admittedly it’s quite away from the actual Park itself strictly speaking all it really was widen the back but turned it into this pretty Long Pond that goes all the way up to the top there West Park pond and it’s not a pond for paddling or anything like that it’s for nature not for humans it’s a shame someone decided this was the best area to be able to fly tip in another unofficial entrance to the park are these naturous looking stairs I say naturous I mean fairly ragged and dangerous and these lead to another walking SL cycle path that goes down to entrance number three and that leads down to entrance number four this is a proper start of autumn path okay those trees look like they’re about to come down at any moment and here we have the Ramson daring caring it does say sharing but not very well sorry to interject but at this point the audio was simply atrocious so I’m just explaining how this hill here and this hill here are very popular in the winter with sleders and there’s an entrance there and a blue tit back to me let’s head back up here and get back into the the main area of the park yes it doesn’t snore in these parts very often but when it does they love coming down here oh that’s an interesting find just a whole lot of bread still quite soft so it’s not long since it’s been here ooh white hipster four pack wow okay that’s an odd receipt to find by your packet of freshly strewn bread I might just throw that in the been on the way out it seems fair and the plastic bag as well but we’ll leave the bread I’m sure some merry creatures will be enjoying that okay let’s continue on our way oh looks like some creature has got away with one of them yes they’re leaving a trail it’s the breadcrumbs now to find the gingerbread house and deposited ah yes we’re coming up on the center again oh the tree creeper green flag award well deserved I must say coming up is another Hill that gets covered in sledders when and if it does actually snore and lay and there’s Monument 3 right at the top and that’s pretty much everything there is to see in this part it’s just really pretty all around to be fair and another one of those stumps they’re absolutely everywh I don’t think I even got them all and this one we have everybody’s favorite the lady bird everybody’s favorite but whatever bird was sat above this at one point I shouldn’t be intrigued I shouldn’t want to know where it leads ah it’s just too dark I’m not going to be able to see anything oh what the heck I’m not one to not follow a path that I see randomly appear before me oh okay it’s just another route to the bike path ah well that’s dull there are easier ways to get to the bike path than that there nothing over there just these another part of the field I will keep taking these paths one day I’m going to find something really impressive that we got well that was West Park on to the next one now there’s plenty of them and uh several have more to see than this park but for sheer size and just the ability to just walk around people just jog around in circles and it’s enough it’s just a really lovely park to visit we could quite easily spend hours just walking around this park looking for everything taking all the different routes I I’ve done quite an extensive cover of this uh Park but like I said it is probably my favorite the Speckled Wood okay that’s definitely all the stumps that I’ve seen there’s probably more that I uh missed somewhere along the lines I hope you’ve enjoyed this wand around West Park it is just great it is just lovely so yes anyway on to the next one [Music] what do I have to do make get out of here [Music]