A tree-lined riverside park perfect for families and sport
Opening hours: All day, every day
Postcode: CV31 3PH – Location map
Parking: Free parking off Princes Drive at the west end of the park. Limited parking on Archery Road. Town centre parking ten minutes’ walk away. From 25 April 2022 for one week, the Princes Drive car park will be closed.
What to see and do
- Bowls - opening times and prices
- Tennis – ten all-weather hard courts
- Skate park – Opened late 2016, a fantastic £110,000 skate park funded through £60,000 of SITA grant funding, won by Save Our Skatepark, and £50,000 from Warwick District Council
- Play area – equipment for both toddlers and older children
- Paddling pool – shallow treated water. No dogs, please. See below for opening times
- Café at bowls pavilion
- Walking and jogging – once around the park's circular footpath is half a mile
- Space – plenty of grass for ball games, picnics, sunbathing etc.
Play area improvements
Work will start on 25 April 2022 until early June on a brand new play area at Victoria Park, with a bespoke tree house and equipment that will appeal to a wide variety of ages.
Whilst the play area is closed, your nearest parks to explore are:
- The Dell - CV32 5LP
- Foundry Wood - CV32 6AF
- Mill Gardens - CV32 5BB
- Ford's Fields (Shrublands) - CV32 5JS
Car park improvements
From Monday 25 April, the Victoria Park car park will be temporarily closed for resurfacing and improvement works. The works are expected to take one week to complete.
Planned works include:
- New landscaping and planting
- Improvements to pedestrian access into and out of the car park to the Riverside walk and Victoria Park
- Resurfacing and remarking of the car park including new accessible parking bays
During the closure, alternative free all-day parking will be available at Adelaide Bridge car park, Riverside, Leamington Spa, CV32 5AH.
The Old Tennis Courts public amenity space, off Archery Road (CV31 3PT) is also available for all-day parking for users of the park and its facilities.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the improvement works.
Park Exercise Permit
Organisations that are using the District’s parks and open spaces to provide group fitness activities are required to apply for a permit from the Council.
Other facilities
- Ranger service
- Toilets (bowls and tennis pavilions).
- All areas wheelchair and pushchair accessible
Paddling pool
The paddling pool at Victoria Park is now closed and will re-open next year.
If there are any issues with the paddling pool outside of normal working hours, please contact the park ranger service on 01926 314009.
COVID-19 paddling pool safety advice (PDF)
Bowls events
Spectators are welcome at all bowls events. Victoria Park hosts both the women's and men's national competitions every summer.
- National Bowls Championship, usually in August.
- Local, County and Regional bowls competitions.
History
Victoria Park was opened in 1899 to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and provide more recreation space for the growing town. Throughout the 19th century it was the venue for galas, military parades, flower shows and circuses. A riverside path had originally been created along the south bank of the River Leam in the early 1860s. The borough engineer, William de Normanville, laid out Victoria Park and made a perimeter drive which was exactly half a mile in length.
How to get there
- Bike – cycle path runs along the southern path from the Archery Road entrance through to Park Drive
- Bus routes
- Rail – ten minute walk from Leamington Spa station via Avenue Road
- Walk – pedestrian entrances at Princes Drive, Park Drive, Archery Road and Adelaide Road
Nearby
- Riverside Walk
- Pub on Archery Road
- ‘Clubland’ off Adelaide Road – Royal Naval Association, St Patrick’s Irish Club etc.
- Edmondscote Athletics Track off Princes Drive
- Leamington town centre – ten minutes’ walk