Parks in Wanstead, from the lost estate to the village greens
Wanstead sits between Epping Forest and the River Roding and is unusually rich in green space. What each park is, who looks after it, and what to check before you go.
For somewhere with a Central line station and a busy Crown Court, E11 has an absurd amount of green space. Within a short walk of the High Street you can find a Georgian landscaped park with a ruined grotto, a parkrun course across ancient grassland, two village greens older than most of the houses around them, and a lake beside the Crown Court.
Every fact below links to the body that publishes it. Where something can change, such as hours, prices or the state of a lake, we say so.
The short list
- Wanstead Park: the largest and most historic. Former grounds of Wanstead House, now Epping Forest.
- Wanstead Flats: grassland and playing fields to the south, with a weekly parkrun.
- George Green: the small, square village green beside Wanstead station, with the 1897 jubilee fountain.
- Christchurch Green: the larger green off the High Street, around Christ Church.
- Eagle Pond: the big lake at Snaresbrook. See our Snaresbrook guide.
Who looks after what decides who you call when something's wrong. Wanstead Park was bought as part of Epping Forest in 1880 and is managed by the City of London Corporation, which also looks after Wanstead Flats and Bush Wood. The village greens are Redbridge Council's patch: its conservation area appraisal says Wanstead's local board of health bought what is now Christchurch Green for public recreation in 1854.
Wanstead Park, the great lost estate
If you only visit one, make it this. It was the formal landscape of Wanstead House, a Palladian mansion that Redbridge's Wanstead Jubilee Walk says Colen Campbell built between 1715 and 1729. It was demolished in 1824 after its contents were sold to pay the owner's debts.
What's left is a chain of lakes, a grotto, a temple and lots of space: London's greatest surviving designed historic waterscape, says the City, though the Ornamental Water has currently dried up completely. It's a Grade II* Registered Park and Garden. Our Wanstead Park guide has the detail.
Wanstead Flats, for football, skylarks and parkrun
South of the village you get big skies, mown pitches and rougher acid grassland. Part of the Epping Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Flats feature in Natural England's citation for acidic grassland that has become uncommon in Essex and London.
The City's Wanstead Flats page lists a pond-dipping platform, the Lime Trail around Jubilee Pond and an easy-access path, and you might spot meadow pipits and skylarks. Wanstead Flats parkrun is a free 5km every Saturday at 9am at Wanstead Flats Playing Fields, Harrow Road, E11 3QA; register with parkrun first. More in our Wanstead Flats guide.
The village greens
George Green is right by Wanstead station, so nearly everyone arriving by Tube crosses it. Almost square, crossed by diagonal paths, with trees in its four quarters, it acts as a local common for the surrounding streets, says the conservation appraisal. The listed red-brick drinking fountain commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, per the appraisal. The Jubilee Walk dates it to 1897 and says it's been moved several times as roads were widened, so it's been round the block, so to speak. See our Wanstead station guide for the other end of the green.
Christchurch Green is the larger one, and its core scenery is the view to Christ Church, built in 1861 to designs by Sir George Gilbert Scott, per the Jubilee Walk. More in the Parks & Gardens UK record.
Eagle Pond and Snaresbrook
Part of Epping Forest, Eagle Pond is, per Redbridge's Snaresbrook conservation area scheme, a large lake in the wooded grounds of Snaresbrook Crown Court, designated an area of nature conservation importance. The Snaresbrook guide has the rest.
Getting there and parking
Wanstead station is on the Central line in Zone 4, per TfL. Wanstead Park is a 1km (0.6 mile) walk from the station, says the City, and the Flats are 0.7km from Wanstead Park Overground. The 58 and 308 buses serve the Flats, and the 66, 101, 145, 308, W12, W13 and W14 serve the Park area.
Visiting Epping Forest will always remain free; you only pay to park. The City charges at many car parks, including Jubilee Pond, Centre Road, Harrow Road and Snaresbrook:
- £1.75 up to an hour
- £3.00 up to two hours
- £4.50 two to four hours
- £7.00 for a full day
Maximum stay is six hours, charges apply daily and registered Blue Badge holders park free. Pay via RingGo, not QR codes, the City warns. Car parks open 7am to 6.30pm now, and from Monday 2 November 2026 they close at 5pm. Prices and hours change, so check the City's parking page before you set off.
Wanstead Park itself has only a small disabled-only car park by the Temple, reached from Warren Road, plus limited street parking. Nothing near the Jubilee Pond easy-access path has toilets or a café, says the City, so take a comfort break in Wanstead first. The Temple in Wanstead Park has public toilets but opens only on selected days (see our Wanstead Park guide).
Rules worth knowing
- Dogs: under effective control, on a lead if they don't respond to recall, and obey seasonal signs. Rules here.
- Cycling: fine on permitted shared-use routes, but you cannot ride on easy-access paths, including the one at Jubilee Pond.
- Fishing: Epping Forest has 25 fishing ponds, including Perch Pond in Wanstead Park.
- Bluebells: in Chalet Wood, keep to the paths and never pick flowers.
Facts checked against the cited official pages on 28 October 2026.
