Isabella Plantation is a

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shrub ...

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

in south west London. It is managed by

The Royal Parks The Royal Parks make up land that was originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, by the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks, a charity which manages eight royal pa ...

. Originally located in a boggy part of Richmond Park, it was labelled on a 1771 map as ''Isabell Slade''. ''Slade'', or , meant a bog or open space between woods and or banks, and ''isabel'' meant dirty or greyish brown, referring to the colour of the soil there. The Isabella Plantation was established in the early 19th century when Lord Sidmouth, who was Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park and a former

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

, fenced it as an area of woodland to keep the park's deer out. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was transformed into a woodland garden. It is now organically run, resulting in a rich

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

. Opened to the public in 1953, p.32 it is now a major visitor attraction in its own right. In October 2012 it was reported that about 40 per cent of the Isabella Plantation is covered with '' Rhododendron ponticum'', a non-native and invasive variety of rhododendron introduced by the Victorians, and that this would be removed over the next five years. In 2014, improvements were made to the Plantation to incorporate new direction signs, wheelchair-accessible pathways and toilets and a new shelter and

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

through a project funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. The works also incorporated de-silting of all three ponds (Peg's Pond, Thomson's Pond and Still Pond) in the Plantation and establishing new waterfalls in the streams, funded by The Royal Parks with contributions from the Friends of Richmond Park.

References

External links

The Royal Parks: Isabella Plantation

VisitRichmond: Isabella PlantationPanoramic Earth: Isabella Plantation
{{Coord, 51.433, -0.277, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Richmond Park Woodland gardens