Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun

In the East Hampshire district of Hampshire lies the town of Bordon. It has a history of settlements dating back thousands of years, but the beginnings of the modern version of the town came in 1826 when a turnpike road (now the A325) was constructed to link the towns of Petersfield and Farnham.

In 1863, the growth of the town was fueled when the War Office purchased some land known as Hogmoor Inclosure from the Monarch to use as a training ground. This established a link to the British Army that would go on to last well-over 100 years. By 1899 the first of the 'Bordon Camp' barracks living quarters had been constructed with many additions and modifications added in subsequent years.

Over the years, the training camp was used mostly by the British Army, but also had periods during the first and second world wars where the Canadian Army were based here. Much of the training here has involved tracked vehicles (such as tanks) as the sandy soil replicated the conditions of many areas where the troops would be deployed. By 2015 all military training had been moved away from Bordon and the re-development of the town began.

The area of re-development is known as Prince Philip Park and is currently still in progress, Not only will there eventually be 2,400 new homes which will increase the population from c.14,000 up to 23,000, but the development is creating an entirely new town centre. This comes complete with new shops, leisure centre, drive-in cinema, arts centre, cafes, town squares, office spaces and a park.

The adjacent former-training-area of Hogmoor Inclosure is part of this project. The Inclosure is a 54 hectare area of woodland and heathland just to the west of the town centre. The name Hogmoor comes from the middle ages where the area was home to many wild boars (aka hogs). The legend is that young noblemen would have used dogs and long spears to hunt them.

It is now open to the public, and has been designated as a SANG (Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace). This is an area that is aimed at protecting nearby SPAs (Special Protection Area), in this case Wealden Heaths and Woolmer Forest, from increased visits and all the negative effects that too many visitors can bring as the local population increases.

To facilitate this, it now has a car park, a cafe, toilets, an educational and event space called The Beehive, a large natural playground and various other interesting bits and pieces that we'll come to later. In March 2018, it became home to a weekly 5km event called Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun.

We drove to the venue in August 2021 and parked in the large on-site car park, which is free-of-charge. If you were to cycle to the venue, you could secure your bike to one of the seven bike racks located next to the toilets. As far as other transport options are concerned, using a bus is currently the only public-transport option to get close to the venue, and busses seem to run to Bordon from most of the local towns.

There was, for a time, a military railway line that terminated at Bordon, this was not only used for transportation, but as a trainline construction training facility. The line was closed in the mid-1960s. With the current expansion of the town, the possibility of the line and station being re-instated has been raised, but from what I can see it doesn't seem to be moving forward. So the closest train stations are Liphook, Alton and Farnham where you'd need to use the respective bus services to complete the journey.

The main facilities are all grouped in the area next to the car park, which is very convenient. Pre-event, the parkrun volunteers and participants congregate in the triangular-shaped open space just to the east of the car park. The briefings take place here and the event starts a few metres away on one of the forest paths. The course is comprised of two anti-clockwise laps, the profile is largely flat with some mild undulations, and underfoot is a combination of dirt paths and sand. For shoe choice, I'd go for trail shoes in anything but the driest conditions.

Once under way, the route makes its way to the southern end of the park where there is a large loop to negotiate. On the way you will spot the bat lodge - this provides an undercover shelter and resting area for humans and also a roof area for nesting bats.

Also dotted around the site are 11 wood-carved sentinels - they represent the lives of the people who have lived in the area over the centuries. You may also notice the large concrete blocks that the sentinels stand on - these are commonly known as 'dragons teeth' and are left-over from the army's training. They are used to impede the movement of tanks in war zones and would have been a useful training tool. There are more dragons teeth dotted around the playground area (great for photo opportunities).

The course switches back and forth between pine forest paths and the open scrub areas. Sometimes the path is really wide, but there are also a few sections where it narrows down to pretty much single file.

