ISSUE NOVEMBER 2008 6 BushyTelegraph

THE PHEASANTRY WELCOME CENTRE SET TO OPEN EASTER 2009

Artist’s impression of the Centre

Visitors to Bushy Park will soon benefit from new and much-needed facilities at the centre, including a café, toilets, an education and community room and information point.

The newly named Pheasantry The opening of the education A car park at Broom Clumps will Welcome Centre at Broom and community room within the open at the same time as the Clumps has been designed so that centre is an exciting opportunity centre and a new path will be people can enjoy views into the to provide better information and created alongside Keepers Road to Pheasantry Plantation while sitting more activities for the community. Upper Lodge Road. A new path in the café. from the existing Fountain Car Park “The education and community to the Woodland Gardens and the The café at the centre will be run room will provide a new venue centre has also been created. by E.C Soft Ices. The company and meeting point for a variety of currently operates the temporary activities and events in the park, café in Richmond Park as well as including education programmes, mobile catering in Bushy Park, creative activities and temporary Richmond Park and Hyde Park. exhibitions,” said Hannah Pritchard, Light meals and snacks will be education and community served. engagement officer. Bushy Park News

for bats and moths. Our wonderful Upper Lodge The Brew volunteers also led a guided bird walk out in the Park, although the Water Gardens House torrential rain made bird spotting near to restoration a challenge. Local artist Caroline Jones completion finished assisted with three creative Construction of the Upper The restoration of the Brew House activities including a fantastic Lodge Water Gardens is almost is now complete and the bridge ‘Natural Sculptures’ session in completed and the construction over the Longford River, which which children produced beautiful team has been testing the will provide access from the pieces made from willow, and hydrology of the pools and Water Gardens, has been installed. artistic talents were also on display fountains. Over the next few The possibility of establishing an during the ‘Treasure Troves’ activity months the Gardens will be given onsite micro-brewery is now with children creating decorative time to settle and soft landscaping being explored. clay pots. will be allowed to establish. Once again all the activities were The Friends of Bushy and Home fully booked, demonstrating Parks were instrumental in the Summer the popularity of the summer process of planning the restoration activities at the programme of events, and next of the Water Gardens and the year promises to be even better. work is being recorded by the Stockyard Friends’ time-lapse camera. Inspired by a successful summer The Gardens are scheduled season last year, the Education and to open to the public in Community Engagement Team summer 2009. at Bushy Park provided another series of enjoyable and educational summer events for families at the Stockyard. With almost 400 adults and children participating in a variety of environmental and creative activities, the summer season was a great success, even the wet weather couldn’t dampen everyone’s spirits! In addition to the ever-popular pond dipping and meadow sweep sessions, highlights this year included a guided deer walk led by the Bushy Park Wildlife Officer and an intrepid Night Prowl with the Royal Parks ecologist, searching changed into a fountain by Artemis News from to protect her chastity. Alpheus, however, created an underground the Friends of river from Greece, which surfaced at the fountain, and in this Bushy Park way managed to conquer the After the summer break, the transfigured nymph after all. Friends of Bushy and Home Parks This myth is well represented have started an autumn season of in Bushy Park’s statue by the events. Events that have already wonderful bronzes of nymphs riding taken place include: dolphins and by the range of other • A talk on Fisheries of the Thames, sea creatures such as crabs and An engraving by Bernard Picart which included a section about shells, and the rustication courses depicting Alpheus in his attempt some of the smaller rivers, such to the base of the fountain, which to capture Arethusa. as the Longford, that flow into the are carved to represent seaweed. Thames. The statue has none of the normal features of the warrior goddess • A walk through the Woodland Diana such as bows and arrows. Gardens with the Park Manager, Ray Brodie, to see some of the The statue and fountain were more recent work. commissioned by King Charles l for his Queen, Henrietta Maria, and the • A talk called “Chestnuts – design is attributed to Inigo Jones. It A Walk in the Park” by Chris first stood at Somerset House but Howkins on 23 October. was moved by Oliver Cromwell The last talk of the year, “Spiders” to the Privy Garden at Hampton by Edward Milner, took place Court. In 1713 the statue and on Thursday 27 November. fountain moved again to become For more information on the the centrepiece of Sir Christopher Friends and what they do, Wren’s grand approach to membership details, pictures of Hampton Court Palace through the park and its wildlife, and news Bushy Park. of events, visit bushy.org.uk. Restoration work on the fountain will begin in April 2009, following Did you know the relocation of fish in the basin after the conclusion of breeding Bushy Park’s landmark fountain season in March. is often referred to as the Diana The fountain needs cleaning Fountain, after the Roman goddess and repairing and the unique of hunting, but it is in fact a statue gravity-fed water jets need of Arethusa, a water nymph in re-plumbing to return the fountain Greek mythology. to full working order. Arethusa attracted the amorous attention of the river god Alpheus and to avoid him she fled from Greece to Sicily, where she was

Arethusa ‘Diana’ Fountain Teddington Station

Hampton Wick 4 Station 6

Hampton Station 5

2 BUSHY PARK 3

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HAMPTON COURT PALACE RESTORATION PROJECTS 1 ARETHUSA ‘DIANA’ FOUNTAIN 2 PHEASANTRY WOODLAND GARDENS 3 THE STOCKYARD EDUCATION CENTRE Hampton court Station 4 THE WATER GARDENS 5 THE WELCOME CENTRE

6 THE BREW HOUSE

Make Your Mark The Royal Parks Foundation, Your gifts, large and small, make To find out more please call the charity for The Royal Parks, a big difference and items needed Clare Bowen on 020 7298 2139 is raising funds for Bushy Park range from crockery and cutlery or email restoration projects. Since the last for the kitchen (from £10 to £60) [email protected] newsletter, donors have generously to 40 small children’s stools Alternatively, gifts may be sent to given a further £56,000. There is (£10 each). Royal Parks Foundation Bushy £373,000 still needed to reach the Campaign, Old Police House, £7.2m target, so please help us if Hyde Park, London W2 2UH. you can.

If you would like more information, visit www.royalparks.org.uk or contact Bushy Park on 020 8979 1586.

If you would like to give us your views This publication is printed on paper on the restoration projects in Bushy Park, made from 100% post please email [email protected] consumer waste