Poppy View is just a few minutes walk from the Lord Butler Fitness and Leisure Centre, which offers a wealth of facilities including two swimming pools, a gym, fitness studios, indoor sports courts and outdoor sports pitches. There’s a skatepark and an indoor bowling club next door to the leisure centre; the town also has football, hockey, cricket, golf and rugby clubs.
Saffron Walden has a community cinema – Saffron Screen – based at the town’s high school. The school is also the site of Saffron Hall, a venue for live music, drama and dance, with performances from local, national and global artists.
The imposing Audley End House and Gardens is less than two miles from the development. This Jacobean mansion depicts life in Victorian England, both above and below stairs, with servants in period dress working in the kitchen, stables and gardens. For youngsters there’s interactive displays in the Victorian nursery, an outdoor play area and a miniature railway that travels through the mansion’s extensive grounds. The gardens form an important part of the estate and include those created by historic landscape designer Capability Brown, a restored parterre and an organic kitchen garden. During the summer the gardens provide a picturesque backdrop to open-air theatre, cinema and music events.
