Richmond Park

Richmond Park at over 2000 acres is the largest of the Royal Parks and Britain's second largest urban walled park. It is close to Richmond and is famous for its 600 red and fallow deer. The area was known as the Manor of Sheen during King Edward's reign (1272–1307) and changed to Richmond during Henry VII's reign. In 1625 King Charles I brought his court to Richmond Palace to escape the plague in London and created a hunting park. He introduced around 2,000 deer and to make sure they didn't stray he enclosed it with a brick wall eight miles long, still standing today.  In the second half of the 17th century, King Charles II created new ponds for the deer to drink from and in the 18th century, two planned vistas were created to show the best views of the park and beyond. One displayed the grand avenue of Queen's Ride to White Lodge (a hunting lodge built for King George l) and the other from the high point, King Henry's Mound to look down a specially-maintained avenue in Sidmouth Wood across London to St Paul's Cathedral. In 1746, Pen Ponds, a lake divided in two by a causeway, was created and is now a good place to see water birds and in the 19th century, several small woods, including Sidmouth Wood and the ornamental Isabella Plantation were added. The maps of Richmond Park in Victorian times are still relevant today. The park will be used for the Cycling Road Race in the 2012 Olympics.

Location and travel to London

Richmond Park is 9 miles from the centre of London and the journey from Richmond to London Waterloo takes just 25 minutes