Share Your Freeling Street Ideas
20th October 2020

Freeling Street is perfect for a pocket park – but what should it look like? You can have a play around with the interactive grid here on our website or you can leave your comments below. What plants would you like to see? What trees and how many? Are you a flower lover? What activities would you like to see in the new pocket park? Fruit trees, bushes, art or anything else you would like to use the space for? Tell us more below and become part of the conversation. We want every local to get involved in the project.

Freeling Street is closed to traffic, a great size and right next to the high street. How should it be transformed?
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Ian Gould
Ian Gould
3 years ago

Hello! Such an exciting project.

Some thoughts – the Caledonian Road struggles for a real identity, it undoubtedly has community but in all honesty is difficult to pin down an identity. Apart from once a year of course with The Cally Festival but that then fades away and is forgotten. Therefore why couldn’t this and hopefully 4 or 5 more pocket parks become the identity! Interesting, creative, interactive, unique, experimental, beautiful, wild, green – bringing nature back to our city centre. The Freeling Street park is adjacent to the Jean Stokes and Bemerton Children’s Centre – a central green family friendly hub for our community.

One of the main features of this park should be a Living or Green Wall, similar to: https://www.biotecture.uk.com/portfolio/kings-cross-london/

Could collaborations be formed with Skip Gardens to help green the area: https://www.globalgeneration.org.uk/about-us

And a collaboration with local artists such as Leonard Villas (links with a secretive Banksy-esque female street artist?) or Central St Martins Uni.

http://www.rootsfirst.com/pocket-park
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/500392208579892217/ – floor lights could be installed to improve safety at night and to show the path way is open all hours to enjoy.

Ian Gould
Ian Gould
3 years ago

Hello – if bike locks are required as part of this project (not entirely sure it’s a good use of space) but if so these appear the most appropriate type:

https://www.frontyardcompany.co.uk/products/plantlock

Stephen Kreppel
Stephen Kreppel
Reply to  Ian Gould
3 years ago

My previous comments related to Bridgeman Road, and Freeling is in a quite different situation. But it too could contribute to supporting the idea of this stretch of the Caledonian Road as a living high street and supporting small business and traders. Greening Freeling Street can be done with trees and shrubs while leaving plenty of spaces for street traders of all kinds. A farmers market for example would attract people from quite a distance who would then also shop or eat on the Cally road. And benches

Nadra Moritz
3 years ago

So many good ideas. It is very exciting to hear that there will finally be public spaces in the Cally. 

STREET FURNITURE / GREENERY
I love the ideas of having large planters, seating, tables / picnic benches, and some sort of sense of protection / intimacy by either creating cozy corners or pergolas covered with greenery (great idea to collaborate with Global Generation!). Generally I think it is important to have a sense of being hugged by greenery in some way.

MURALS
It would be great to also have murals (great idea to collaborate with CSM) be integrated. That alone could make Cally a destination in London. The bird murals on Tilloch St are one of my favourite features of Cally, along with the wide sidewalks and mature trees.

LIGHTING
A welcoming sense of coziness could also be achieved by including year round fairy lights on the taller greenery / structures and indirect lighting like that found around KX Granary Sq

WATER
It would especially be nice to integrate some sort of water feature (definitely at least a water fountain to be able to refill water bottles etc).

COVERED NOTICE BOARD
A covered notice board that is publicly accessible (maybe as part of a pergola structure) is a simple thing that would allow people to communicate and interact more with the community. 

I have included a link to a zip file filled with pix that incorporate many of the above ideas.

I am very much looking forward to seeing what is created! 

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