Blankney Park looking towards the lake. Blankney may have lost it's magnificent stately Hall, destroyed by fire in 1945, but what has survived is it's wonderful park. At least, most of it has survived, because the original park was much larger than that we see today, many acres have come under the plough following the decline in the livestock trade. Since 1904 it has been home to Blankney Golf Club, one of the finest parkland courses in the country. Apart from the golf course it has many other interesting facets, some of which are described in the following poem.
Blankney Park
The gravel road, two metres wide
Snakes westward to the heath
On either side stand ancient trees
Where blue stalks grow beneath
To left and right the golf course sprawls
Where many a dimpled ball
Has been driven over this stony road
That links Green Man with Blankney Hall
A crazy paving patterned bridge
Spans the rippling pond
The now redundant rectory stands
Behind tall trees beyond
The ice house capped by grassy mound
Was once the Hall's cold store
The bomb hole, wrongly thought by some
A relic from the war
And in the centre of the park
A hidden woodland cave
The Rockery , once a hallowed shrine
Where headstones marked each grave
Buried here her Ladyship's
Favourite dog and horse
Quite unknown to most of those
Who play the nearby course
Woodland glades and grassy slopes
Ensure that it is worth
An evening stroll through Blankney park
A perfect peace on earth
-
Rodney Garlant
