Stratford Park is a 56 acre park located just outside the centre of Stroud, with a great range of facilities to suit all kinds of recreation. The park is is a Six time winner of the Green Flag Award by Keep Britain Tidy and a Special Innovation Award winner for Community involvement.

A brief history of the park

Maps

Trees

Event Notification Form

Whether you want to improve your health and fitness, try a new activity or simply find an enjoyable way to spend your leisure time, Stratford Parks friendly and helpful team are dedicated to ensuring that each and every visit is great!

Facilities include
Indoor and outdoor swimming pools, 52 station gym, group fitness classes, sauna & steam room, 6 court sports hall, astro turf pitch, 4 squash courts, Café Bar, Football and cricket pitches and 6 tennis courts. Please view the website below for further activity details.

• www.everyoneactive.com
• Tel: 01453 766771

The Museum in the Park is set in Stratford Park in the centre of Stroud, Gloucestershire.

The Museum is housed on two floors in a Grade II 17th century wool merchant's mansion. Objects and colourful displays combined with exciting events combine to celebrate the rich history and heritage of the Stroud District. The modern extension houses temporary exhibitions and visitor facilities.

• www.museuminthepark.org.uk

2010 was the 75th Anniversary of Stratford Park coming into public ownership. To celebrate the 75th Anninversary Mike McCrea (the Park Supervisor) launched a monthly Biodiversity Newsletter created entirely in his own time on a voluntary basis. It is a down to earth and easy reading summary of all the wildlife activity of this beautiful park (and you will be amazed by the level of that activity.

• View the latest newsletter - Museum in the Park website.

Events at Stratford Park will be published here when available.

• Museum in the Park events
• Stratfor Park Leisure Centre events

There are over 30 play areas managed by the District Council and many of the Parishes have their own sites. The play areas range from those specially designed for the very young, to larger areas for children of all ages (0 to 17). There is a continuous programme of improvement works to refurbish play areas, focusing on good play value and provision for all abilities.

Our Play Areas

You can find your local playground by visiting the following website:

• www.playinstrouddistrict.org

Stratford Park Play Area

Stratford Park has a large and varied children's play area for children between 4-11 years. Set on the large grass area at the rear of the centre, the area has climbing frames, slides, swings, runways, activity frames and springers.The play area is complimented with seating for adults and children, which makes the area ideal for family picnics. The area is managed in accordance with the European play safety guidelines and is maintained by the on-site ground staff.

Minchinhampton Common is known as a "surprise" landscape. Its Cotswold scarp top, once medieval woodland, was used by commoners needing wood for house repair and fuel. An essential part of the working agricultural landscape, some earthworks remain - the "Bulwarks" are considered prehistoric.

Quarrying took place in the fourteenth century, but three centuries later, the woodland was replaced by open limestone grassland - some of the finest in Europe and protected by English Nature.

Look out for a sealed Neolithic long barrow known as Whitefield's Tump, which gets largely obscured by summer vegetation and is where the Methodist leader preached sermons to thousands.

Minchinhampton's "Standing Stone", a piece of limestone, stands almost eight feet, with two big, natural perforations and a number of small ones. Ancient sources claim that passing a baby, arm, hand or foot through the hole, acts as a cure for rickets or smallpox.

The "Tingle Stone" just outside Minchinhampton, on Princess Anne's patrolled land in Gatcombe Park, is so-say charged with electricity. According to local tradition, the stone runs around the field at midnight!

Rodborough Common provides panoramic views of the District's secret valleys. It is also home to a number of wild flowers and butterflies. Perched on the Common's edge is a much used refuge. Eight times winner of the Silver Cup for Excellence, Winstones has been making ice cream, since 1925 when it was served from a motorbike and sidecar.

Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons cover approximately 335 hectares and are owned and managed by the National Trust. Further information can be found on the National Trust website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

If up on this hill for pleasure you ride The prospect is pleasant on every side And if you do walk, the pleasures are still To be seen from each corner of Selsley Hill". Anonymous, 1841.

Selsley Common is 160 acres of grazed hill-top land that is managed by Stroud District Council in liaison with local graziers. It too offers views of the Stroud District landscape. Selsley Common hides a Rabbits Burrow, Tumps Quarry and the remains of a long barrow called The Toots, built in the Neolithic Age. It also has remnants of a camp, established by soldiers, loyal to Edward (later Edward I), who possibly used Selsley Hill as a look-out during the Baron's War of 1263-67 between King Henry III and his barons.

Selsley Common isn't all archaeology however. Its open grassland is also awash with wildlife. Bird's Foot Trefoil, Kidney Vetch and Ox-Eye Daisy are among its flowers; Marbled Whites and Common Blues its butterflies, and if you hunt carefully enough, you may find the Common Spotted and Early Purple Orchids. Selsley Common also acts as a launch pad for hang gliders and para gliders - both novel ways to breathe in the extensive views stretching to the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons and Malvern Hills. Other airborne activities include kite and model plane flying.

Another interesting attraction nearby is Selsley's unusual All Saints' Church, home to William Morris' famous rose window depicting Christ in Majesty and the Days of Creation. It was the founder of the Arts and Craft Movement's first commission for ecclesiastical stained glass. His fellow Arts and Crafts workers Maddox-Brown and Rosetti, also fashioned windows for the church. Evidence of the creative influence of William Morris & Co can be seen throughout the District, which now continues to boast a plethora of authors, actors and artists.