This is also a good time to mention the sand. Geologically, the area sits on the Folkestone formation which is a layer of sandstone, however the lithification process was poor, resulting in a lots of loose sand that has not managed to form into sandstone. The result is lots of areas that are sandy. On most of the paths the parkrun uses, this is a light dusting mixed in with the dirt. But, there are a few sections that are pure sand and is like walking/running on a sandy beach. I had taken on the buggy running duties for the day, so had to work extra hard to push my 3 year-old through it. At some points we were 'drifting' as the back end kicked out - It was great fun for me and my son, but I would imagine that not all buggy runners would feel the same.

photo credit: bottom and centre left by esther park

Returning to the north end of the inclosure via a two-way running section, there is then a northern loop through a different section of forest. Underfoot is firmer through here and it is bordered with barbed wire fences which I'm assuming are the ones the army installed to secure the area. This leads past the car park and back the the original meeting point, which now has a finish funnel in place. One more identical lap later and you can dive into the funnel, collect a token, take a breather and then get your barcode and finishing token scanned.

Once the 5km has been completed, refreshments are available in the on-site cafe 'Cafe Hogmoor'. There's a reasonable selection of hot and cold foods and drinks. I had a vegan sausage bap, which wasn't the greatest ever, but did the job. We then spent the rest of the day in the playground and exploring the inclosure in more detail.

If you visit with kids, you'll find the playground to be very good - it's spacious with all kinds of things to play on. There's the longest playground zip-line I've ever seen, some vertical bouncy swinging things, various climbing frames and of course, tonnes of sand. We kept an eye out for any reptiles, as I had read that this area of Hampshire supports all of the UK's 12 native reptile species. Sadly I didn't spot any, but we did see loads of slugs, dragonflies and hoverflies.

We found an old abandoned rusty vehicle next to the playground, which I couldn't quite identify but looked like it would once have had tracks. We found a forest den and found some more sentinels that we hadn't spotted during the parkrun. There are hidden channels carved into the landscape by tanks, some overgrown, hiding just off the main paths. Then we stumbled across, the entrance to the underground bat bunker. We also took some time to visit the nearby Bordon Military Cemetery.

Our parkrun results notifications came through while we were exploring and we saw that there had been 233 finishers at event number 112. This was slightly higher than the current average of 193.3, but this may have been due to some other nearby events having been cancelled over the bank holiday weekend.

I recorded the activity with my Garmin and you can see the GPS data on my Strava account, here: Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun #112. The data was also used to create this Relive course fly-by video: Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun relive video.

By 2.30pm we were finally ready to hit the road back home. The volunteers had all been very friendly and offered us lots of encouragement on the way around, and we were very grateful for being warmly welcomed to their event. Thank you.

Related:

The Hampshire parkrun venues

Tonbridge junior parkrun

There has been a 5k parkrun in Tonbridge since November 2013 and in July 2017 this was joined by a 2k junior version. We had good intentions to visit shortly after it started, but for one reason or another, we never managed to make it, until now.

The venue for Tonbridge junior parkrun is Tonbridge Farm Sportsground (please note: this is not the same venue as the 5k event) which occupies around 16 hectares of land just to the north of the town centre. You can access it by heading along Shipbourne Road before turning onto Darenth Avenue and dropping down the hill and into the sportsground car park, which has ample space and is free-of-charge to use.

The sportsground and adjacent area consists of a playground, a skatepark, five-a-side football pitches, basketball court, Tonbridge Bowling Club, and an open sports field which is marked with five football pitches and a cricket pitch. This open area is also used for the parkrun. There is a clubhouse which I understand contains toilets, however it didn't appear to be open when we visited (this may have been Covid related). The nearest alternative public toilets are near Tonbridge Castle just off the high street.

The sportsground is also the location of Longmead Stadium - this is home to Tonbridge Angels Football Club, Incidentally the football club used to be based at 'Angel Ground' which was right in the town centre but it was demolished in 1980 to make way for a shopping centre, which forced the move to the new stadium.

The parkrun takes place over a two-and-a-bit lap clockwise course around the almost-rectangular playing field. It's a flat course and underfoot is a combination of beautifully kept lush grass and paths. You only actually use the grass for one of the four sides of the rectangle, with the remaining three on hard paths. The good thing for parents is that as it is a large open area, you can easily see the entire course from the main congregation point / finish point.

Things to note around the course: There is a little camber while on the grass which drops downwards towards the adjacent bushes. Also, the adjacent field to the west is home to a flock of sheep, so it's nice to hear the background sounds of them bleating away while plodding around the course.

