Heathfield Gardens

One of Croydon's most beautiful parks year-round, Heathfield is especially vibrant in springtime. The house is surrounded by ornamental gardens, water features and woodland. Heathfield House was owned by Raymond Riesco until 1964 and is now used as a training centre by Croydon Council. 

I saw some bumblebees at Heathfield on Christmas Day 2020

Already, there are daffodils, crocuses and irises coming through in the gardens. In just a few weeks, spring will be in full swing. I wrote this post based on memories and photographs of previous springtime visits to this little patch of paradise in Croydon.

There is a round pond near the house which appears quite barren in the winter but it supports dragonflies, damselflies, frogspawn and visiting ducks in the spring and summer. 

In front of the house there are grass terraces with flowerbeds and a rose garden, with views over fields down Gravel Hill towards New Addington. Horses from the neighbouring farm are often found in the fields, relaxing and grazing together, while kestrels perch in the trees and occasionally red kites fly above.

To the side of the house is a small rectangular ornamental pond. Beyond this, a picturesque series of small pools slowly cascade down the hillside into a pond, with stepping stones across the higher pools. 

There is a wooden bridge which you can stand on and observe newts darting around in the water, dozens of small pond snails and large clumps of frogspawn. Later, the frogspawn hatches into thousands of squirming tadpoles while delicate, colourful damselflies rest on lily pads.

 

The video above is a slow motion recording of tadpoles at Heathfield in March 2019.

Newt in the pond

Above the water features, a magnolia tree bursts with pinky-white petals and rhododendrons bloom. Daffodils, irises, wood anemones and crocuses shoot up through the grass beneath blossoming trees. 

Butterflies and bumblebees collect nectar from plants specifically cultivated to support pollinating insects by the Friends of the Earth. Robins sing their songs to mark their territories and blue tits chirrup as they flit between trees. 

The walled garden has a lavender lined path with wisteria and grape vines growing above, leading to the Croydon Ecology Centre, which has a large orchard, grazed by two sheep.

The best time to see grapes is late summer

 In normal times, the orchard is open on some Sundays and there are a number of small wildlife ponds and various types of fruit tree, however with Covid it's closed to the public. You can sometimes get a view of the sheep through the fence from the picnic area or the gate from the walled garden. 

Next door to Heathfield is Bramley Bank, a nature reserve consisting mainly of woodland with a small area of heath and a large pond.

If you walk through Bramley Bank, you'll find yourself at the edge of Littleheath Woods, an area of meadows and woodland with small ponds. The other side of Littleheath Woods is Selsdon town centre, which is a short walk from Selsdon Wood and Sanderstead Plantation. Going the other way from Heathfield, just across Coombe Lane is the Addington Hills. 

How to get there:

Tram: It is an easy walk from Coombe Lane tram stop. Cross Coombe Lane and turn left. Follow the road until the junction with Ballards Way, cross Ballards Way, and the entrance to Heathfield is in front of you. Walk down through the woodland.

On foot: See the yellow route on this Google Map I made of Croydon walks

By car: There is some disabled parking down by Heathfield House, off Ballards Way. The main car park is off Riesco Drive, which has a turning further down Ballards Way.