Sheffield Park Review: Join me on a springtime walk through Nether Edge to beautiful Chelsea Park

I’ve been obsessed with Chelsea Park this spring. Just when I thought I had discovered every major park in Sheffield, I find this idyllic, stately slice of heaven tucked away in the lush and affluent Brincliffe area.

Best of all, finding Chelsea Park came at the end of a different sprawling walk through the breathtaking lanes of Nether Edge.

Critics and friends tell me “so you’re hobby is walking through posh neighbourhoods gawking at houses and trees” and to that I say, not true - I’m also trying to learn the names of flowers. Also, it’s free.

You owe it yourself to take a springtime trip to Nether Edge and get lost staring at the canopy. The only thing more unique and gorgeous than the stately Victorian houses are each of the trees that truly own every street, and the only things prettier are the lovingly tended, beautiful smelling gardens.

It was on one of these walks recently I took a wrong turn at the top of Quarry Lane, certain I was accidentally walking down someone’s private drive, and instead found myself in Chelsea Park - one of Sheffield’s truest hidden gems. It’s quickly become my favourite park in the whole city.

The info boards say it was originally the private gardens of a fabulously rich solicitor in the late 1800s, who went on to gift the land to the council and was later given back to the public.

It explains why the grounds feel like they exist just for you. Quiet, colourful, historic, deep and practically unpopulated, Chelsea Park has the variety of Endcliffe Park and views of Meersbrook Park, all the while feeling as off-the-grid as a spot in the Peaks. It’s entirely possible to take a seat on one of its many benches and see no one for acres in any direction.

And, if you ever got tired of this scenery - somehow - all you need to do to change things up is cross Brincliffe Edge Road at the top of the park and find yourself in the deep and dark Brincliffe Edge Woods.

It’s everything I love about Sheffield, the patchwork city that changes face every 100 metres - in this case from historic neighbourhood to stately park to luscious woodland in a matter of minutes. Other cities can only dream of having the kind of deep green wonders we get to enjoy every day if we could only find time to head out the door and get lost.

If I haven’t enticed you to see this secluded wonderland, take a look at the video above of a evening spent in Nether Edge, Brincliffe and the route I took to discover Chelsea Park itself.

Treat yourself to a visit to Chelsea Park this spring, in time to make it your favourite new obsession this summer.