5/5 Deepa P. 2 years ago on Google
In
the
vastness
of
Richmond
park
I
love
this
place
the
best
for
picnic
🧺.
In
the
17th
century,
this
area
in
the
south
west
corner
of
Richmond
Park
was
known
as
The
Sleyt.
This
is
the
name
usually
used
for
boggy
ground
or
an
open
space
between
woods
or
banks.
By
1771,
it
is
shown
on
maps
as
Isabella
Slade
.
Isabella
may
have
been
the
wife
or
daughter
of
a
member
of
staff.
But
it
is
more
likely
to
be
a
corruption
of
the
word
isabel,
which
was
used
as
far
back
as
the
15th
century
to
mean
dingy
or
greyish
yellow
-
the
colour
of
the
soil
in
this
part
of
the
park.
In
1831,
Lord
Sidmouth,
the
park
deputy
ranger,
fenced
off
17ha
(42
acres)
of
the
Isabella
Slade
.
He
planted
oak,
beech
and
sweet
chestnut
trees
as
a
crop
for
timber
and
gave
the
area
the
name
it
has
today.
The
present
garden
of
clearings,
ponds
and
streams
was
established
from
the
1950s
onwards.
It
is
largely
the
work
of
George
Thomson,
the
park
superintendent
from
1951-1971.
Along
with
his
head
gardener,
Wally
Miller,
he
removed
Rhododendron
ponticum
from
large
areas
and
replaced
it
with
other
rhododendron
species.
They
established
evergreen
Kurume
Azaleas
around
the
Still
Pond
and
planted
other
exotic
shrub
and
tree
species.
