Westgate Gardens Reviews Summary

Gardens and Surroundings

Pros:

• "Nicely maintained gardens with flower beds, grass park meadow, quaint surrounding historical buildings, flowing river."
• "Beautiful garden full of gorgeous colorful flowers."
• "This beautiful garden near the city centre and fort is a true haven for nature lovers."
• "Garden has amazing different colorful flowers, which are maintained very well."
• "Stunning sceneries with flowers all over in autumn, combined with clear river making the place so beautiful I wished the garden is in my backyard."
• "Beautiful garden overlooking a stream. Very pretty place for stroll and family picnic."
• "Absolutely beautiful, wonderful flower borders, beautifully maintained, the river running by, very peaceful, the old city gate keeping guard and punting on the river."

Cons:

• "I'm probably being unfair with 4 stars, but seemed less looked after than it might."
• "Only one thing to moan about, a distinct lack of toilets, you have to go to the toilets outside the park."
• "The only thing I realised when you walk people are looking strange to you(🤓). And the ticket man is always on the side for issuing ticket 🎫."
• "Bad part you can have many drunk people drinking alcohol since 8am."
• "The waterway on the side didn't smell too pleasant."
• "Only negative was a group of larey youths drinking."
• "Smell of cannabis fills the air and few drunks about, could do with few police patrols."

Activities and Amenities

Pros:

• "The punting (boat or canoe ride) is a very relaxing experience in good weather."
• "Lovely walk along Canal, beautiful Willow Trees hanging over waterway, flowers and plants. Great adventure Toddler playground for my Niece to enjoy herself in."
• "On a hot summer's day(yes we have them in the UK), an awesome place to walk along the path next to the canal, beautiful flowers, families enjoying themselves in this park which is a gem."
• "A nice place to be, lots of area to sit down and have a picnic with friends and family."
• "It features a Baobabs (oriental) Plane tree that is thought to be the oldest in UK at 200 years old."
• "Very tranquil. There is a huge playground for the kids to run around at."
• "Staying up to date, lots of PokeStops with some rare pokemon making an appearance!"

Cons:

• "No food/drinks are allowed inside the garden."
• "The playground is quite far back from the town and not easy to find."
• "Can be crowded on sunny days."
• "It's recovering from flooding and pretty muddy in places."
• "Many areas are trodden down by 'take my photo here in the flower beds' tourists."
• "Can get quite busy."
• "Bit of pollution in the river, which is a shame as are the drunks as you first come in."

Accessibility and Location

Pros:

• "Only a few minutes walking from the train station or Canterbury Cathedral."
• "It's centrally located next to Westgate in Canterbury, and is an absolutely beautiful must-see when visiting or living in the area."
• "Clean, nice seating areas, peaceful with nice views."
• "Benches available, wheelchair access."
• "A lovely place to take a walk in the center of Canterbury. Take a boat tour along the river or enjoy the gardens. Westgate gardens comes alive in the summer."
• "Also great way to start the Great Stour Way walk to Chartham."
• "Very close to the shops so ok when you need a cuppa."

Cons:

• "Like all parks in UK there is always someone spoiling it for others with their shouting, swearing, drinking and littering."
• "Real shame that all the bins were overflowing on the third visit hence five star's to four."
• "If you come to Canterbury by train to Canterbury West this is one of the first sights you reach and it is very picturesque."
• "Quite busy as very popular with tourists."
• "You can join some boat tour so you can see the garden from another angle."
• "Large children’s playground called Toddler’s Cove with swings, zip wire, slides etc - all free!"
• "Lovely place to have a walk. Pity there are undesirable people lurking around in there."