Park of the week

80. Shenley Park

This park, run by the Shenley Park Trust, has an orchard, meadow, woodland walks, and a 
landscaped walled garden with a grassed amphitheatre. There are several habitats supporting wildlife, including a wide range of birds such as buzzards, red kites, kestrels, and sparrow hawks. The pond is home to fish (see large example in the picture)  and there are grass snakes, although we didn't see any. 

In many areas of the park the grass is left to grow long in summer with paths cut in and around. There’s a bug hotel in the walled garden, and a group of beehives. Bees are also kept in the orchard to aid the pollination of the heritage apple trees. You can buy the apples from the produce stall in the walled garden, and juice made from them.

The name Shenley is based on the Anglo-Saxon Scenlai, Scenlei or Senlai, which means ‘fair or bright clearing or wood.’ In the early Middle Ages, south-west Hertfordshire was heavily wooded, with isolated farmsteads or hamlets in forest clearings. The site of the park was once a private estate known as Porters Park. During the First World War, part of the land was requisitioned and used as an aerodrome.

In 1924 the owner sold the land to Middlesex County Council in 1924 for the purpose of building a psychiatric hospital. This was known as Shenley Hospital. Patients became engaged in agricultural and horticultural duties as part of their therapy. The Walled Garden continued to be a provider of most of the fruit and vegetables for the kitchens. 

When the hospital closed in 1998, some of the land and buildings were set aside for a park to be created. Events are held year-long: wassailing the orchard in January, open air theatre productions and concerts in the summer and in October there’s Apple Day. There are volunteering weekends throughout the year for such as tree care, bulb planting and apple picking.
 
The park has a children’s playground, extremely popular with local kids and the cast of “Motherland” when we visited. There’s a café (on the site of former hospital staff social club)  where you can buy apple juice by the glass. There are also toilets and a car park.

Judith Field

Shenley Park, Radlett Lane, Shenley, Herts, WD7 9DW