Local Wildlife Site

Situated on the crown of a hill, the fields hereabouts once belonged to Sudbury Court, a 17th century house that still stands just to the west in Sudbury Court Road. When the rising tide of suburbia engulfed them in the 1930s, parts of four fields were retained to make a small recreation ground. Some of the hedges and field trees were retained to form the most attractive and ecologically valuable features of the site.The majority of the site in percentage terms is mown grass, with a fine old oak at the highest point and a weeping willow nearby. There are a number of seats on which to rest. Talking of percentages, however, gives little idea of the feel of the place, as the eye is drawn immediately to the hedges, which are a mass of blossom in early spring. Three old hedgerows have survived on this site: two in the northwest part of the park, meeting at right angles, and one further south. A fourth has been lost; this ran southwards from the oak at the highest point to take in what is now an isolated field maple, close to the southern boundary.The Pimple is completely surrounded by back gardens with only two paths in between the houses giving access: one from Campden Crescent to the east and the other from Pasture Road to the west.