Green spaces are the heart and lungs of a city. In this day and age, as we approach our 5th industrial revolution, it is crucial that cities — which are on the verge of becoming soulless, claustrophobic, capitalist machines — do parks right. Does Brighton? Do our parks keep our city socially and ecologically vibrant, or are they nothing more than redundant, counterproductive dead spaces?

 

One local park, St Ann’s Well Gardens, neatly connects various different parts of BN3 from little village-like rows of independent shops to primary schools and a sixth form college. As a park in such a central location, it should be the centrepiece of the neighbourhood; the highlight of many commutes; the well-loved back garden of many children growing up in the area. Being a keen park enthusiast and long-term resident of the Goldsmid area I can safely say that it certainly lives up to this role — in terms of landscaping and design, as well as community and atmosphere. 

 

In one short stroll you can buy homemade conserves from the farmer’s market, pass the Little Forest Nursery, stop for a coffee in the bustling Garden Café and have a quiet, relaxing moment by the secluded pond. The park changes with the seasons too: spring brings crocuses and St Ann’s Spring Festival; with summer comes evening bat walks and a thriving Butterfly Garden; and recently October 31st saw St Ann’s Well’s “Welloween” for children.

 

The Gardens are also laced with history: every area has a story involving fascinatingly eccentric, idiosyncratic characters from illusionists and astronomists to the “Hermit in the Cave”. St Ann’s well itself was renowned in Victorian England for its healing properties, and the land’s iron-rich soil was once used to grow furze to power the construction of Hove’s grand, neoclassical Brunswick Square (giving the neighbouring street Furze Hill its unique name).

 

It is exactly this kind of eclectic, lively little world integrating urban and natural life that every city needs: space to take a breather and to appreciate the slow and leisurely pace of nature. The breakneck speed and rigidly structured nature of modern city life can be exhausting — here is my sincere thank you to St Ann’s Well Gardens for giving us the breathing space to cope with life.