Most of the ground is too steep for the cricket and football to which the greater part of other parks are given over. Only lawn tennis and bowls can be provided for, on the green lawns at the top of the Park. A delightful old pond, with steep banks overshadowed by limes and chestnuts, has a feeling of the real country about it. The concrete edges, the little patches of aquatic plants and neat turf, are missing. The banks show signs of last year's leaves, fallen sticks, and blackened chestnuts, and any green near it, is only natural wild plants that enjoy shade and moisture. It is the sort of place a water-hen would feel at home in, and not expect to meet intruding Mandarin ducks or Canadian geese. Let us hope this quiet spot may long remain untouched. There are two newer lakes lower down, laid out in approved County Council style, trim and neat, with water-fowl, water-lilies, and judicious planting round the banks of weeping willows and rhododendron clumps. Probably many visitors find them more attractive than the upper pool. There is no fault to find with them, and they are perhaps more suited to a public park, but they are devoid of the poetry which raises the other out of the commonplace. As the slopes towards the lower lakes are the playground of multitudes of babies, it is necessary to protect them from the water's edge by substantial railings, but most of the Park is singularly free from these unsightly but often necessary safeguards. The trees all through the grounds are unusually fine. Four hickories are particularly worthy of note. They are indeed grand and graceful trees, and it is astonishing they should be so little planted. These are noble specimens, and look extremely healthy. The most characteristic feature in the Park is the house it contains and the garden immediately round it. This was built for Lauderdale, the "L" in the Cabal of Charles II., probably about 1660. When this unattractive character was not living there himself, he not unfrequently lent it to Nell Gwynn. The ground floor of the house is open to the public as refreshment rooms, and one empty parlour with seats has much good old carving, of the date of the house, over the mantelpiece, also in a recess which encloses a marble bath known as "Nell Gwynn's bath." It is said to have been from a window in Lauderdale House that she held out her son when Charles was walking below, threatening to let him drop if the King did not promise to confer some title upon him. In response Charles exclaimed, "Save the Earl of Burford," which title (and later, that of Duke of St. Albans) was formally conferred upon him.