At present, the event attracts an average of 87.9 participants each week (add the parents and you are likely to have around 130 or so people moving around the course). Once the initial pack has spread out, there is ample space for everyone. We had visited at event 142 on 15 August 2021 where my daughter took part with her friend and there were 89 finishers, so almost spot-on the average.

The results were processed swiftly and we received our notifications while we were still in the playground. My daughter commented that she really liked this venue, part of this was down to the fact that she found that the course felt shorter then some other junior parkrun venues she has visited. I reckon that had something to do with the fact that she took part with her friend who she hadn't seen since before the Covid lockdown, and her attention was distracted by chatting about Minecraft instead. We've all done it!

I did my own freedom run/walk around the course so I had some GPS data to share, and here it is: Strava - Tonbridge Junior parkrun. I also uploaded the data to the Relive app which created a nice little fly-by video, which can be found here: Tonbridge junior parkrun fly-by video. It was a nice venue for the event and expect it won't be the last time we visit, especially if her friend is keen to do it again.

Related post:

Tonbridge parkrun

Bracknell parkrun

Bracknell is a town in the county of Berkshire. It was first recorded in AD 942 as Braccan Heal which is thought to mean 'nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca'. As time went by this changed to Brakenhale and eventually reached its current form.

The town was originally a market village and part of the Windsor Great Forest. In 1949 it was declared a New Town and this is what lead to its growth. Originally this New Town was designed to house 25,000 people, but continued expansion has lead to it now having a population of over 80,000.

Like some other towns in this part of Berkshire, it has become home to a variety of company headquarters, many of these are in the technology business. So in Bracknell you will find the UK offices of Dell, Panasonic, Fujitsu, and car company Honda. Vodafone, Siemens and Hewlett Packard used to have offices here, but have since moved elsewhere. Historically the area was famous for its red bricks which can be seen in all their glory at the Royal Albert Hall, in London.

To the south of the town centre is the suburb of Great Hollands which is the medieval field-name of the Easthampstead parish area. It was developed towards the end of the 1960s to provide more accommodation for the workers at the town's then largest employer, Sperry, an electronics company who produced things like gyroscopes and other gyroscope-based aviation equipment.

Interestingly the roads in Great Hollands are laid out in alphabetical order and are also apparently named after old telephone exchanges. The area also has a park and this is called Great Hollands Recreation Ground. It contains football pitches, a bowls green, tennis courts, and a cricket pitch. There is also a free-of-charge car park, but it's quite small and fills up quickly, so alternatively you could head to one of the side streets on the eastern side of the park. A final option would be to use the car park at the Golden Retriever Pub who have given permission for parkrunners to park here.

The closest train station is Bracknell, but it is approximately 4 kilometres away. I hear there is a bus (94) that runs from the station past the park. Like other New Towns, Bracknell seems to have a fair amount of traffic-free cycling routes (dedicated paths and shared use paths), so makes using a bicycle a good option for locals or for the connecting journey should you travel by train. There are some bicycle racks next to the tennis courts.

In April 2015 the park became home to Bracknell parkrun. From the very beginning this was a well-attended event with participation numbers hovering around 200. In the years that have passed, the numbers have gradually grown and it is now common to find in excess of 300 participants present every week. On a side note the park itself is listed under the postal town of Wokingham, not Bracknell.

A newly redeveloped children's play area, wet play area and pavilion are located in the centre of the park. The pavilion contains a coffee shop, bookable function area and toilets. When we visited, access to the toilets wasn't possible until about 8.40am so it created a bit of a surge of people popping in just before the start. This slightly impacted on our pre-parkrun buggy running preparations, and we almost missed the start despite being in the park since about quarter past-eight.

The parkrunners generally seemed to congregate right in the centre of the park next to the pavilion, but the start and finish have their own separate areas. The event takes place over a two lap clockwise course (with an additional tail at the start) and underfoot features a combination of grass, dirt, tarmac, and wood-chipped forest paths. It is generally quite flat, but there are some ups and downs around the course. As we visited during the summer, I wore my road shoes, but at other times of year, or after rain, I would personally go for trail shoes.

