Region: North West
As of Monday 15th May 2017, Liverpool Festival Gardens is being managed by Liverpool City Council, as part of the proposed redevelopment of the area. The Land Trust and The Conservation Volunteers are proud to have worked in partnership at this wonderful site for the past five years, and thank all the staff and volunteers who have worked hard to enhance and maintain the Gardens. We hope the Gardens have a positive future and continue as a much-loved and vital green space for the community. For enquiries about Festival Gardens, please contact Liverpool City Council on 0151 233 3001 or visit http://liverpool.gov.uk/leisure-parks-and-events/parks-and-greenspaces/festival-gardens/
Festival Gardens is a 27-hectare site in South Liverpool. Come down and enjoy a picnic, take a stroll through the woodland trails and on to the promenade, relax in the oriental gardens, test your climbing skills in the playground and look out for the many animals and birds that call this park home.
You might like to relax in the oriental gardens amongst the cherry blossom, test your climbing skills in the playground and look out for the many animals and birds that have made the Festival Gardens home.
Please note that the bridge is currently closed for essential maintenance work. Please continue to enjoy the rest of the park as usual. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Guided Walks: A Garden Reborn – Past and recent history
We offer guided walks to groups explaining the history of Festival Gardens and the surrounding area from the 1800s through to the International Garden Festival right up to today. The walk will take place in and around Festival Gardens and will be led by our Festival Garden Ranger team, Feel Good Join In.
For more information and to book a guided walk for your group, please contact Merseyside@tcv.org.uk. Cost is £5 per person.
Riverside Drive, Liverpool, Merseyside, L17 5BU
Site size: 27 hectares
8.30am to 6pm
There is a car park at the southern end of the site which can be accessed from the roundabout on Riverside Drive, opposite Bempton Road. Car parking is free but we ask that all visitors consider making a donation by text.
Yes
(click here to find the nearest public toilets)
No, however there is mobile catering during the summer months
Free, but donations are always welcome. 100% of all donations will go directly to Festival Gardens, thanks to JustTextGiving, powered by Vodafone.
Yes
Yes
Keep dogs on a lead at all times
Events programme - please check the website for more details
Adjacent to Otterspool prom
The site contact for our Festival Gardens to May 2017 space is Joseph Evans
This space is managed in partnership with The Conservation Volunteers TCV
Festival Gardens’ history goes back to The International Garden Festival, which took place between May and October 1984 and attracted 3.8 million visitors. The specially commissioned entertainment complex was the centrepiece of the city’s early regeneration efforts following industrial decline in the preceding decade.
When the festival closed its doors, a large part of the site was developed into residential housing, while the remainder experienced various incarnations as leisure and entertainment facilities, until it was left derelict in 1997 to fall into disrepair.
After many years and numerous failed attempts to breathe new life into the historic site, the future of the restored Festival Gardens was secured with developer Langtree taking over the site, appointing the Land Trust to manage the park and opening to the public in 2012.
Liverpool City Council took over the ownership of the park from Langtree in 2015.
The restoration of the Festival took painstaking effort from the many teams and specialists involved. This included restoring and implementing: pagodas in the oriental gardens; the iconic Moon Wall; new lakes, waterways and waterfalls; a new pedestrian access point linking to the promenade; creating a new secure parking area.
To contact the Land Trust about this site or how we could help manage your space please email our Estates Manager Sarah Palgrave-Neath or call 07795 126687.
To enquire about holding an event on a Land Trust site, please click here.
This site has received the following awards:
The Land Trust’s Green Angels programme receives success at the Echo Environment Awards, winning ‘Community Project of the Year’ award.
The green-focused awards, organised by the Liverpool Echo in association with United Utilities, have been established to recognise the best environmental businesses, schools, community, projects and individuals.
Green Angels, was a Big Lottery-funded programme, delivered the Land Trust to boost the quality of life for local peoples by providing environmental training opportunities and community events in and around Liverpool Festival Garden.
Our Managing Partners secured a Highly Commended award in the Diversity category of the Love Parks Awards 2016 for work at Liverpool Festival Gardens.
The Love Parks Awards celebrate groups that improve and protect green spaces. The award for diversity recognises groups that embrace the whole community and give a voice to multiple generations, ethnic minorities, those who are unemployed and ex-offenders.
At Liverpool Festival Gardens – owned by Liverpool City Council and managed on its behalf by the Land Trust in partnership with TCV – those who are unemployed can complete a month-long work experience placement with TCV to bolster their skills and experience in horticulture, the environment, construction and computers. TCV also collaborates with Merseyside probation to deliver community rehab once a week.
A wide diversity of age and ethnic groups volunteer for the gardens. TCV engages with local schools and colleges, where field trip students conduct activities such as habitat surveys, pond dipping, seed bombing, habitat management, small mammal trapping, habitat conservation and horticulture.
We are always on the look out for enthusiastic, committed people who want to make a real and lasting difference in their local community.
Get Involved
