Gone are the days where uselessness could call the yellowed ‘greens’ of the Hogsmill Park home (the patch by the stepping stones), as Epsom and Ewell council have rid the park of said region and replaced it with a stunning 2000 square metres of wetland. The council have delivered an enormous upgrade as the wetland expels the old mud-bath and graces the likewise beautiful people of Epsom and Ewell (and surrounding areas).
It was opened in the week of World Wetland Day (which is on the second of February and founded by the UN in 1971, in order to preserve and restore wetlands throughout the world), with Dr Bella Davies, Co-CEO of The South East Rivers Trust, declaring that it is “destined to become a jewel in the crown of the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve”. If Dr Davies wanted any more accolades other than her doctorate and history in environmental protection, she too can add my endorsement to her CV, as she is completely right that the new wetlands are a “Jewel”. Sparkling in the sun, beautiful and observably valuable, its resting lake and outpouring river seriously almost qualify as one.
All I can ask you to do is to visit the new wetlands. It is not as utterly vast and magnificent as the Amazon, or as long and historic as the Nile but what were you expecting for Epsom and Ewell? Visit them, if not for myself, Dr Davies or even the UN (with their World Wetland day), then for yourself, your eyes and memories. Memories if not of optimism and gratitude for having heard of the project and being able to visit it, then at least memories of bitter disappointment as you walk back home, comforted only by the knowledge that Christmas has come early for some very lucky fish.
Local Resident Julie Brennan says that the new addition makes for a ‘beautiful walk, even in drearier mornings.’
