Valentines Park

That’s quite a big, beautiful and nicely maintained park hidden in the Royal Borough of Redbridge. It went through a renovation proccess a few years ago and it shows. In spring, the azalea display is really something to be seen. The lakes are beautiful and populated by all sort of water fowl, and some of the gardens are included in the English Heritage Register of Parks of Historic Interest. Some trees are magnificent including a huge maple tree that turns brigh yellow in autumn and it’s a sight to behold — as well as being considered one of the «trees of interest» in London.
Very good coffee, cakes and pastries are available at the café by the bandstand. For even better fresh bakes follow directions and head to the cake shop (Gardener’s Cottage). You can hire boats to row, but when by the lake my only interest are the ducks. :)
Parking is cheap and plentiful.
Please don’t feed bread to the ducks, it’s bad for them (google it). Peas are a better option, and you can find fitting food for them at pet shops. :)

Hats off to the management and staff of this park.
It’s a got many facets and is most enjoyable.
Ponds which were overloaded with ducks, geese and swans … bring lots of bread.
Open spaces overloaded with pigeons, crows and squirrels … bring lots of nuts.
The mansion has a pleasant gardens attached and a pleasant café.
You can take the kids to the playground or sit by the ponds and relax.
As Felix W. says it’s a huge park and well worth a visit.

This is a huge park, My girlfriend and I cycled around a really small part of it just before it closed for the day and it took ages and we were pretty whacked.
There are loads of displays explaining the history of the park which was actually pretty interesting. I learnt that Valentines Park is almost as big as Hyde Park which seemed odd.
The Lottery gave them loads of money this past year to «regenerate» the park: make it more user friendly and I think they’ve actually done quite a good job, which is pretty big coming from me.