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Waddon Ponds is a park in Waddon which isn't at all close to Addiscombe. So how do I justify it being featured? Well from what I have observed so far none of the local parks seem to have so much as a small fishpond, let alone a decent sized pond or lake populated with birds. So where do you go to feed the ducks? Well I reckon Waddon Ponds are a good place to start.
Brickfields Meadow does have a lake with water fowl on it but it is formed from a clay pit and the surface is well below the level of the rest of the park and that isn't quite what I had in mind.
Waddon Ponds is an ornamental park created around a former mill pond. The pond is considered as a source of the eastern branch of the River Wandle though my understanding is that the culverted River Wandle actually still feeds into it from the Wandle Park direction (and indeed there are plans to expose it in a new housing development east of the Purley Way). Perhaps there are other streams feeding into the ponds that in turn feed the Wandle and that is what is meant.
The main feature of the park is the large pond (you might want to consider it as three separate ponds but I'm not sure that is really the case) which has a footpath around it, two footbridges over it, and many fine trees lining the edge. It is the home to geese, ducks and other birds which happily wander over onto the grass and footpaths.There are some flower beds and in the north-west corner a children's play area surrounded by a hedge.
Waddon Ponds lies on the west side of the Purley Way (A23) a little to the north of the Croydon Road (A232). There are entrances from Mill Lane on the north side, The Ridgeway on the west side, and Waddon Court Road (more or less opposite Alton Road) and Wandle Side / Lodge Avenue on the east side.
As it is quite a way out of Addiscombe I ought to mention public transport nearby. It isn't desperately far from Wandle Park tram stop, or indeed from Waddon railway station. The nearest bus stops on the Purley Way are served by the 289, 407 and 410. The 289 runs along the Lower Addiscombe Road so is particularly useful for Addiscombe residents, though it does go all the way up to Thornton Heath Pond before turning back down the Purley Way so it isn't the quickest journey. The 410 is another local bus route for Addiscombe residents, though it really skirts the west side of town along Cherry Orchard Road and Davidson Road. It takes a more direct route to Waddon.
To follow.
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