Events in Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens, coordinated by their dedicated Kearsney Parks team during Love Parks Week, include:
- Wednesday 19 July, 6.30pm to 7.30pm - Plants, Ponds and Promenading: if you’d like to find out more about historic parks and gardens, come along to a free talk in Kearsney Abbey café. Places are free, but must be booked in advance by emailing kearsney.parks@dover.gov.uk.
- Saturday 22 July, 1pm to 5pm - Big Wildlife Survey: they’ll be recording the plants and animals that are living in the parks. Join their experts on free guided walks starting at 1pm, 2.15pm and 3.30pm to see what you can find! There’ll also be pond dipping.
- Saturday 22 July, 9pm to 11pm - Evening Bat Walk: join local expert Shirley Thompson and Mel Wrigley from the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership for a night-time walk in Kearsney Abbey. They’ll be walking by unfenced water in the dark, so children need to be supervised at all times. Places are free, but must be booked by email as above.
Dover District Council owns 25 parks and open spaces, ranging from historic parkland such as Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens, and strips of coastal land such as Walmer Seafront, to small open spaces popular with local people such as Poulders Gardens in Sandwich. DDC brought the maintenance of its parks and open spaces in-house from 1 April, as a new team of 25 directly employed staff got to work on Council-owned land across the district.
The Kearsney Parks project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund. For more information on events at the Kearsney Parks, visit the Kearsney Parks website.
