Minet Country Park is a 36-hectare park on Springfield Road, Hayes in the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...

; it is situated between the A312 (Hayes by-pass) and the

Uxbridge Road Uxbridge Road is the name of the A4020 road in West London. The route starts at Shepherd's Bush Green and goes west towards Uxbridge. It passes through Acton, Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, Hayes, and Hillingdon. Uxbridge Road is a major roa ...

History

Awarded a

Green Flag Green Flag or Green Flag Rescue, is a British roadside assistance and vehicle recovery provider, which is part of the Direct Line Group. Formed in 1971, as the National Breakdown Recovery Club, as an alternative to the AA and RAC, it used ...

for the first time in 2009, Minet Country Park was opened to the public in 2003. The park was originally part of the Coldharbour Estate, owned by the Minet family from 1766 to the mid-twentieth century.

Flora and fauna

Honey bee on bristly ox tongue at Minet Country Park - geograph

The country park is a mosaic of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, connected by a network of

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

s and grassland corridors, which are home to numerous species of wild plants,

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s. It is part of the 'Yeading Brook, Minet CP and Hith' Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I.

Facilities and features

On site is a children's

play area A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

s, and

rows with

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s and mature

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s. There are

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

areas with tables, a network of footpaths, benches and a car park.

Hillingdon Cycle Circuit Hillingdon Cycle Circuit is a purpose-built road cycling circuit situated in Minet Country Park, Hayes in west London. The 0.93 mile long, 6 metre wide circuit is used for year-round racing, training and leisure riding. History Chas Messenger, ...

is part of Minet Country Park and can be used free of charge by the public. All

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...

entrances have

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

- and

pushchair Various methods of transporting children have been used in different cultures and times. These methods include baby carriages (prams in British English), infant car seats, portable bassinets (carrycots), strollers (pushchairs), slings, backpack ...

-friendly gates.

Transport

Bus

There are bus-stops (

427 __NOTOC__ Year 427 (Roman numerals, CDXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hierus and Ardabur (or, less frequen ...

) at the north-end of Minet Country Park.

Train

The closest train station is Hayes and Harlington.

Management

Minet Country Park is owned by Hillingdon Borough Council, and managed in partnership with

A Rocha A Rocha is an international network of environmental organizations with Christian ethos. A Rocha, which means "the rock" in Portuguese (see entry ''Rocha''), was founded in Portugal in 1983. Organisation The organization network is constituted ...

Living Waterways. All events and activities are listed on the borough website.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Kelter, Catherine. (1996) ''Hayes Past''. London: Historical Publications Ltd {{LB Hillingdon Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hillingdon