Overview

Elephant Park is a green oasis in Elephant and Castle, South London. This is a charming, fun park to visit. It has step free access, plenty of seating and an accessible toilet. I really enjoyed it and will definitely return soon.

Transport & Parking

Elephant and Castle is located in Zone 1 (the central London zone). Elephant and Castle Tube Station serves the Northern and Bakerloo lines. However, the only step free access is by lift to the southbound Northern Line platform, which is traveling towards Morden, away from the city centre. The other platforms are not step free. Elephant and Castle Railway Station has no step free platforms. This station is served by Thameslink. Trains from here go through central London calling at St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars. If you are requiring step free access you are probably best traveling by bus. The area is very well served by several bus routes and it is a short journey back into central London. Many serve Elephant and Castle Tube Station will involve a short, level walk to the park. The nearest bus stop to the park is Elephant Park Stop on Walworth Road, which is served by the 136 and 343 buses.

Access

The park has no gates, it's all on level ground, with solid paths. There is a variety of seating throughout the park, benches with back support, picnic style benches, sun loungers, hammocks, large stones. In one corner is Elephant Springs. There are a couple of slides and water jets. However, when we visited the water was not switched on. Next to it is a small beach area with sand. In the centre there is The Treehouse, think accessible, large, 2-storey, community space rather than a traditional tree house. When we visited we didn't realise this, so it will be an excuse to return, but there is according to the website a cafe on the ground floor and stairs or lift to the first floor a public roof terrace with views across the park.

Toilets

There is an accessible toilet which is part of the Treehouse. It is open between 10am to 6pm daily. There is a manual entry door into the corridor with the toilets. The accessible toilet has a manual door. Plenty of grab rails and an emergency cord that reached to the floor. The toilet is spacious, clean and well maintained.

Staff

We saw a security guard, while we were taking photos of an elephant statue and he joked with us that there's a cost for photographing the elephants. It was a fun and nice welcome to the park. Later in the day we saw workers hoovering up the sand a returning it to the beach area, which highlights how well the park is maintained.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Adjacent to the park is Castle Square, which I have included a couple of photos of. There are more elephant statues there and a small shopping centre, with a few bars and restaurants. Please be aware some of the land in Elephant and Castle near the park is a fenced off building site. The area is undergoing a major redevelopment. We visited on a Sunday afternoon/ early evening and it was not noisy. However, you can see cranes and half completed buildings as you walk around some of the park. To me this makes the area all the more interesting, and it's easy to escape to the Elephant Spring and not see it. I am delighted my friend introduced me to the park. I really loved it. It is such a lovely, relaxing and beautifully designed park. It is a real find and looking forward to returning soon.

Photos