The pocket handkerchief parks of Hatcham

A Sunday walk around Deptford and New Cross (which is really called Hatcham)

I started out at the rather bleak Deptford Park although this has been improved recently with a sculpture and a rose garden (no roses yet but we live in hope) and went into Folkstone Gardens. There was some criminal activity in the park but that didn't stop me, and I took a look at the pond. I noticed one of the rocks had a model terrapin on it, which I thought a somewhat odd choice for an ornament. Imagine my surprise when it saw me and crawled down the rock and into the water! No picture of course, but I hope I havent made it an endangered species.
After that went to Fordham park (just a piece of grassed waste ground really on the approach to Hatcham, and the hillside park called Telegraph Hill. This was an Admiralty semaphore signalling station when it was farmland but that fell into disuse with the advent of the electric telegraph. The views to London are amazing. It's a 10 acre park on a very awkward site but crams in a lake, a play area, tennis courts (free) toilets and office, and appears quite well looked after. There was a guided tour ongoing as I arrived.
Most of the land is owned by the Haberdashers Company (E.G. Haberdashers Aske Hatcham School) and this plaque appears on their property.