Merritt Cartographic Icon
Merritt Cartographic Icon

Itchen Valley Country Park Map | Riverside Park, Southampton, Map.

An interactive tourist and visitor map for Itchen Valley Country Park and Riverside Park, Southampton. This map highlights the habitats and facilities found in the lower Itchen Valley as well as indicating the best places to see the wildlife that lives here. Zoom in to the map to reveal more detail and click on features to display additional information.

Merritt Cartographic creates custom-made interactive maps and content, like this, to meet the requirements of your design brief. If you need an interactive map for your project, please let me know.

Itchen Valley Country Park is located in the borough of Eastleigh, on the northeastern fringe of Southampton, UK. Covering a site of approximately 440 acres (1.8 km²), the park was founded in 1979 with the High Wood Barn Visitor Centre facilities constructed in 1990.

Itchen Valley Country Park - High Hill.

Itchen Valley Country Park - High Hill.

Predominantly woodland and meadows, this park contains a wide range of outdoor leisure facilities. Two barbecue sites (pre-booking required), a number of picnic areas, playgrounds for both younger and older children and a Go Ape! tree top adventure course are located here. The country park also contains a series of way-marked walks, an off-road cycle trail, a designated bridleway (restricted only to horse-riders, fee applies) and a woodland nature trail, located in a more secluded section of the park. This map highlights these trails and facilities and provides further details and links to other sources of information about Itchen Valley Country Park.

Itchen Valley Nature Reserve, a combination of lowland meadows, floodplain grazing marsh and fens, is ideal for wildlife observation. Otters and Water Vole are recorded at this location along with annual sightings of Osprey, a regular passage migrant. Through the summer months in particular, the reserve is home to a wide range of butterflies and dragonflies, including the nationally rare Southern Damselfly.

Itchen Valley Nature Reserve - lowland meadows, floodplain grazing marsh and fens.

Itchen Valley Nature Reserve - meadows, floodplain marsh and fens.

Riverside Park, Southampton, is a popular park on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. A large park but one which is subdivided into several smaller sections, Riverside Park runs alongside the River Itchen from Cobden Bridge in the south to Mansbridge in the north.

The southern-most section of the park contains a riverside walk and an accessible pontoon. This feature is a favoured spot amongst visitors for feeding the birds that congregate on the river. Primarily seabirds and wildfowl, large numbers of Mute Swan are almost always present here too. The Riverside Miniature Railway, open to visitors on Sunday afternoons (between 1pm and 4pm), is a key attraction during the summer months. Other notable features of this region of the park are the recently redeveloped children's playground and dedicated cycle training facility, complete with a network of small scale roads and signposts.

The central section of the park is the largest. It is also the region which most closely resembles a typical urban park or recreation ground. This area of Riverside Park is generally considered to be the best for dog exercise. A large number of grass sports pitches are found here, primarily used for football and cricket. A small secluded area next to the River Itchen, often referred to as the 'Beach', holds three picnic tables. A small stretch of the river is accessible from this location. This section of the park also contains one tennis court, accessible to the public, and an extensive skate park.

Riverside Park, Southampton - a popular park on the eastern bank of the River Itchen.

Riverside Park, Southampton - a popular park on the eastern bank of the River Itchen.

The northern-most section of the park, arguably the most picturesque, contains a riverside walk. The water here is typically slow moving and is, therefore, a popular location for fishing. Trees on the opposite bank overhang the the river and hide the urban environment beyond. As like further downstream, the river here is typically populated with wildfowl and Mute Swan. This section of the park has a landscaped appearance and is dominated to a degree by a popular 18 hole pitch and putt golf course. Picnic tables, a modern children's playground, containing equipment of an 'organic' nature (close to the car park) are also found in this section of the park. During the summer months, an ice cream van is regularly located in the car park here.

This map has been built with open data. Over time, as more or better information becomes available, I hope to add to this map and, more importantly, correct any errors or inaccuracies that are currently present. Please help me to make this map better by informing me of any errors that you notice. Thank-you for your help.

Data for this map has been sourced from the OpenStreetMap project. This map also makes use of OpenData from the Ordnance Survey and land cover data sourced from Natural England and released under the Open Government Licence.

Please note that the views and opinions expressed above and on this map are my own and are not necessarily, therefore, those of the landowners, authorities or other organisations that operate these sites or are mentioned on this page.

For more information, please visit these websites:

Eastleigh Borough Council

Southampton City Council

Friends of Riverside Park

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.

Key Button

Map Key

  • Wildlife

  • Birds of prey Symbol

    Birds of prey

  • Birds Symbol

    Birds (including Mute Swan)

  • Butterflies Symbol

    Butterflies (including Meadow Brown)

  • Butterflies Symbol

    Butterflies (including Peacock)

  • Dragonflies Symbol

    Dragonflies and damselflies

  • Seabirds Symbol

    Seabirds

  • Amenities

  • Church Symbol

    Church

  • Bench Symbol

    Bench

  • Bicycle Parking Symbol

    Bicycle parking

  • Car Park Symbol

    Car park

  • Country Park Car Park Symbol

    Country park car park

  • Convenience Store Symbol

    Convenience store

  • Dog Waste Bin Symbol

    Dog waste bin

  • Petrol Station Symbol

    Petrol station (fuel)

  • Telephone Symbol

    Public telephone

  • Public Toilets Symbol

    Public toilets

  • Drinking Water Symbol

    Drinking water outlet

  • Food and drink

  • Barbecue Site Symbol

    Barbecue site

  • Cafe Symbol

    Cafe

  • Ice Cream Van Symbol

    Ice cream van

  • Picnic Symbol

    Picnic facilities

  • Pub Symbol

    Public house

  • Restaurant Symbol

    Restaurant

  • Visitor attractions and points of interest

  • Visitor Attraction Symbol

    Visitor attraction

  • Point of Interest Symbol

    Point of interest

  • Information Panel Symbol

    Information panel

  • History, heritage and landmarks

  • Grade I Listed Building Symbol

    Grade I listed building

  • Grade II* Listed Building Symbol

    Grade II* listed building

  • Grade II Listed Building Symbol

    Grade II listed building

  • Landmark Symbol

    Landmark

  • Sculpture Symbol

    Sculpture

  • Wind Turbine Symbol

    Wind turbine

  • Parks and recreation

  • Country Park Symbol

    Country park

  • Children's Playground Symbol

    Children's playground

  • Nature Reserve Symbol

    Nature reserve

  • Park Symbol

    Park or common

  • Dog Walking Symbol

    Popular dog exercise area

  • Recreation Ground Symbol

    Recreation ground

  • Viewpoint Symbol

    Viewpoint

  • Sports facilities and outdoor pursuits

  • Cricket Pitch Symbol

    Cricket pitch

  • Equestrian Centre

    Equestrian centre

  • Fishing Symbol

    Fishing

  • Football Pitch Symbol

    Football pitch

  • Pitch and Putt Golf Course Symbol

    Pitch and putt golf course

  • Skate Park Symbol

    Skate park

  • Tennis Court Symbol

    Tennis court

  • Waymarked routes

  • Bargeman's Walk Symbol

    Bargeman's Walk

  • Forest Trail Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Forest Trail

  • Honeysuckle Trail Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Honeysuckle Trail

  • Meadow Nature Trail Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Meadow Nature Trail

  • Off Road Cycle Route Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Off Road Cycle Route

  • Woodland Nature Trail Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Woodland Nature Trail

  • Woods and Meadows Walk Symbol

    Itchen Valley Country Park Woods and Meadows Walk

©