The Phoenix Garden is a community garden and registered charity, managed by volunteers, created to provide a green retreat from the stresses of London's West End and a vital habitat for urban wildlife.
The Phoenix Garden is a community garden and registered charity, managed by volunteers, created to provide a green retreat from the stresses of London's West End and a vital habitat for urban wildlife.
The Phoenix Garden is a community garden and registered charity, managed by volunteers, created to provide a green retreat from the stresses of London's West End and a vital habitat for urban wildlife.
The garden is maintained using sustainable techniques and an innovative approach to wildlife gardening. They use plants that grow reliably in dry conditions, that look good all year round and that will be of maximum benefit to wildlife. The gardeners create many different habitats to encourage as many species as possible.
Thecharity also provides a garden advice resource to local community groups and organises a wide range of community garden events through the year.
All visitors who respect the garden are welcome!
Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit Bushy Park, the second largest of the capital's eight Royal Parks.
Lying north of Hampton Court Palace, Bushy Park's mixture of woods, gardens, ponds and grassland makes it a fantastic place to enjoy wildlife with roaming herds of Red and Fallow Deer. The park is also home to the famous Chestnut Avenue, a formal Baroque water garden and the beautiful Diana Fountain.
Bushy Park is like a patchwork quilt of English history. It has remains of medieval farmland, a Tudor deer park, 17th century water gardens and wartime camps.
The history of the park is inextricably linked to the palace, yet it has always had its own distinct rural character. The famous Arethusa 'Diana' Fountain forms the centrepiece to the equally famous Chestnut Avenue.
The flat site on which Bushy Park lies has been settled for at least 4,000 years. There is clear evidence of the medieval field boundaries, with the finest example just south of the Waterhouse Woodland Gardens, where there are traces of the largest and most complete medieval field system in Middlesex.
The park also houses The Pheasantry café, which offers a range of hot and cold meals, snacks, drinks, freshly brewed continental coffees, homemade cakes and ice creams and has indoor and outdoor seating. As well as a refreshment stop/mini café serving a deli style catering service providing for all your refreshment needs. Both open daily.
Until the middle of the 19th century, Battersea Park consisted of marshland and fields where carrots, asparagus and lavender were grown. The area was opened as a public park in 1858 and was used for sporting activities. In 1951 the park was transformed into a pleasure garden as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations, and the forerunner of Battersea Park Children’s Zoo was born.
When the much-loved zoo, formerly run by Wandsworth Council, was threatened with closure in 2003, the Heap family stepped in and saved it. Carol, Roger and Ed Heap have a passion for animals and valuable experience of running two other wildlife parks - the Chestnut Centre Conservation and Wildlife Park in Derbyshire and the New Forest Wildlife Park in Hampshire.
Taking over Battersea Park Children’s Zoo gave them a chance to create a zoo exactly the way they wanted it - turning it into an opportunity for youngsters to enjoy, respect and learn about the animals that we share our planet with.
Battersea Park Zoo is home to a large variety of Mammals, Reptiles and Birds. There are so many things to do and see, but make sure not to miss feeding times! The otters are first on the list with feeding time starting at 11am.
