Ruddington Village

You must have come in a taxi

From South - Exit M1 at Jnc.21a for A46 (Newark). Continue on A46 for 14.8 miles. Turn left for A6006 (Wymeswold) and continue for 4.8 miles through Wymeswold and Rempstone. Turn right onto A60 (Nottingham) for 5.5 miles. The entrance to Elms Park is a short distance on you LHS after the roundabout for the Railway museum.

From East - Take A46 south. Turn right onto 6006 (Wymeswold) and continue for 4.8 miles through Wymeswold and Rempstone. Turn right onto A60 (Nottingham) for 5.5 miles. The entrance to Elms Park is a short distance on you LHS after the roundabout for the Railway museum.

From Nottingham - Take the A60 Loughborough Road out of Nottingham. After the Nottm Knight roundabout junction with the A52, continue on the A60 for 1.2 miles. Shortly after the traffic lights, turn right into Elms Park. There is a car park at the ground.

Nottingham City Transport No.10 (Nottm Old Market Sq - Ruddington). TrentBarton Ruddington Connection (Nottm Broadmarsh Bus Station - Clifton). Arriva No.99 Nottm - Coalville (via Loughborough).

Nottingham Midland - 5 miles

For a map of the location, Click here.

My garden shed is bigger than this

With a population of over six thousand, one might be tempted to refer to Ruddington as a town. However, mention such to the locals and you might find the concept greeted with contempt. The locals are proud of their village status and are determined not to be swallowed up by the nearby Nottingham conurbation.

This sense of pride is evident in the facilities on offer at Elms Park. Here you'll find the central point for so much of this proud village's community activities including not only the village's Cricket Club, Lawn Green Bowls Club and of course Ruddington United Football Club, but also a community pavilion, which stages concerts and various fund raising events.

Samuel Carter of Guelph, Canada, who was born in Ruddington, endowed the village with the Elms Park Playing Fields in 1931. Throughout the 1930's & 1940's, a number of large housing estates sprung up on the edge of the park, but fortunately, Elms Park, the park Carter had provided for the people of Ruddington, remained largely untouched.

It was also to witness Ruddington Football Club capturing the Nottinghamshire Intermediate Cup in 1952. It would be fifty long years before any significant form of success would follow again. Following the merger of Ruddington Football Club and Ruddington Village Football Club in 1993, they captured the Intermediate Cup again in 2002. In 2008, the club decided to merge with a newly assembled Ruddington Village Football Club and assuming their name. They presently ply their trade in the Nottinghamshire Senior League.

There are two entrances to the park. The less endearing of the two is the rear entrance with its bottle green gates advising of a speed limit of 5mph and also a sign reminding drivers to keep off the grass. This entrance brings you out onto United's 2nd pitch, used during the cricket season. This pitch is bordered on three sides by privet hedges, and has no other facilities to speak of, other than a park bench for a couple of weary spectators.

The main entrance is a much more grand affair. Flanked by two granite stone pillars one embarks upon a with a long path leading up to a large open playing field on the left and the amenities on the right. The field plays host to Ruddington Cricket Club for the duration of the summer, with Ruddington Village taking residence as soon as the willow and leather have been put to bed. Like the back up pitch, there are no pitch side facilities other than the customary Ruddington park bench seating accommodation.

Between the two pitches are the most interesting features on Elms Park. Here you'll find the quaint bowling green, home to Ruddington Lawn Green Bowls Club since 1924. There is also four unusual two cluster metal post floodlights, their sole purpose is to illuminate the car park and play area.

Between the Bowls Club and the main pitch is housed a large multi-windowed community pavilion and changing rooms. Attached to this is a white canap�, held aloft by four white post, which at least provides some cover for spectators. In May 2004, this building was in danger of demolition when a parish poll was held to ask the question - "Do you agree that the Parish Council replaces the Pavilion and Village Hall with a single new building at Elms Park?" A majority 376 - 189 voted against the proposal to build a new multi-purpose facility, so the pavilion, and neighbouring equipment warehouse, lived on to fight another day.