A Walk in Richmond Park

We recently had our good friend Kris visiting from the US and took advantage of a day off to take her to Richmond Park, probably our favourite place in London. We had lunch in a sun-filled Richmond pub garden overlooking the Thames before walking up Richmond Hill. It was a wonderful autumn day with the smell of drying leaves being carried by the breeze.

The park dates back to around 1300, when King Edward called it the Manor of Sheen. It was Charles I in 1637 that controversially enclosed the park and made it a Royal hunting ground for the deer. The walls and deer (well their descendents) still remain.

One of the great things about Richmond Park is how close to wild animals and a secluded sense of nature you can get, whilst still having unencumbered views of St Pauls Cathedral 12 miles away. The park is famous for its herds of Red and Fallow Deer, totalling 650 animals between the two species, that usually roam the open spaces in large herds.

September and October are mating season for the deer and therefore we knew that they were potentially more dangerous, especially should Guinness startle one whilst it was having a nap in the high grass. However, we wanted to ensure that we found at least some of the deer to show Kris, and we certainly did not fail.

The deer were everywhere! We saw a single male lounging in the ferns within ten minutes of being in the park and then kept on finding small pockets of them scattered under trees, in fields and wandering in the undergrowth.

Several of the males were quite vocal, but none were aggressive and towards the end of our circuit we were able to get quite close to several males and females, who seemed more interested in sleeping or eating conkers, then in whatever we humans were doing.

Kris was amazed at how many there were in the park and how close you can get to them, whilst even we had to admit that it was the best deer sighting trip we have ever had in Richmond Park.

It was a great day out and all four of us were completely exhausted by the time we got home!