Space to Visit

Palace Road Nature Garden is based on the site of a large house and garden that was demolished in the 1980s, and then converted into a public open space, with paths winding through trees and natural planting and around ponds. The site includes a summer flowering meadow, an orchard, and a colourful mural on the wall of an adjacent house created by the local community. Many trees and shrubs in the grounds of the original house have been retained, which explains the diverse mixture of native and exotic species such as ash, English oak, holm oak, whitebeam, sycamore and conifers like Cedar of Lebanon, Swamp Cypress and Coastal Redwood. The woodland understorey contains species like garden privet, holly, hawthorn, elder, cherry laurel, ivy and bramble. The site is also abundant in many different wild birds and invertebrates. The ponds are an important home for the tadpoles of frogs, toads and newts.