Sensory walk through Woodbank Memorial Park and Vernon Park
This route is about 2km and takes in some of the sensory experiences the parks have to offer. It should take about 30 minutes to walk at average speed.
The route starts and ends at the Park Lane entrance to Woodbank Memorial Park.
Enter the park at the Park Lane entrance and follow the paved path past the Community Food Hub. With the poly tunnel on your left, take the brown gate on the right and follow the path to the peaceful duck pond. Run your hands through the hanging tree branches and bamboo. Listen to the rustle of the leaves.
Return to the brown gate and turn right onto the main path. Follow it until you reach another path to the left. Beginning on this path, look out for fruit growing on the trees in the orchard. See if you can spot apples, pears or plums.
Continue on the path past the playground to your left. You may spot the bats that fly through the park.
When the path joins a wider paved path, join the wide path by turning left. After a short distance you'll come to the Animal War Memorial. See all the animal carvings and feel the texture of the wooden sculpture.
Take the unpaved path on the right after the Animal War Memorial to go into Vernon Park. Visit the sunken gardens and experience the smell of the roses in summertime. Access to the sunken garden is by 4 steps.
Exit north from the sunken garden and follow the path to the top of the hill. Smell the flowers along the walkway to the left and listen for live performers in the bandstand.
Take the steep path down the hill. As the path becomes less steep, take the path to the left to visit the bandstand.
Take the path away from the bandstand that leads uphill and then the path on the left before you go under the bridge. This joins the path that you took going down the hill. Retrace this path back to the Animal War Memorial.
Turn right to go back onto the path towards the playground. Before you reach the playground turn right off the path and through the trees to the angling pond. Spend a moment listening to the sound of the birds. This part of the route may be muddy in winter.
Walk away from the angling pond through the trees to the south, where wildflowers can be seen. Join a mud path which leads southeast and follow it until you come to the main paved path back into the park. Turn right onto this path and you'll find the Park Lane exit, returning back to your starting point.