Princes Park is a 33-acre public park about 1.6 kilometres east of Eastbourne town centre, just behind the seafront at the eastern end of the promenade.
It is a proper municipal park of the traditional kind — free, open, well used by residents, and largely off the tourist route — and for families staying in Eastbourne it is one of the more useful pieces of ground in the town.
Crumbles Pond, the boating lake, which gives the park its shape. There is a walk around it, coarse fishing is permitted with the appropriate permit, and it holds wildfowl through the year.
An 18-hole putting green, which is exactly the sort of thing that has vanished from most English seaside towns and is still here.
A bowling green.
Two children’s play areas, one with a paddling pool in summer. The zip slide is the piece of equipment children make for first.
The Oval, a football ground within the park, home of Eastbourne United AFC.
A playing field which hosts travelling funfairs and circuses several times a year.
Broadly, children up to about twelve. The play equipment tops out around there, and older children will use the putting green or the football pitches instead.
The park’s other quality, mentioned repeatedly by people who use it, is that it does not get crowded. On a summer afternoon when the seafront and pier are shoulder to shoulder, Princes Park has space, and that alone makes it worth the fifteen-minute walk east along the promenade.
It is a place to walk, sit by the water and let children run rather than an attraction with a gate and a ticket.
Free and open at all times.
Location: Channel View Road, behind the eastern promenade, about 1.6 kilometres from the town centre — a fifteen-minute walk along the seafront or a short bus ride.
Parking: on-street nearby and along the seafront.
Facilities: toilets and a seasonal kiosk; refreshment is limited out of season.
Access: level throughout, with surfaced paths around the lake.
Weather: entirely outdoors, and exposed to the sea wind at the eastern end.
The eastern promenade and the Sovereign Harbour marina, with restaurants and bars, are a further walk east.
Sovereign Centre, the town’s swimming complex with leisure pools and flumes, is close by and is the wet-weather option.
E.M.S.R. Adventure Park, with the miniature railway, is a short distance north.
Eastbourne Pier and the town centre are fifteen minutes west along the front.
Yes, free and open at all times.
Up to about twelve. The zip slide is the popular piece.
Yes, Crumbles Pond permits coarse fishing with the appropriate permit.
About 1.6 kilometres — a fifteen-minute walk east along the promenade.
Much less than the seafront, which is a large part of its appeal on a hot day.