Niel, you are so fortunate that your country sees the importance of parks and has so many for the people to enjoy. It must take a large staff of people to keep them all so beautiful. I imagine you miss the work. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Dear Cheryl, Queen Victoria thought it was essential that the public have parks to get fresh air and education. So they were made all over the UK. In London alone we have 1,471 Parks!
To stop anybody taking the land and building on it they were called Public Parks and given to the people, so therefore you cannot build or destroy them.
This really annoys the land developers who would love to get their hands on them, as they would be Billionaires overnight!
To the Public they are our Parks where; mothers and grandparents take their children and grandchildren for a walk and play, areas for dogs to be walked in some Parks, sports, play areas etc.
Most Parks have a bandstand so you can listen to live music in them, and the large Parks have concerts etc. The Royal Parks have Rock concerts in them and these are often free of charge.
They do take a lot of work, but gardeners do not get paid a lot in the UK. This goes back to Queen Victoria.
If one of the property developers tries to take an inch off a Park, there is a mass outcry and protests.
Did you know that London is the greenest metropolitan city in the world!
Regards.
Neil.

How big is London? Are some of the parks small and some large? It is so nice she had such forsight. Everyone needs a natural place of peace to rejuvenate. I could not live in a big city. I would shrivel up and die of depression.

Dear Cheryl, the City of London itself is one mile square! However it like anything has spread to the suburbs so the whole is 607 square miles. But a lot of that is green space.
It has a green belt around it that nobody is allowed to build on, so it cannot get any bigger. That is the total space including green areas like parks and the green belt which is farm land.
The total length of our island is 866 miles long and 123 miles width, which is not a lot to your states.
But it is world recognized as having the most stunning scenery, wildlife, flora and History than anywhere in such a small space.
Regards.
Neil.

I would love to visit there. I so enjoy all your pics.

Thank you again, Neil, for allowing us to journey through more of your parks. It seems one is prettier than the next! I am surprised at how many and how beautiful... and I love that they are in and around London. Awesome!

Dear Brenda, actually Queen Victoria made every city have its own parks! The bigger or more industrialized they were the more parks they had to have. Now with all the industry gone you are left with parks everywhere in the UK. Also every major city had to have a Botanic Garden as well. We have Kew in London, but there is, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Oxford, Cambridge etc., to name but a few! Unfortunately the railways also spread what we now call weed seeds all over the country from these Botanic Gardens. The weeds became established and are not Native to the UK!
Glad you liked the Article.
Kindest Regards to you both.
Neil.

We are fortunate to have 2 parks pretty close to our house even though we are in a very rural place. We have a small park about 5 miles away. It is on the shores of a lake. It has 2 parts to it. The part by the lake has picnic shelters, fire pits, a boat launch, a play ground and a small area for camping. The front part has a small bandstand, kitchen, play ground, walking track, ball courts, gazebo and putt putt golf course. Our church has lots of events there. We had our egg hunt there and I had my seed swap there.

The other park is a state park called Breaks Interstate State Park. It is unique in the fact that part of it is in Virginia and part is in Kentucky. It has the deepest chasm east of the Grand Canyon. It has lots of camping areas, hiking trails, an amphitheatre, museum, lodge, resturant, pool and cabins. Very beautiful place. I love to drive over there and take pics. It's about 20 minutes from our house.

Dear Cheryl, all this cafe and take away/fast food stands is a new thing in our parks and not a lot of people like it!
Most parks apart from Royal ones do not have anything like that, but it is getting that way in some. The buildings belong to the public, not for a company to make money out of!
Regards.
Neil.

I like to sit at a cafe' if it is peaceful. But fast food joints is a different matter. There is a book chain here I enjoy to visit but the closest one is hours away from us now so we have not been in a long time. It has lots of books and it has a coffee shop called Joe Muggs. There are coffees from all over the world and you can have steamers. That is hot flavored milk. You can enjoy your drink and they sell snacks and you can read a book. Very relaxing.

What would the buildings be used for other than food?

They could use the buildings as for what they were supposed to be used for! If you have seats for people to sit on with a roof over just in case it rains that is what it was put there for in the 1800s, not to be changed into a non seated burger stand!
Regards.
Neil.

Well, that would make a lot more sense in a park. So they are like shelters rather than buildings with walls? We have shelters in our park. They have picnic tables under them. Some can be rented for gatherings. They are nice to have.

Dear Cheryl, what I am saying is the fast food outlets are using the little shelters and putting walls around them to use as burger stands etc.
That is not what they were made for. They were made for the public to use, not companies!
Regards.
Neil.

Can't the law make them take it down and move on. It's wrong to take away from the public what was set aside for the public's use. People are so selfish.

Oh Neil,
Thank you for such a wonderful tour of the Gardens. I must say, I feel I'm there. What with viewing your photos and your explanation of each plus my intent to watch the Royal wedding, I couldn't have a better seat even in I were in your country.
I've my DVR set for the wedding. It starts for us at 3:00a.m. Central Daylight Time for me.
Any other bits of info. you post will be well received by us Americans.
My regards,
Lee

For you Lee!
A souvenir from me!
Regards.
Neil.

Most kind of you Niel. I'll experience the Royal event via your eyes and descriptions. I've the DVR set. '
Too, I was most impressed by the synopsis I read today of your training. I admire your devotion, too.
I'm sure you won't let us Americans and others down during the wedding by taking us through the details.
Many people have said that Americans amongst most are interested in the wedding. More so than some in GB. Is this possible as I can't imagine it.
I took it upon myself to forward your pics.and descriptions to some people who, like I, would appreciate your descriptions and pics. I hope you don't mind.
I've been off for a couple weeks with compt. trouble. Got my unit back Saturday thank goodness.
My regards and best wishes to you and the people of the Commonwealth.
Lee

Dear Lee, well I was one of H.M. Queens Head Gardeners!
I was in Charge at Greenwich, there are two Articles I have written on it in my Articles below the forums!
Regards.
Neil.