On your left: twisted and pollarded crack willow (with bright yellow bark. The stems from these pollards are used for hedge laying on this site and others. The marsh and main pond were part of the initial landforming of Stave Hill. They are lined with butyl rubber and puddled with London clay from the digging out of the basement of the British Library at King's Cross.
>> Continue along the path and bear left.
At this time of year, walking back to the Shed, the land appear to rise around you, as if you are in a saucer. No houses can be seen. When the Trust for Urban Ecology arrived, the site was completely flat. You could see the gas tower by Rotherhithe station, and factories on the river's edge. Landforming with curves and dips created a sense of being enfolded in the landscape. We sense the bones of the park, underlying the vegetation, and remember it has been designed and sculpted. The visitor is no longer a spike on the landscape. The layout with its winding paths draws you in; there are secluded spaces; the mosaic of connected habitats invites you to wander and even lose yourself, even though objectively the space is small.
As they come down the dip into the Park, people describe a feeling of crossing into a different zone: urban pressure is reduced; a sense of surprise coincides with an increase in the prominence and variety of sounds.