Pavilion Gardens parkrun
Buxton, England
Pavilion Gardens parkrun course page.
The Pavilion Gardens form a lovely park to the SW of Buxton’s centre. There’s paid and free parking a-plenty. The paid parking isn’t expensive, with many people parking along Burlington Road, on the West Edge of the park. That’s also the way to get to the paid parking, so you may be able to make a last-minute decision on paying or not. There are toilets scattered around the park - I used the ones by the large multi-level car park at the NW corner of the park. That’s a little walk from the start, so was not busy when I was there.
Broad Walk, for the start and finish, is at the SW corner of the park, but the whole thing isn’t so big that you’re likely to miss it, even if you can’t see it from everywhere because of the trees. The park undulates, too, so this isn’t a fast and flat loop round a park. A bumpy, loopy fastish course, if you’re not distracted looking at ever-changing scenery.
I was a little distracted because it’s such a lovely park, and the team have done a great job fitting in a course. 3 laps is enough to get familiar with the route but not to get fed up of the scenery. I think I spotted different things each time round, and still more when walking through afterwards. Buxton is a pretty town to visit, though that’s far from being a secret.
Afterwards I visited the museum which is only a short, if partly uphill, walk away. Free entry makes it a bargain, and if you’re very lucky, the bear will be decorated. His Christmas incarnation is shown below, but I am sure he has others.
Results from Pavilion Gardens parkrun #6, 24/12/22; 212 finishers.