3-039-207 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The chestnut-trees in Bushey Park, 1871. 'A beautiful sight may be seen, just at this time of the year, about twelve or thirteen miles from London...the public road through the grand avenue, from one gate of the park to the other, freely open to walkers, or riders upon horseback or in a carriage, is always pleasant; and it is now magnificent, with one of the finest double lines of horse-chesnuts that England can show...the magnificent structure of the leaves, each individual leaf being a cluster of five large leaflets, attached to a single stem, and spread asunder like the five fingers of a wide-opened hand, at once imposes itself upon our attention...The summer majesty of the horse-chestnut will continue to delight us several months; but short-lived is the exquisite loveliness, now present with us, of its large silvery spikes of sweet blossom, piled in myriads of dainty little pyramids upon the clumps of leafy verdure superbly held forth by its boughs...Bushey Park, near the Teddington station of the South-Western Railway, is still more agreeable, because it has the fresh country air. Some of the London holidaymakers eat their luncheon on the grass near the great stone basin with the fountain or under the shade of the trees'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.