Red Green Group/Friends of Perivale Park. Green Flag award 2022-2025.
This is another in our occasional series by our good friend Neil Anderson, on the state of plant and animal diversity in Perivale Park. As usual, it takes the form of general comments about various areas of the park, and then a list of the plant species observed in the orchard area.
Continue reading “Diversity in the Park orchard: A 2026 update.”
I have never before seen such a display of bedstraws around the park, and in the orchard meadows.
Ox-eye daisies tend to show only periodically – every two to three years they put on a splendid display. So this is their year. Along with the corn flowers.
Spring is soon over and summer will start. The raised beds are now showing their final spring selection.
We occasionally go see how other parks and gardens are doing. We were aware that RHS Wisley had a tulip planting this year, and having seen the decent display that our own Perivale Park tulips put on this year, we popped off to Wisley.
As always, each year favours particular plants and flowers. I am tempted to say that its the turn of the daffodils now. The glade where bulbs were planted 7 years ago gradually faded over six years, but now the daffodils have recovered and they put on a really good show for us.
Perivale + Pear Tree parks are part of the river Brent catchment, and so I thought it would be interesting to show this Citizen Science project from Thames21 measuring water quality along various catchments in London.
The planting of the Pear Tree orchard took place on 18th January, 2026 by an army of volunteers. Each has a photo of the variety at the base (although I am not sure how waterproof the prints will be!). And some fascinating varieties there are!
I thought I would start the new year by showing something rarely seen in the British countryside in recent times.
Continue reading “Welcome to 2026 – and a most unusual sight in Greenford.”
It was cold and windy morning, with snow having just fallen. Despite this, a lively crowd turned up to open the Bistro. The venue has a bar, a stage for live music, hot cooked food with an Italian theme, draught and bottle beers, a good selection of wines and … prosecco! The full menu will be available from 20th November from 07.00 for breakfast: See here.
Continue reading “Pear Tree Park Bistro: the grand opening.”
The new Bistro in the park has announced that it will be opening on Wednesday 19th November, 2025 at 11.00.
Continue reading “Pear Tree Park Bistro – grand opening 19th November, 2025 at 11.00.”
Just added to the raised beds in the orchard are 15 plugs of “Primrose – World’s Most Scented Mix”. So next year, keep your nostrils open for any new scent there!
This year, with the help of five volunteers, the raised beds in the orchard have had a good maintenance. Weeding first, then bulb planting and finally strulching, a superior form of mulching!
Perivale park provided supper yesterday. Potatoes planted in the raised beds were ready for harvesting.†
Continue reading “Autumn harvests – potatoes and dandelions!”
Good news to report. The refurbishment of the old cafe has started and will take about a month. Apart from the restaurant, kitchen and toilets, a new community room for perhaps 20 people will be opened.
Continue reading “Perivale and Pear Tree Parks Bistro – an update”
If you get up close, this year Crab Apples (Variety Red sentinel) and the acorns are revealing splendid, almost translucent autumn colours.
About five or so years back, we noticed a hop plant with its roots on the banks of Coston’s brook and climbing up to the footbridge across the brook in the park. Boy has it spread!
This will be the fifh AGM we have held since our formation in 2020. If you want the back story to some of the events happening in the park and surrounding areas, why not join us by Zoom. If you send an email to friends@perivalepark.london, you will get the joining link and a copy of this years Chair’s report by email.
Neil is a frequent visitor to Perivale Park, and he sees plants (and invertebrates) that most of us do not. When I met him the other day, I asked if he had observed anything more unusual. This is his emailed reply: Continue reading “Observations in the park – by someone with an acute eye for nature.”
There are four raised beds in the orchard area – and we have increasingly noticed community gardeners doing good deeds in them. So thanks for the recent weeding, and the sowing of as yet unidentified seedlings! If you know who it was, ask them what they are!
Continue reading “The raised beds in the orchard: community gardeners”
Perivale park is part of the greater Brent River park, a concept that was created 50 years ago by Luke FitzHerbert. Here are some photos of the celebration, which happened on Sunday 29th June.
June is of course for roses, and they are looking absolutely splendid in the orchard garden at the moment. I even got a comment about them being better than the ones in the Queen Mary garden, Regent’s park!
The most regular plantings of flowers in the park are in the four raised beds in the orchard garden (not withstanding the adjacent meadow which has just been planted with a mix which includes poppies and cornflowers for later in the year).
Continue reading “The raised beds in the orchard garden- Iris and allium.”
This is a one year project to measure water run-off along the entire river Brent corridor. There are four sampling points in Perivale park itself and a total of 99 samples along the entire length have been collected so far and sent to Imperial College for analysis.
Continue reading “Update on the Imperial-CURB Run-off project”
The meadow has been rotavated and is currently as I write this being seeded with the following mix:
Following on from one of the spring highlights of west London, here is another. The Azalea and Rhododendron glade in Richmond park, known as the Isabella plantation. This is a movie of the famous still pond in the centre of the plantation.
This year there is no public open day viewing of the bluebells in Perivale Wood, so I thought I would show some of the highlights here instead.
Continue reading “Perivale wood 2025: bluebells, celandine, stitchwort and cuckoo flowers.”
Following the closure of the old golf club cafe last December, news now comes that a new food outlet is planning to open this summer in the same premises – the Pear Tree Park Bistro offering modern European cuisine. It is hoped it will have longer opening hours than the original cafe (which closed by 3-4 pm), and also retaining breakfasts on the menu. There are plans to expand the seating area for diners and to open a community room at the back of the building. Indeed, the ethos of this bistro will be the community and engagement with it.
Continue reading “News on Park food – Pear Tree Park Bistro.”