St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth

St Georges Park

The oldest park in Port Elizabeth and the site of the second oldest cricket club in the country, St George’s Park lies in the heart of Port Elizabeth, a tribute to the past and present day moments away from the noise of the city.

Many a picnic party - umbrellas, baskets and chairs in tow - takes place here and the Mannville Open Air Theatre and the art galleries add an artistic dimension that makes it attractive to visitors. During hot spells in the city, the St George’s Park Swimming Baths, that include an Olympic sized swimming pool with a diving board and a children’s pool, make for an interesting diversion away from the glorious beaches of the friendly city. The ‘Master Harold’ tearoom, arguably one of the most famous tearooms in the world after it served as the setting for Athol Fugard’s ‘Master Harold and the Boys’, forms part of the swimming pool complex - in a small, rather unpretentious building. The tearoom has, rather sadly, lost a lot of its former quaintness to modernisation, but it is interesting to note that Athol Fugard’s mother ran the tearoom for almost 30 years and that a lot of the play is based on fact.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, which used to be called the King George VI Art Gallery, has its collections housed in two buildings that frame the entrance to the park. There is a constant rotation of art, mainly because there just isn’t the space to house it all, and researchers can apply to see works not on exhibition.