Eddie and Anne came for the weekend, to see us in our new abode, and to see Bryn Terfel in 'Meistersingers' at the Millennium Centre, a Wagnerian marathon lasting from four until gone ten on Saturday. After we'd delivered them to Millennium Plaza through the busy afternoon traffic, we returned home, and on an impulse decided to go and look at Thompson's Park, just five minutes walk from home, as we'd not been in there before, I had only ever passed by in the car in journeys to and from the Council tip.
The park covers the southern and western flanks of Penhill, which itself rises up about a hundred feet out of the south-western corner of the river plain which is Llandaff fields. It's rather hidden by streets of houses on three sides, and I was surprised at just how extensive it was, with a circumference of about three quarters of a mile. It has scores of beautiful mature deciduous trees, and remarkable view westwards in the direction of Wenvoe. You'd never think you were right in the middle of an urban area hemmed in by a rather fine and varied collection of streets of terraced houses. It's one of Cardiff's hidden gems.
The hill top is marked out discreetly with running tracks, probably for the use of local schools and clubs, and there's a well used bowling green. On the south side of the hill is a pond, and another wide open grassy area with flowerbeds, all beautifully looked after by the Council's Park's department.
The land was given to the city by corn merchant James Pyke Thompson in 1924. It had been, hitherto, the land surrounding the family house in Canton. Thompson, was a philanthropist and art collector. He also built the famous Turner Gallery in Penarth, and was a generous donor to the National Museum of Wales.
There are more photographs of the park to look at here. I think it's rapidly going to become our favourite destination for a moderate jog, or a constitutional walk.
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