The Palace Road Nature Garden (map) is an ideal resource for children. There are many secret paths and bowers where they can play. On a sunny day, it is a nice spot for a picnic. In spring, you will find tadpoles in the pond. In autumn, there are plenty of sweet blackberries, and in the winter, ducks visit the sheltered pond.
Get Involved as a Volunteer
Every Saturday, at 10 am, the Gardening Group meets in the yard depot at Hillside Gardens Park to work on gardening and maintenance tasks at Hillside Gardens Park and Palace Road Nature Garden. Come along for gentle gardening, friendly people, and refreshments. If you would like to get involved, simply come along on Saturday or join the Friends of Hillside Gardens WhatsApp group to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the park.
From June 24, 2025, the Friends of Hillside Gardens and Palace Road Nature Garden, under the leadership of Nick Peacock, are working to replace the old pond and dipping platform in the Nature Garden. The project is funded by The Nature Hubs Fund (supported by Hubbub and Starbucks UK) and Froglife. You can find out more about the project, the process and how to get involved on the dedicated project site.
Western Riverside Environmental Fund
In 2012, The Friends Group was offered a grant of £10000 by Groundwork UK from the Western Riverside Environmental Fund for environmental improvement works at the Nature Garden. The nature garden had suffered from natural succession by self-seeded trees and dense ivy ground cover. Grassland areas had been encroached by invasive weeds and brambles. and by layers of dead organic material, which inhibited floral diversity. Appropriate intervention and replanting were needed to increase biodiversity and benefit wildlife. Woodlands management involved felling several self-seeded sycamore trees and replanting with a variety of species given by the Woodlands Trust. Grassland areas were rotovated and planted with a wildflower seed mix to create a diverse and colourful wildflower meadow. Other works included installing new seating and creating a woodland nature trail.
History of Palace Road Nature Garden
Palace Road Nature Gardens was once the grounds of a large Victorian house, number 36 Palace Road. During the post-war recession, the number of people who could afford such magnificent properties declined, and sadly, it fell into disrepair and was demolished in the early 1980s. If you walk along Palace Road, you can see that many other similar houses shared their fate and were replaced by blocks of flats. Number 38 still stands, and is now a care home.
Fortunately, Lambeth Council had the inspired idea of preserving the garden as a community asset for rest and recreation. Some changes were made, including the installation of a pond and the provision of new paths. The garden has been allowed to develop in a semi-wild fashion and now has many points of interest. There are, after all, few things more beautiful than a carefully laid out garden to which nature has added the finishing touches.
Friends of Hillside Gardens And Palace Road Nature Garden 