There are several places near Kingston town centre that are great for walking and cycling. These includes Barge Walk and Hampton Court Home Park that I had visited before as well as Bushy Park that I am going to introduce in this post.

Back in 1529 after King George VIII took over Hampton Court Palace, he renamed the three nearby parks as Bushy Park. This is the second largest London’s Royal Parks at 445 hectares in side.

Bushy Park is famous for her wildlife reservation areas and the free-roaming Fallow deers. Major attractions include Diana Fountain, Waterhouse Woodland Gardens and Upper Lodge Water Gardens. Without no doubt kids will love the Bushy Park Playground by the side of the Fountain. And for cyclists, they definitely will not miss the one mile long straight road Chestnut Avenue that runs through the park from north to south.

Bushy Park opens 24 hours a day for pedestrian. During period of deer cull from September to November, the opening time is from 8:00am to 10:30pm.

Kingston 市中心附近有數個適合漫步或騎單車的著名景點，包括早前我去過的 Barge Walk，漢普敦公園 及今次要介紹的灌木公園（Bushy Park）。

1529 年英皇喬治八世接管 Hampton Court Palace 後，把附近的三個公園正式命名為 Bushy Park 。公園佔地約 445 公頃，是倫敦第二大皇室公園（Royal Park）。

Bushy Park 最出名當然是她的的野生保育區及黇鹿。主要景點有 Diana Fountain, Waterhouse Woodland Gardens 及 Upper Lodge Water Gardens。小朋友當然最關注 Diana Fountain 傍的 Bushy Park Playground，而單車愛好者就一定不會錯過貫通公園南北 ，長達一英里的大直路 Chestnut Avenue。

Bushy Park 是 24 小時開放給公眾，在九月至十一月獵鹿時段則改為早上八點至晚上十點半。

Early one September afternoon while it was still sunny and warm, I took a short trip to the famous Busy Park. The journey started from Kingston Bridge to Hampton Wick. Along Church Grove and entered the park via the Church Grove Gate.

Quite a lot of the riders rode along Sandy Lane and entered the park via the Hampton Wick Gate. Using Cobbler’s Walk as a fast path directly to Chestnut Avenue.

The greatest advantage of entering the park via Church Grove Gate is that you don’t need to struggle along the narrow Sandy Lane and can quickly arrive at the playground.

九月初的一個下午，趁著陽光普照，獨自騎車到這個著名的灌木公園走了一趟。今次行程較簡單，從 Kingston Bridge 往 Hampton Wick 方向走，再沿 Church Grove 經 Church Grove Gate 進入 Bushy Park。

很多單車客會選擇到 Sandy Lane 的 Hampton Wick Gate 進入公園，再經 Cobbler’s Walk 直接騎到 Chestnut Avenue。

經 Church Grove Gate 入公園的好處是可減少在較陜窄的馬路上騎乘，又可以快速到達遊樂場。

Passing through Church Grove Gate, came the Church Grove Passage. With trees on both sides of the passage, moving along will be relaxing even under great sunlight. On the left is the Kingsfield Skate Park where you will find quite a lot of the kids playing and practising here during weekend and holidays.

入閘後便是 Church Grove Passage，通路兩傍種滿樹木，即使列日當空的日子，走起來也很舒服。左邊是 Kingsfield Skate Park，假日會有甚多青少年在此玩樂或練習。

At the end of the passage is the Church Grove Passage Gate. By following the unpaved road next to the Royal Paddock, you will reach the Bushy Park Playground and the Diana Fountain at the centre of the park.

通路的盡頭就是 Church Grove Passage Gate。接著便是一段沿著 Royal Paddock 的泥路，可通往兒童遊樂場及中央的 Diana Fountain。

As it was a school day on my visit, I hardly could find any children playing in the large playground.

到訪當天因不是假期，龐大的遊樂埸一個小孩子也沒有。

After leaving the playground, at the end of the unpaved road is the Porters Stream.

過了遊樂場，在泥路尾段便是 Porters Stream。

Going ahead was the Chestnut Avenue. This one mile long straight road is the gem of UK cyclists. Looking through the Strava Leaderboards statistics for the corresponding segment, you will find large amount of cyclists breaking their PB here in Chestnut Avenue. The fastest record was at an alarming speed of 59.1 Km/s. Not sure if that was the reason several blocks of flower troughs were placed across the the portion of the avenue between Teddington Gate and Diana Fountain, to lower the speed of the cyclists.

