I used to be a Drayton Park resident as a kid. Me, my sister and my buds used to travel to the wilds of Gillespie Park and recreate scenes from The Animals of Farthing Wood (the franchise was, after all, based in a nature reserve like Gillespie Park from book 2 onwards). Very good place to learn as a kid ; it really helped teach us about nature. From the various shrubbery found there to the frog pond, not to mention the plethora of blackberries that appear around harvest time ; Gillespie Park is nothing if not a quintessentially British bastion of nature.
The Drayton Park pathway was something that became available towards the end of my time living in Islington (I moved to Wood Green in the early Noughties). I really made the most of it while I could, though. Whereas the child Helen learnt a lot about nature from the original Gillespie Park, the teen me found piece, quiet and much creative inspiration from the vastness of the fields the Drayton Park entrance led to. Hardly anyone went there in those days (apart from aulde Frank and his marching dog Shep). It was pure tranquillity! The trainline closeby further adds to the peacefulness somehow. I know it shouldn't, but it just does. That's probably the 'city girl' in me talking mind you...
On the pleasure scale I'd give the area accessible via Drayton Park a 5, and the old skool Gillespie Park a 3, or maybe a 2.5.
But, as a full score, that wouldn't be fair... I used to read TAoFW's accompanying magazine 'Farthing Wood Friends' as a kid, and cannot deny that having a resource like Gillespie Park Proper (which I refer to the area accessible via the Gillespie road entrance in my mind) really aided my understanding of British wildlife. And of wildlife in general.
So, yes. I'm becoming a 5-Star whore. But I always did enjoy their single 'Rain Or Shine', so no worries! read more