Cornwall Park is Hastings' largest green space, a broad reserve with mature plantings, a duck pond, sports fields, and a small rose garden. It is the city's go-to spot for picnics and afternoon walks, and on weekends the playground is well-used by families. The park was developed in the early twentieth century and retains the feeling of a Victorian-era public park — an unhurried contrast to the city centre a few minutes' walk away.
The park hosts the Hastings Blossom Parade in September, one of the country's older civic festivals, celebrating the spring flowering of the orchards and gardens across the Heretaunga Plains. If you happen to be in the city that weekend, it is a cheerful local event worth catching.