The Mystery

I lived 5 minutes walk away from Mystery Park for a year during my final year at LJMU. This park is fab, it’s very safe and it’s just great for chilling in or having a run or a BBQ. I even saw couches here before that students had carried down to chill in the park with!
They have cages with astro turf for 5 a side games which are free for anyone to use, they have loads of space for joggers and dog walkers, and they even have a funfair that comes to town in the summer months, which is ok, but a bit weird as it attracts a bad crowd sometimes.
A year living at the back of the park on Picton Road, and I never heard of any trouble, we used to go running here at least twice a week, all the way through to Smithdown Road and back and it was just a great little green space in between two fairly busy roads! A nice relaxing area for students and locals to chill!

Often resembling an apocalyptic deathscape, Wavertree Park is the troubled, wrist-​slashing younger sibling of the Liverpool parkland family. With very few actual features to speak of, its purpose may be difficult to identify, especially when there are other, more sumptuous, parks within walking distance. However, for such a barren plain, it has an intriguing history.
In 1895, the manor known as ‘The Grange’ was demolished and it looked certain that the estate would be swallowed up by the encroaching suburbs. Despite this, an unidentified donor purchased all 108 acres and handed it over to the council. The stated purpose was to be a location where local children could run and play, as opposed to the promenading corset-​fests that parks were in the Victorian age.
Nowadays, the park, also known as ‘The Mystery’, serves pretty much the same purpose it has for the last century. Dog-​walkers, joggers and footballers are perpetually scattered across the fields and even by night it’s pretty safe. After drunken nights out I used to ramble through the darkness here texting mates, with my iPod playing at full volume. If I managed to never get mugged then you, with all your precious ‘common sense’ and ‘self-​preservation’ will do just fine.
In the winter months the place looks grim. When summer rolls round you should walk up to the top, by the Blue Coat School, for an unspoiled panorama of the Liverpool skyline. This was where I spent the first few seconds of the year 2000. The best start to any millennium I can remember so far.

This park is apparently named The Mystery as the land was donated to the local council by an anonymous donor who asked for it to be used for young people to participate in sports.
The park is used as it was intended, on a Saturday morning you will find all the local youth football matches. You will also often find runs and other sports happening in the park. The rest of the time the park is often full of owners walking their dogs, kids having a kickabout and people relaxing in the sun on a nice day.
The Mystery is one of the underrated parks in Liverpool, in the shadow of famous parks such as Sefton and Calderstones Park. It is a huge open space which is usually a very calm and relaxing place tucked behind the main road away from the traffic noise. The only disruption is the train which passes on a regular basis.