The start is on the wide, open grass area next to the car park (please note: at the time of our visit, the official course map had the start point next to the tennis courts, I understand this is a post-covid change, so I expect it'll be updated soon enough).

This revised start area gives plenty of space to allow the participants to socially distance during the briefing, and then to spread out and settle into their positions once being set loose.

A large proportion of each lap is made up of following the perimetre grass/dirt paths around the edge of the southern and northern open grass playing fields, using the interconnecting narrower section next to the tennis courts to connect the two, but this venue also has an ace up its sleeve...

The southern-most part of the route briefly heads into Great Hollands Wood. It's a small, but stunning area of woodland which feels well established. The parkrun course follows the paths as they meander left and right through the towering pine trees. There is a small climb to negotiate half-way through the woods, but it's over quite quickly and it is followed by a longer, twisty slight downhill section. There are also quite a few tree roots to look out for - they had all helpfully been marked with flour by the volunteers beforehand, which made spotting them easier. The only downside for me is that this section was over too soon.

With the two-laps complete, the finish funnel can be found on the grass adjacent to the playground. My daughter had just had her 11th birthday a few days earlier, so took the opportunity to participate in her first 5k parkrun where she didn't have to be within arms reach of an adult, and she seemed to enjoy her first solo experience.

Once we'd had our barcodes scanned, we popped over to the pavilion where we had some refreshments from the cafe - the menu is not extensive and largely revolves around drinks and pre-packaged snacks, so you'd have to head elsewhere, like the Golden Retriever Pub if you wanted something more substantial (I hear they are now offering a post-parkrun brunch from 9am on Saturdays). Anyway, the playground is right outside the pavilion so we sat while our son played - just note, the playground isn't enclosed, so if you have children that like to wander off you'll have to keep your eyes very much on them.

The results for event 264 were processed and we received our notifications just before midday. There were 317 finishers which was very close to the official average number of 307.2. The GPS data from the day's event can be found on my Strava account, here: Bracknell parkrun GPS data (My Garmin failed so my wife shared her file with me). I also uploaded the file via the Relive app and created a fly-by of the route. You can find that here: Bracknell parkrun course fly-by video.

Many thanks, of course, to all the volunteers that made the event happen.

Related:

The Berkshire parkrun venues

Wickford Memorial parkrun

Wickford is a town in Essex with a population of around 33,000. The name of the town was first recorded in 995 as Wicford, and thereafter recorded as wincfort in the Domesday book - it supposedly means 'ford by a dairy farm'. The area, as you'd expect, was mainly agricultural until the modern day town started to take shape in the early 20th century.

There was a World War II military camp in the town, and if you go back even further there is evidence of a Roman marching camp, whose site later became home to a Roman Villa. The town is also known for its link to the naturist movement, in fact the first naturist club to be set up in UK, called 'The Camp' was located somewhere in Wickford during the mid-1920s - details of the exact location are a little sketchy as this kind of thing would most certainly have been frowned upon.

The River Crouch flows through the town and serious floods in 1958 and 1960 lead to some major changes to help prevent further repeats. This included straightening and deepening the river, and adding some concrete flood prevention through the town centre. As the river exits the town centre, it forms the northern border of the 80 acre Wickford Memorial Park, which was founded in 1949 as a war memorial to its residents lost during World War II, and this is now home to Wickford Memorial parkrun.

We visited on 14 August 2021 and parked for free in one of the three small car parks that service the park. It is recommended that drivers be considerate to local residents, so if the park car parks are full, they should park for free in the town centre and walk over to the park rather than taking up space on the local streets. If you travel by train, you can alight at Wickford main line station, also in the town centre, and the start area is roughly 1.7km away - perfect for a warm-up walk or jog. For those arriving by bicycle, I didn't see any bike racks, but there were plenty of fences that you could lock a bike to.

As the name suggest, the main features of the park are its war memorials. There is a stone memorial just outside the western entrance, an arboretum, the Avenue of Remembrance where each tree has a plaque in honour to a resident of the local area that gave their life in battle. The Friends of Wickford Memorial Park was established in 2020 and their efforts have transformed some of the previously neglected areas of the park. This is most notable in the beautiful Home Front Garden where there is a lovely flower display and a further 11 trees, each one dedicated to the 11 civilians that were killed during the war.

