Beale Park

Beale Wildlife Park and Gardens is situated by the River Thames, between the villages of Pangbourne and Lower Basildon in Berkshire, England. It has three main areas of attraction: collections of small exotic animals, farm animals and birds; landscaped gardens and woodlands; and children's play areas.

The park was founded in 1956 by Gilbert Beale as his own private park. He was a keen collector and breeder of peacocks and these birds still roam free in the park. The park is known locally as both "Child-Beale" (after the founding charity) and colloquially as "The Peacock Farm."

Attractions

Over recent years, the park has expanded to accommodate a wide variety of visitors, especially the youngest ones. The park has recently built a roplay area, a pets area, sand pits, paddling pools, Little Tikes Play Area, and the Beale Railway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) section of 10 ¹⁄₂ in (267 mm) narrow gauge railway on which is run a diesel locomotive, "Sir Humphrey Davy"; and previously a steam locomotive, "John Remmy", each capable of pulling 5 carriages and 50 people. Thirteen people were injured when a steam train crashed on the Beale Railway on Saturday, 27 June 2009.

Beale Park (Bakersfield)

Beale Park is a public park located in Bakersfield, California. It is Bakersfield’s first park, located on Oleander St.

History

The park was constructed in 1908, on 5 acres (20,000 m²) of land donated by Truxtun Beale. He also donated landscaping for the park, the Greek style amphitheater and swimming pool. Since then, the park has seen many improvements. Two large reservable picnic areas were added, as well as many smaller individual areas. Several different types of sports courts and fields were also added.

Over the years, the pool, similar to most of the city pools, needed to be refurbished. However, in 2004, with the opening of the aquatics center in downtown Bakersfield, it was decided not to refurbish the pool. It was removed and replaced with a spray park.

In 1977, a large wind storm hit Bakersfield. The roof of an aviary was blown off, and at least two parakeets escaped. Since then, a large parakeet population has settled in and around the park. This population has also spread to Beach Park and Hart Park. They have grown to be largest population of naturalized parakeets in the world.