Derby Parks: 2021 in review

View towards the lake at Allestree Park

Mon 17 Jan 2022

2021 was another tough year for everyone through the pandemic. But despite the challenges we all faced, we managed to come together a number of times to celebrate different events that took place in our parks.

Whether you were interested in music, food or some good old-fashioned Christmas activities for the family, there was something for everybody.

The Beginning

Child picking Easter egg off grass

We started off the year with our January Challenge to see if we could get active together and reach 2 million steps. This was followed by our evening stargazing at Alvaston Park which has returned again this year! You can learn more about this years stargazing by visiting our events page.

If February and March, we recommended some fun family activities you can do at home over Easter as well as running the Easter egg hunt trail at Markeaton Park which is coming back to our park soon! We also gave you the run down on how you can make your garden a haven for bees. This included some links to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust where there were lots of activities and tasks for all the family which would help bring bees to your garden.

The Middle

Darley Park Concert stage at night with orchestra

Summer arrived with a bang as our parks were flooded with events of all kinds! We had the return of our outdoor cinema as well as our outdoor theatre where we were lucky enough to have Babbling Vagabonds return to perform A Wild Walk – Here be Dragons. July ended with the Big 1 at Chaddesden Park. We had two stages with a huge variety of music alongside with a great selection of stalls, food, dance, and the return of the fantastic dog show. We had an amazing August with the Markeaton Park Fun fair and the incredible Hannells Darley Park Weekender; A whole bank holiday weekend of music, films and fireworks including Classic Ibiza. This event was a huge success as over 8,000 people attended!

Once the summer fun had begun to wind down, we learnt that for the second year in a row Darley Park had been awarded Trip Advisor’s Travellers’ Choice award! This was fantastic news as it meant that Darley Park is part of their top 10% of similar attractions worldwide.

As autumn slowly crept its way in and we said goodbye to summer, the good news kept coming! Derby Arboretum, Alvaston, Chaddesden, Darley, Sunnydale and Markeaton Park all achieved Green Flag Status. The Green Flag Awards Scheme, now in its fourth decade, is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities.

The End

Tree planting

In October, the new BMX track at Osmaston Park was opened to the public. The new track will be an inspiration to beginners and a challenge to the more advanced riders, offering a wide range of riding options, through a variety of berms, rollers and jumps that can be ridden by riders of all ages and abilities. British Cycling awarded project funding from its Places To Ride capital grants programme, with a further 50% match funding coming from Derby City Council.

To say goodbye to 2021, we announced that Allestree Park was set to become the UK’s largest urban rewilding project and we planted 1846 trees at Roe Farm Recreational Ground to create a new wooded area for wildlife and people to explore. We also celebrated the festive period with family and friends at Markeaton Park. This included the return of the Santa run, the elf trail, the pet grotto, and plenty of arts and crafts.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who came to our parks last year, we hope you enjoyed your time there and we hope to see you again in 2022! We would also like to thank our amazing volunteers who help manage and take care of our parks, we couldn’t do it without you.