Southwood Country Park

Chalk in the Park café

The café at the field centre is open 7 days a week from 8am to 5pm. It sells hot drinks, pastries, baked goods and lunch.

Please visit the Chalk in the Park website for more information.

How to hire the field centre 

If you are part of a local group you can now hire space in the field centre.

If you are interested in hiring it, please contact southwood@rushmoor.gov.uk or 01252 985 589 for more details. 

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Location of the field centre and east car park

Ively Road
Farnborough

Location of west car park

Southern end of Kennels Lane
Off Ively Road
Farnborough

About Southwood Country Park

The park covers 57 hectares of open space and is split into two areas, the east and west sides. 

The east part of the park includes our field centre, a new playground, a car park and 27 hectares of natural land. 

Covering more than 30 hectares, the west side offers a network of formal and informal paths, with a 2.4 kilometre circular walking route, starting from the 31-space Kennels Lane car park. There is dog-proof fencing along the boundaries of Ively Road. 

The country park is what is known as Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) and is the former Southwood Golf Course. Being a SANG means the land is permanently protected as green public open space, so it can never be built on. 

Please see our Southwood Country Park - Draft Interim Management Plan 2021-23 for more information about what we are doing to look after the park. 

Esso pipeline work at the park

Part of Esso’s Southampton to London Pipeline Project to replace their aviation fuel pipeline crosses the western and eastern sections of the park. 

The work Esso is doing in the park continues and it is now expected that it will be completed in the new year. 

We are working with Esso to make sure they take account of existing habitats at Southwood Country Park and replace vegetation lost during the pipeline installation in line with our ecological management objectives for the park. 

Country park wildlife and ecology

Before the first phase opened, we asked the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust to carry out wildlife surveys across the site.

The trust discovered large populations of slow worms and common lizards, smooth and palmate newts.

Five species of bats forage along the woodland edge and the waterways and wetland birds have started visiting the site.

The site is providing a very good habitat for invertebrates, with nine nationally-scarce, and two nationally-rare species, and the Small Heath butterfly, which is threatened in Britain.

We are also working with the Environment Agency on a study that will look at naturalising the Cove and Marrow Brooks which will improve water quality and provide greater flood protection, as well as improving the area for both wildlife and people.

Map of west side

Map of east side