5 /5 Sankarshan Bhattacharyya: Mayflower Park is a very nice park on the eastern bank of the River Test. It is located between the passenger and cargo terminals of the Port of Southampton, and is near the confluence of the rivers Test and Itchen (which together form Southampton Water, which the drains into the Solent in front of the Isle of Wight, and then into the English Channel).
The river bank offers spectacular views of the dawn and dusk skies just as the sun sets over the cargo terminal. From time to time, you may even see huge container ships docking at the terminal, which are spectacles in themselves. Looking far enough towards the south, where Southampton Water drains into the Solent, you can see Fawley Refinery, the biggest oil refinery in the UK (I once caught one of the many chimney towers spewing out flames from various gases, and they looked lovely from the distance). There are even ducks that occasionally swim near the bank.
Sometimes there may be events taking place on the Mayflower Park that may cause a little bit of noise. When I’m writing this review, the Continental Circus Berlin had a few shows over the course of about 2 or 3 weeks, and the noise was noticeable even near the river bank (even with the large circus tent positioned a few hundred feet away from the bank). And the actual river bank, complete with benches for you to sit on, is rather annoyingly occupied by a car park, on account of the yearly Southampton International Boat Show that takes place here at Mayflower Park (which in itself causes the issue of blocking access to the entire park, while some extremely rich people with too much time and money come and admire ridiculously expensive boats, resulting in us regular people unable to relax at the park for a few weeks in September/October).
Overall, though, Mayflower Park is a wonderful park with a huge grassy area if you want a nice little picnic, or if you just want to sit by the river and let your mind get carried away by the beautiful scenery or the ships. Happy visiting!