The park contains a playground, a bowls green, fitness equipment, tennis courts, basketball court and crazy golf (recently given a new lease of life by the Friends of Wickford Memorial Park). There are also several sports pitches (football and cricket) scattered around. There is a cafe which is perfect for some post-event refreshments and there are public toilets next to the cafe (bear in mind, the cafe staff have to open the toilets upon arrival, so if you are an early bird, you may have to wait for them - they were opened at around 8.35am when we visited).

The main features of the park are all grouped together, so once you have found the playground, you can't miss the parkrun start-finish area, which is on the adjacent grass. The main briefings take place here before the participants and volunteers take a short walk northwards cross to the cricket field where the start line can be found. 

The parkrun uses a two-and-a-half lap anti-clockwise course which follows the perimeter of the park. Underfoot is mostly tarmac, but there is a brief section on grass and some of the path on the northern edge of the park briefly changes to an older, less smooth surface which looks like it could get a little muddy and/or splashy during the wetter days.. The profile is basically flat but there is a slight rise when heading east along the main tree-lined memorial avenue.

I would note that the northern section of the course runs adjacent to the river, which is largely obscured by trees, but there is a steep drop down onto the lower bank and the water in some parts. There's not really a great risk of slipping down, but I wouldn't stray off the path just in case. There's also quite a bit of tree cover on this side of the course, so if you are here on a hot summer morning, it does provide some relief.

With the two-and-a-half laps complete, you leave the tarmac path just after the playground and head into the spacious finish funnel. After collecting your finishing token you can visit one of the barcode scanners to complete the formalities before heading off for some post-parkrun refreshments. We did exactly that at the on-site cafe 'Huttons'. As the weather was so nice, we were able to eat outside, adjacent to the brilliant playground - the food was very nice by the way.

Our results notifications arrived while we were still hanging out in the playground and there were 137 finishers at event 7. We revisited on Christmas Day 2024 and as of the end of 2024 the average number of attendees seems to hover around the 200 mark. Any event cancellations are likely to be short notice and weather-related with icy paths being the main risk. The park hosts an annual fireworks display in November, but unlike other locations this does not seem to impact the parkrun. I'm not aware of any other events in the park that lead to the parkrun being cancelled.

For us as a family, the event was special as it marked my daughter's combined 100th parkrun (that is 38 5k parkruns and 62 junior parkruns). It was also her last 5k parkrun as an under-11, so from her next event she's free to take part without an adult accompanying her (although I think we'll continue to run/walk together for a while). With that our visit to Wickford Memorial Park was over and we left very happy that we'd had a lovely morning in this very pleasant park.

My GPS data from event 7 can be found here: Strava - Wickford Memorial parkrun. I also generated a fly-by video using the Relive app and you can watch that video here: YouTube - Wickford Memorial parkrun fly-by video. I can confirm that following our revisit on 25 December 2024, the course is still 100% identical. Finally, I'd like to add a huge thank you to all the volunteers that put the event on during both of our visits.

Related Links:

• My Wickford Memorial parkrun GPS data (August 2021 - Course still the same as of Dec 2024)
• The Wickford Memorial parkrun Relive video (August 2021)
• The Essex parkrun venues

The Borough of Basildon parkrun write-ups:

• Basildon parkrun
• Billericay parkrun
• Wickford Memorial parkrun

Chalkwell Beach parkrun

Chalkwell is a ward within the town of Westcliff-On-Sea and also a suburb of the unitary authority of Southend-On-Sea, in Essex. Southend-On-Sea as a whole has a population of around 183,000 people and 10,000 of these reside within Chalkwell itself.

The name Chalkwell is taken from the Chalkwell Hall Estate which was the centre point of the farmland which covered the area until it was developed for housing in the early 20th century. The current Chalkwell Hall, built in 1830, sits in the centre of Chalkwell Park.

