Forbury Gardens

Park

Explorer Tom

Forbury Gardens is Reading's Victorian answer to what to do with ground outside an old abbey: put in paths, flowers, a bandstand and an enormous lion. If the lion seems to be supervising your lunch, that is between you and your sandwich. The gardens sit between Reading's centre and its abbey ruins, on land once called the Forbury. In the Middle Ages this was open ground where horses grazed and pilgrims waited for services. Reading Corporation acquired the area in the 1850s, and it became a formal public garden. The setting gives a history lesson: you can stroll among planted beds, then look east toward the remains of the abbey without claiming you have entered its medieval cloister. The showstopper is the Maiwand Lion, a cast-iron memorial sculpted by George Blackall Simonds and unveiled in 1886. It commemorates men of the Berkshire Regiment killed at the Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan in 1880, so give it a moment beyond the photograph. The bandstand and walled garden supply the softer Victorian notes. At the west end, an oak grown from a Verdun battlefield acorn was planted in 1919 to mark peace after the First World War. Even the trees have stories here. Reading Borough Council lists Forbury Gardens as a public park at RG1 3BB, with seating, accessible facilities and a refreshment kiosk; its page lists no visitor restrictions. It is near Reading Station and easy to pair with a walk around the Abbey Quarter, though the separate ruins have their own access arrangements. Come for a breather, meet a lion with a serious job, and let the old Forbury talk you into one more lap.