The second dog exercise area to be featured in our series is the one located in St Giles Churchyard, South London. St Giles Churchyard is situated off Camberwell Church Street (continuation of Peckham Road) in Camberwell (closest station: Denmark Hill Overground station, around 12 minutes far) and hosts an enclosed dog area. Discover our thoughts about it in this blog post.
The Dog Exercise Area
Dog AREA Review
St Giles Churchyard, Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell, London SE5 8RB
Safety: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆/★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Fences: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (5 stars for large dogs, 4 stars for small ones)
- Gates: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Maintenance: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Size: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
APPROVED
Size and facilities
The dog area is provided with a waste bin and a picnic table. There is a concrete path which allows you not to get muddy in rainy days, a lawn, and a few trees on the perimeter, while the south corner has some wild bushes and trees.
The area develops in lenght and has a fair size which allows your dog to have proper runs. After contacting the Council, I was told that the area is 830mq large.
Fences and Gates
- Fence type: metal railings (+high brick wall on 2 sides)
- Min. fence height: 150 cm (approx. 59 inches)
- Space between bars: 10.5 cm (approx. 4.13 inches)
- Space under gates: up to 18 cm (approx. 7.08 inches)
- No. of gates: 3
The fence enclosing the area consists in metal railings (with vertical bars) 150cm high (approx. 59 inches), with space between the bars of around 10.5 cm (approx. 4.13 inches). Two sides of the area (West and North ones) are enclosed by a high brick wall, on the boundary with the residential area.
The area has 3 gates. The Northern gate (which is the closest to Camberwell Church Street) is locked and underneath there is a space which goes up to 18 cm (approx. 7.08 inches, see top right picture in the collage below). The middle gate lock is broken, and somebody left a shoe lace as a way to close and secure it (see left picture in the collage below). The space under that gate reaches 13 cm (approx. 5.12 inches). The Southern gate’s lock works fine and it has a space underneath of up to 10 cm (approx. 3.94 inches).
Maintenance
The dog area is well maintained, apart from the broken middle gate lock and the South end, where an additional fence (which divided the are from the wild bush part) now lays on the ground (see picture below).
Dog owners who visit the area seem to responsibly take care of cleaning after their dogs, since no dog mess (nor rubbish) was spotted at the time of our visit.
Conclusions
Argo and I tested and enjoyed the dog area. It could become a five star place if only the Council repaired the middle gate lock, put some barriers to close the space underneath the Northern gate for ensuring extra safety for small dogs and took care of the additional fence in the South end area.
! IMPORTANT NOTE !
The survival of dog exercise areas largely depend from the behaviour of dog owners visiting them. Be considerate and always remember to clean after your dog in the dog area: complaints about dog fouling often lead to the removal of dog areas!
Did you visit the dog area and have any further observations or updates? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment below!
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