Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park

Rochford District Council and Essex Wildlife Trust have started a long awaited project at the lake in Cherry Orchard Country Park, to restore it as a wildlife feature. These works will include the reprofiling of the banks, creation of wetland areas, creating an open ditch to encourage more diverse wildlife and new habitat planting throughout the lake field.

These works started on 17^th October 2022 and should last 2 weeks. There will be minimal disruption to our park users, but please be cautious as there will be machinery moving around the site.

Situated in the rolling countryside of the Roach Valley at the south of the District, the 200 acre beautiful wildlife park continues to mature, providing unique recreational facilities for residents and visitors to the area.  The woodland, lake, open grassland and network of connecting paths and bridleways also provide habitat for a huge range of animals and plants.

The park lies in some of the most beautiful countryside in South Essex and makes the most of an exceptional rolling setting to create a mix of open grassland and woodland a habitat for many plant and animal species. Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, visited the newly created park in 2003 to celebrate the completion of the first stage in this major project.

The first phase was the the planting of 28,000 trees. These trees are all native and include the hornbeam, oak and ash. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, an avenue of 200 oak trees was planted in the park.

The park is taking shape out of a vision of turning an area of farmland into a public open space where everyone can enjoy all that the countryside has to offer. There are numerous public rights of way for walkers, cyclists and horse riders to enjoy. Three areas of open grassland have been established with various types of grasses including Cocksfoot, Timothy and Yorkshire Fog. These will be mown to create species-rich meadows.

In 2008 the Council, acquired further land to the east and west of the existing Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park along the Roach Valley.

With this former agricultural land the Authority has began its planned second phase of the Country Parks development.

Seven new woodlands of over 35 acres, containing a total of 32,000 trees were planted in the winter of 2008/09.

The trees are all native broad-leafed species that are suitable for the location, and include English Oak, Hornbeam and Ash.

How to get there

Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park can be reached via the public footpath & bridlepath network from:

• Cherry Orchard Way, Rochford
• Gusted Hall Lane, Hawkwell
• Flemings Farm Road, Eastwood
• Eastwood Rise, Eastwood (footpath only)

By Car

A 30 space car park is situated at the Eastern entrance to the country park off of Cherry Orchard Way (B1013). This car park is open 24hrs a day, 365 days a year and has a 2m height restriction barrier.

Alternative parking can be found at:

Grove Road Playing Fields, Grove Road, Rayleigh

The car park is open 24hrs a day, 365 days a year.

Edwards Hall Park, Bosworth Road, Eastwood

The car park is open during park opening hours. Check with Southend Borough Council for more information.

Gusted Hall Lane, Hawkwell

There is a small privately owned car park at the end of the lane with limited parking. No parking is allowed on any part of Blatches Chase or within the park itself.

By Bus

Bus numbers 9, 15, 15c and 16 stop at Western Approaches Bus number 8 goes past Gusted Hall Lane, Hawkwell.

Please note there are no toilet or baby change facilities at the park.

Acute Oak Decline

Some of the oak trees at Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park are suffering from a disease known as Acute Oak Decline.  For more information about Acute Oak Decline, please see the related link at the bottom of this page.

Friends of Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park

In March 2010, a ‘Friends of Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park’ group was formed. Friends groups allow the local community to have a say in how their local park is managed. As they are the users of these facilities, they are best placed to say what is needed in the park. In addition to this, they often organise small events in the park such as nature or bird watching walks.

If you would like to know more about joining the Friends of Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park, please visit the website in the Related Content section. You can also 'Like' Friends of Cherry Orchard on Facebook - Follow the link in the Related Content section.

Species to see in the Park

Birds: Skylark, Grey Partridge and Fieldfare.

Trees: Hornbeam, Oak and Ash.

Amphibians and reptiles: Common Frog, and Great Crested Newt.

Mammals: Pipistrelle Bat.

Grasses: Cock's-foot, Timothy and Yorkshire Fog.

Agricultural wild flowers: Knapweed, Scarlet Pimpernel and Mayweed.

Fishing at Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park Lake

Fishing is not permitted at any time.