Usually at this point in a blog I would go into more detail about the park, however, we were not in Chalkwell for the park, we were here for its seafront. The seafront and stony-sandy beach at Chalkwell is nestled alongside its more well-known neighbours of Leigh-on-Sea, Westcliff-On-Sea and of course, the one and only, Southend-On-Sea.

We visited to take part in Chalkwell Beach parkrun and had travelled by car. There are a couple of options for parkring. Firstly, right next to the start-finish area are 120 parking spaces which stretch along the seafront area - the main method of payment is via the Mobon app, but I hear that there are machines that accept cash. If you don't mind being further away from the start area (and want to save a couple of pounds), there are various residential side streets where you can park for free - to use these you will need to park about 1km away, essentially you're looking to aim for the roads north of the train line in the vicinity of Chalkwell Park.

If you were to travel by train, Chalkwell Train Station sits right on the seafront, about 500m to the west of parkrun start area. Toilets can be found right next to the start. The course here is a straight-forward single out-and-back along the seafront path - underfoot is tarmac and the profile is totally flat. As noted on the official course page, part of the course does have a camber, but fortunately it doesn't last for too long.

Interestingly, only the first and last couple of hundred metres of the course take place alongside Chalkwell Beach, the remainder of the course goes through Westcliff-On-Sea and then the western end of Southend-On-Sea. The out-and-back itself is straightforward with no chance of taking a wrong turn. The participants need to stick to their left-hand-side as they progress around the course.

There are lots of items of street furniture all along the seafront (benches, bins, speed cameras, etc) and the course is not particularly wide, so it's worth keeping them in mind as it'd be fairly easy to accidentally collide with one. You'll find the reassuring sight of parkrun marshals at various points along the seafront. Also bear in mind that, as is normal for seafront courses, it can suffer from stronger winds than you may usually find in-land.

You pass a few interesting sights and landmarks along the way. First is the stone pillar out on the mud-flats near the start. This is the Crowstone and it marks the historic eastern boundary of the Port of London Authority's jurisdiction in the Thames Estuary. When we visited there was an art installation on the beach called 'Waiting for Climate' consisting of 15 pillars topped with small characters which symbolise our passive relationship with climate change. The course also passes a statue, unveiled in April 2024, of Sir David Amess, who was the MP for Southend West and was sadly murdered while hosting his weekly constituency surgery in October 2021. Shortly after his death, the Queen agreed to grant city status to Southend-on-Sea, in honour of Sir David, who had campaigned for this for many years.

Once in Westcliff, the course passes a seafront casino. In 2009 this became the very first casino in the UK to be granted a wedding licence - it's unconfirmed, but possible, that it was actually the first casino in the world to host a wedding. You'll also see The Cliffs Pavilion up on the cliffs facing the estuary, this is one of two theatres in Westcliff-On-Sea and is most famous for hosting a 'secret' Paul McCartney unplugged show in 1991.

In the distance as you look out along the estuary you can see Southend Pier which is a grade II listed building, and at 2.14km is the longest pleasure pier in the world. And then just as the course reaches the turnaround point, you can see the Southend Cliff Lift - a funicular railway which was constructed in 1912.

The return leg passes all the same points of interest all the way back to Chalkwell Beach where the finish line can be found on the grass right next to the original start point. Barcode scanning quite conveniently takes place right there on the grass, and there are a couple of cafes on hand to provide some well earned post-event refreshments.

Once we were nicely refreshed, we explored the beach a little more, but then the torrential rain came and we were drenched while making our way back to the car. A short while later our results messages came through and we saw that there were 193 finishers at event 6. If you'd like to see the GPS data for the course, you can see mine here: Strava: Chalkwell Beach parkrun. Also you can see the Relive course fly-by video, here: Course fly-by video.

Even with the dodgy weather, it had been a lovely morning out and the volunteers all around the course had really made us feel welcome. Thank you.

2024 update: We revisited in July 2024 and I can confirm that everything was still absolutely identical. The attendance figures have risen quite a bit since our first visit and the event is now regularly attended by well over 450 people, with the number sometimes breaking into the 500's. 

Related:

• My Chalkwell Beach parkrun GPS data (August 2021)
• The Relive course fly-by video (August 2021)

• The Essex parkrun venues (blog7t page)