This week I have been to Hughenden Park. After hearing such wonderful things about the park I was really looking forward to seeing the park for myself. I even prepared an extra special (and extra large) picnic to eat while I was there.

Located on the A4128 Hughenden Road it is part of the historic Hughenden Manor which is owned by the National Trust. There is also access to the park from Coates Lane. At 25 hectares (or 61.7 acres in proper measurement) it’s the largest park in the Wycombe District.

Being such a long way from the town centre I decided to drive there in my trusty car.

After pulling into the car park and taking the picnic hamper out of the boot I was feeling thirsty so I unpacked a bottle of fizzy drink from the hamper to drink while walking along.

Slowly I made my way into the park past a charming lodge which must have been part of the Hughenden Manor estate.

A tarmac path led into the park itself. It was very quiet. A man exercising his dog and a few people who were enjoying a picnic on the grass were the only people there. After walking further down the path a charming brick bridge came into view.

My bottle of fizzy drink was empty so I looked around for a litter bin. Luckily there was one on the right just before the bridge. Unfortunately the litter bin had been set on fire and it was burnt out. It looked an awful sight blighting the view of the park and surrounding trees.

Crossing the bridge I noticed one of the capping stones on a corner pillar had been knocked off. The bricks also seemed rather modern to me. Once over the bridge I stood back to look at the side only to see graffiti scrawled all over it.

Not to be deterred my journey continued.

The trees in the park seemed to create rooms of open space. Quite honestly the secluded nature of these areas made me feel uncomfortable as anyone could easily be attacked there unseen.

Eventually I came to the other side where there was a playground. Once again the playground was surrounded on two sides by trees and was not visible from the nearby road. Unlike the playgrounds at the Rye and Higginson Park there were no children playing there.

The secluded nature of the playground worried me as children could easily be subjected to the unwanted attentions of strangers up to no good without being seen.

After looking at the local Council web site I discovered there are no disabled toilet facilities at Hughenden Park. In this modern age of equality and disability awareness this is a disgrace.

For some Hughenden may have a special place in their memories of the past but today the burnt out litter bin, graffiti covered bridges and poky nature of place made it probably the worst of the parks that I had visited.

As for my picnic, well, it went home uneaten and I left feeling hungry. For somewhere to be so bad that I didn’t want to eat food there says it all.

I would not recommend it as a place visit. Higginson Park and the Rye are far better.

Have you been to Hughenden Park? What do you think to it?