Ferndown

Ferndown is a town and civil parish in the East Dorset district of Dorset, England, situated immediately to the north of Bournemouth. The centre of Ferndown is some 7 miles from Bournemouth railway station and 4 miles from Bournemouth International Airport. The latest population figure (2005 mid year estimate) for the parish is 17,650.

Ferndown has a relatively large elderly population (38.5% are aged 60 or above). On the outskirts of the town lie the Ferndown and Uddens industrial estates.

Within Ferndown is the offices of the Stour and Avon Magazine (formerly Community Magazine) this is a free magazine which is out every Friday and boasts a readership of over 55,000 copies a week.

Sport and recreation

Ferndown has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V. This very large area of open space includes a children's playground with equipment for children with special needs, 6 tennis courts, 4 football pitches, cricket pitch, a bowling green, boules area, croquet practice lawn and a fully equipped skateboard park.

There are 2 golf clubs, Ferndown Forest Golf Club, which offers a single 18-hole course, and Ferndown Golf Club, which offers two courses: The Old Course also known as the Championship Course, and the nine-hole Presidents Course.

Ferndown Community Centre is one of the town's main attractions, home to the Barrington Theatre. It is also home to many other small stores which include Tesco's, Superbuy's, Superdrug and the local and quite large Ferndown library.

Also there are many large heathlands arounds Ferndown including Holt Heath. This heathland originally covered the entire area and up until the early 1900s covered many areas that are now residential. Many are good for cycling or walking. There is also a fair amount of woodland. Also on many of the heaths and in much of the woodland there are many burial mounds and small ponds. However recently Ferndown heath visible from King George the V playing field has been subject to several heath fires.

There is also Ferndown leisure centre with many different activities and sports to do and equipment to use.

Education

Schooling in Ferndown, as in much of Dorset, is based on a 3-tier system of first, middle and upper schools. Ferndown Upper School is a co-educational comprehensive school for students aged between 13 and 19 years, with up to 320 pupils admitted each year from its feeder Middle schools in Ferndown, West Moors and Verwood.

Ferndown Middle school (on the former Gorsemoor Middle School site) takes pupils at age 9 from Ferndown First School (on the old Ferndown Middle School site), from Hampreston First School and from Parley First School. The Ferndown school changes occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the original first school was demolished to make way for a small residential area. The two middle schools combined and one became the new first school.