Campbell Park

Campbell Park is the city's premier park, well-known for its festivals and events.

But year round the mix of formal gardens, woodland, sculpture and activities make it a fascinating place to visit.
Article on the future of Campbell Park and Background and History

How to find it Campbell Park lies between Silbury Boulevard and Avebury Boulevard, running from the city centre east to Willen Lake. For this self-guided walk park at the Campbell Park Pavilion, off Cricket Green roundabout from North Overgate off the H5 Portway. Head to the right of the Pavilion, which is the headquarters of Milton Keynes Parks Trust, and around the boundary of the cricket pitch.
Link to Map of Park

Cricket ground Maintained to a first-class standard, Campbell Park's cricket pitch hosts a packed programme of local, county, youth, business and exhibition matches. Visit in the summer and you'll be unlucky not to see a game. Seating is on grass terraces and entry to most matches is free.
Peel off from the cricket green to head up through City Gardens, an area of formal planting.

City Gardens Extending right along the park's northern flank, City Gardens have been designed to include a huge variety of ornamental shrubs to give it colour and interest year-round. The gardens include an elaborate system of streams and ponds running from the top of the park to a lily pond overlooking the cricket green.

Chain Reaction
This sculpture by Ray Smith towers over the park just above the Hanging Gardens. It was commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Corporation and sponsored by local developers as the Corporation's work came to a close in 1992. Designed to be viewed from every angle, its sculptor says: "The figures that make up the column are links in an endless chain...Chain Reaction refers to our aspirations...but has its feet firmly planted on the ground."

Labyrinth At the top of the park energetic visitors will find this outdoor puzzle, with a working sundial created by artist Justin Tunley at its centre. The distinctive series of vertical and angled cuts around the planetary ring represent Roman numerals; those on the lower face representing Greenwich mean time, and those on the upper face, British summertime. The large holes running along the band’s centre mark the hours, the smaller holes represent 10 minute intervals. Justin Tunley is a designer and artist who lives and works in Milton Keynes.

Events plateau This area features a pond, whose four paths indicate north, south, east and west. Just behind, it you head towards the footbridge to the city centre, the compass theme continues in a box hedge.
From the pond head out along the Belvedere for unrivalled views across the park and into Bedfordshire. This area and the plateau are the best sites in Milton Keynes for kite-flying.

Woodland Ridge
Take the path down from the Belvedere towards the Woodland Ridge where you can choose between a peaceful walk through the trees, especially spectacular in autumn, or through the open parkland where sheep graze at certain times during the year. The Ridge and spinneys are a great place to find blackberries in the autumn.

Gnomon As you reach the cricket green you'll see a stunning sculpture of blue grey slate and bronze, commissioned by Milton Keynes Parks Trust in 1994. Created by Peter Bowker the sculpture has been designed to act as a shadow caster, but has also been nicknamed the cricket piece because of its resemblance to cricket stumps.

The Parks Trust Home Page