Coombe Wood

If I was to compile a list of the most beautiful places in Croydon, Coombe Wood would undoubtedly be close to the top. It's an obvious choice to those who know it, but not everyone knows it's there - I lived nearby for a number of years before I first visited.

Water flows gently down the rockery through a series of small pools, into the tranquil fish pond, where large carp and smaller fish swim among lily pads. 

Formal flower beds display colourful flowers throughout the year, including a winter garden with heather. 

In the woods, there are bright flowers on the rhododendrons and azaleas in spring and summer. 

Bleeding-heart plant

If you're a plant novice, I'd recommend installing an app such as Pl@ntnet on your phone which can help identify species using photos, as there are quite a lot of unusual and intriguing species to see. The bleeding-heart plant above is located near the end of the flowerbed to the left of the long lawn and is one of my favourites found there.

You may even spot a couple of friendly black cats who lounge on the benches in the sun. 

In wildlife terms, it's a good place to spot one of the UK's smallest birds, the goldcrest, flitting around the rockery or woodland areas. Robins, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits and other song birds take advantage of the small pools to bathe in. The flowers are alive with bees and butterflies through much of the year. 

There are several buildings of interest in the Coombe Wood area. Coombe Wood House was built in 1898 and has been used as a convalescent home for TB patients and a children's home, before becoming a restaurant called The Chateau. In the gardens themselves, the Coach House café serves meals, refreshments and ice cream and has its own garden seating area behind. The stables used to be home to the horses used by the mounted park rangers, but this service was sadly discontinued in the late 1990s. Pond Cottage in the gardens is used by the Conservation Volunteers. The nearby Coombe Lodge is Grade II listed and dates back to the 1760s. It's now a Beefeater restaurant and pub. There's a thatched cottage on Oaks Road just past the tram lines, with a pond in front.

Useful information:

Sadly, no dogs or ball games are allowed, but nearby Lloyd Park is suitable.

Facilities: Toilets in the old stables. The Coach House Cafe serves meals, refreshments and Carte D'or ice cream. This is subject to change during Covid. 

Much of Coombe Lane has no pavement once you get past Coombe Wood, there's just a path through the edge of the woods, so you may feel more comfortable walking from Lloyd Park tram stop. 

Transport: From Lloyd Park tram stop, walk up Coombe Road in the direction of Addington (away from Croydon town centre) with Coombe Wood School (currently under construction) on your right, for 10-15 minutes, until you come to the junction with Oaks Road. Cross over at the traffic island and Coombe Wood is just there. 

Parking: There is limited parking outside Coombe Wood, so if it's busy you're better off turning into Oaks Road (opposite Coombe Wood) and using the car park there which is larger.

Walks from here: 

Both suggested routes are rough, muddy and hilly in places, but quiet and quite scenic:

When you leave Coombe Wood, if you turn left you can follow Conduit Lane, a path through woodland. After 10 minutes or so there's a left fork, or you can go straight on. If you go straight on, you'll go down a hill and end up on Croham Road opposite Croham Hurst golf club. There's a footpath to the right of the golf club entrance which will take you onto Croham Hurst itself.

If you turn left instead, the path becomes a track called Ballards Farm Road. You can follow this to Ballards Way and then either cross over and turn right, then walk up Crest Road to Croham Valley Road, where you'll be by an entrance to Littleheath Woods, or turn left and walk up Ballards Way until you get to Heathfield Ecology Centre.

Alternatively, from Coombe Wood, cross Coombe Lane and turn into the car park, then walk through to the end of the car park where there is a footpath leading approximately parallel to Coombe Lane through the woods up the hill to the top of the Addington Hills, where there's a viewpoint with views over Croydon and London. This requires reasonable fitness. At the top, you are also close to Heathfield. The viewpoint can be reached more directly from the Addington Hills car park or Coombe Lane tram stop. I will write more about these sites in a future post.