Address: Hainault Forest Country Park, IG7 4QN, United Kingdom
Rating: 4.6
based on 369 reviews.
Park Facilities
Pros:
"Public toilets are clean and well kept."
"The kids love the playground it’s safe and secure too."
"So beautiful and tranquil clean a true breath of fresh air."
"Great space for a family."
"You can enjoy tea or coffee in the cafe there."
"Beautiful expanse of fields and woods."
"A new playground has been installed and it is ideal for children up to the age of about eleven years."
Cons:
"Once you get away from the car park it is covered in dog poo that people didn't bother to pick up."
"I went to this park with a friend and although it used to be fabulous, it is now slightly rundown."
"Playground recently constructed but not suitable for toddlers."
"The 'Zoo' is a few animals and many empty fields."
"However, the gravel stones on the walking paths are very dangerous for young kids."
"Unfortunately no playground available for young children to enjoy."
"Toilets were near the car park but unfortunately not very clean (and smelt really bad)."
Parking
Pros:
"Parking is £1 for an hour and £3 for the whole day."
"There is plenty of parking paid via Ringo app and the price is reasonable."
"Lots of parking (not free) but if you don't drive, the 247 bus stops right outside."
"Plenty of parking, although parking isn't free."
"Car park can be paid via Ringgo. Around £4.86 for a day's parking."
"All day parking for less than £4."
"Car parking is very good, £1 for 1 hour or £3 for all day, so pick and choose and will find parking any time."
Cons:
"Only real issue is no internet access for using the parking app and phone connections wasn't very good either."
"Parking costs £1 for first hour, then £3.50 for any longer than that till park closes. Can only pay by mobile phone too."
"Kinda funny to read it closes at 9:30pm, it certainly doesn't. Perhaps that's when the car park closes."
"I think parking should be free but I think there have bills to pay too."
"Shame you have to pay to park here."
"The car parks however don't accept cash and have to pay electrically via phone."
"Parking is a nightmare as need an app and my phone would not download!"
Cafe and Food Services
Pros:
"There are some toilets but at the entrance next to a café, they serve really nice hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows."
"The cafe food is pretty good even if you have to queue for a long time."
"Lovely and has had an upgrade, new barn like café and really nice outdoor area where they have BBQ food available and a band playing music."
"The new cafe opened today. The food and drink offering is very good, with the hot food - breakfast and brunch items - all freshly cooked."
"Includes a nice cafe with a variety of food and drinks."
"The cafe, even during this Covid period has an excellent range of food and drink and REALLY REASONABLY priced."
"We used the cafe at the visitors centre and the food was high quality and catered for all, reasonably priced."
Cons:
"New cafe is a joke, sold out of most things at 1.30pm on a Saturday, no clean tables to sit at, queued for 10 minutes at other cafe and the line didn't move."
"However the park cafe staff are not friendly at all, on two occasions recently, I have attempted to buy refreshments and food from here and failed."
"The coffee and tea is bad and there's only cows milk and no brown bread so very basic, expected I little more for the money."
"Cafe was okay but a little expensive."
"Cafe was understaffed. We were told there was a 45minute wait for food so we left and ate at home."
"Cafe isn't great, lots of options but food is only average."
"The man who runs the cafeteria is very very rude and borders on pure ignorance."
General Experience
Pros:
"We did a walk from Hainault Country Park to Havering country park, you can see from the pictures that it was well worth doing."
"Great open space and you can even see the skyscrapers of central London from here."
"Close proximity for East Londoners."
"Space for kite flying, ball games, walking, cycling and just generally escaping into some nature."
"Visit regularly. It's well kept... Safe to walk around with the dog and children. Some lovely places for the kids to climb and explore plus a little farm."
"A great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of life."
"Forget the hustle and bustle of East London and lose yourself in this beautiful piece of forestry and parkland."
Cons:
"You have spoilt it completely. Disgusted!"
"This place is horrible 😠😠😩. I went there and got lost for 2 hours 😤😠."
"For a wild life park is very poor as my dog couldn't find any life in the forest in two hours."
"Unfortunately let down by a large group of Muslims praying and chanting in the middle of one of the fields with a welcome sign up."
"Wouldn’t know how good the park is, arrived on a sunny Sunday afternoon and both tiny car parks were full with gridlock traffic trying to get in and out."
"The only down side is the litter that people leave behind."
"Big downside is the idiots who leave their litter in the woods threatening the wildlife."