By the way, as Chestnut Avenue links Queen’s Road / Sandy Lane at the north to Hampton Court Road at the south, a lot of motor vehicles will enter and leave the avenue during daytime. Extra attention should be paid when moving along the avenue.

再走前一點便是 Chestnut Avenue。這條長達一英里的大直路是很多騎乘者的至愛，在 Strava 上亦見到有很多人在突破自己 PB，排首位速度是驚人的 59.1 Km/h。不知是否就是這個原因，發覺在北面 Teddington Gate 至 Diana Fountain 間已梅花間竹地放置數排花槽，可能是用以減低單車速度。

另外由於 Chestnut Avenue 連接公園北面的 Queen’s Road / Sandy Lane 至南面的 Hampton Court Road，日間有不少車輛進出，騎乘要小心。

At the centre of the park is the Diana Fountain, a circular fountain of 120 Meter in diameter. Surrounding it is the Chestnut Avenue and the Diana statue is erected at the centre of the fountain.

Few days ago, my wife asked me if the fountain is dedicated for the commemoration of the late Princess Diana? Oops, What is good question!

Personally, I believe it was not as the Park was built several hundreds of years ago.

A lookup with Google revealed that Diana was the Roman goddess of wild animals and the hunt.

位於公園中央的 Diana Fountain 是一個直徑 120 Meter 的圓形水池，被 Chestnut Avenue 及草地包圍著，而 Diana 雕像就豎立於池中央。

早幾天，太太問我水池是否用以紀念已故 Diana 皇妃？真的被她考起！

我想公園建於數佰年前，怕且不是吧！

找了 Google 大神一問，原來這個 Diana 是指羅馬神話中的野生動物女神和狩獵女神。

To take a closer look at the Fallow deers, you may go to either sides of Chestnut Avenue near Hampton Court Gate or Diana Fountain . However, remember not to disturb the deers and keep a reasonable distance away from them.

要近距離看黇鹿的話，可到 Chestnut Avenue 近 Hampton Court Gate 或 Diana Fountain 兩傍的草地。不過切記不要走得太近或騷擾到它們。

Time to get somethings to eat.

Followed the road sign and went to The Pleasantry Cafe for my afternoon tea, along the Upper Lodge Road.

有點肚餓，就依 Chestnut Avenue 傍的指示牌轉入 Upper Lodge Road，到 The Pleasantry Cafe 吃個下午茶。

There is another food kiosk located in the carpark next to Diana Fountain. It is operated by the same food supplier Colicci and serving exactly the same set of food and drinks as in The Pleasantry Cafe.

公園內還有另一小食亭，位於 Diana Fountain 傍的停車場，由同一集團 Colicci 營運，提供與 Pleasantry 一模一樣的包點小吃。

Along Woodland Gardens, I pedalled to the last attraction of the day, Lime Avenue. If the weather is good, I believed having picnic here should be wonderful.

接著再沿 Woodland Gardens 傍的小路轉入最後一個景點 Lime Avenue。天氣好的話，在這𥚃野餐應是一個不錯的選擇。

For the return trip, I stayed on the Chestnut Avenue and exited the park via the Teddington Gate. Along Sandy Lane, Park Road, I crossed the Kingston Bridge and back to the Kingston down centre.

回程沿 Chestnut Avenue 走，經 Teddington Gate 離開，再採道 Sandy Lane，Park Road 及 Kingston Bridge 回到 Kingston 市中心。

To be honest, this 12.5 Kilometers round trip to Bushy Park was extremely short to me. And for trips like Bushy Park, Barge Walk and Hampton Court Park, I considered them better suit for regular walking, jogging as well as kids’ riding. Cyclists used to long distance riding will find these routes quite boring and going once is definitely enough.

Nevertheless, if your cycling journey need to return to Kingston from areas near Teddington, taking the Chestnut Avenue as a shortcut should be a really good alternative.

這次行程非常之短，來回亦僅 12.5公里，就當是舒展筋骨吧。像 Bushy Park，Barge Walk 或 Hampton Court Park 這些市內路線，我覺得較適合作日常散歩或讓小孩踏單車。對於習慣長途騎乘的單車客來説其實是頗沉悶的，走一次便夠了。

反而你的騎乘路線如需要由 Teddington 返回 Kingston 的話，利用公園內的 Chestnut Avenue 作㨗徑又未尚不可。

If you are interested in my rides in UK, click here for more details.

有興趣看看我其他在英國的單車遊，可按這裡。