Mary Forsdyke Garden and Warren Lake

Christmas Tree

Feature Tree

‘Abies nordmanniana’ – Nordman Fir. Planted in March 2017 as a permanent Christmas tree for Bushey. Join us for the light switchs being switched on in the first Thursday of December.

A stately, moderately-fast growing, large to very large tree with tiered branches sweeping downwards. This tree delights in winter with its glossy rich green foliage and distinct reddish-brown winter buds. Produces long greenish/brown cones. A very hardy, disease resistant species with deep rooting habit.

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Common Beech

Feature Tree

Rivalled only be the English Oak in heritage and stature, our native Beech matures to a magnificent specimen tree with a smooth grey muscular bark and stately domed crown of branches that arch out and over, often to the ground. The leaves are glossy, light green in spring, rich dark green in summer, turning warm orange and gold in autumn and is a very hardy tree.

This Fagus sylvatica was planted in March 2017 as a replacement for a mature beech which unfortunately had to be felled as it had become unstable with potential to fall onto the neighbouring property and is one of the feature trees on the Michael O’brien Lakeside Walk.

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Mary Forsdyke

Site of historical interest

Mary Eliza Forsdyke 1852-1956.  A former resident of Bushey and Headmistress of Merry Hill Girl’s School she lived to the age of 104, the oldest resident of Bushey. In her later life she also generously gave her time to charity work at St Peters Church.  Although this garden was dedicated to her memory in 1953, she sadly never got the chance to see it.

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Ornamental Maple

Feature Tree

This stunning Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Deshojo’) was planted as part of re-landscaping of the gardens in March 2017 to add interest to the garden for months on end.

It’s five-lobed leaves are a brilliant shade of shrimp pink when they unfurl in the spring, turning to green during the summer and finally scarlet in the autumn.

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Warren Lake

Water Habitat

This man-made lake was created as an ornamental feature in the grounds of ‘The Warren’, a Victorian house which stood on this site from the nineteenth century until it was demolished to make way for new houses in the 1950s. The property developers, Comben and Wakeling, gave The Warren Lake as a gift to the Council in 1961 on condition that it was kept as a public open space for everyone to enjoy.

Th eland on which The Warren Estate was built was once common land used by local people. In 1809 Bushey Heath was enclosed under an Act of Parliament.  In principal it meant that Lords and commoners would each receive a share of the land but in reality the land on which you are now standing became the property of Mr Capper, the Lord Mayor of Bushey.

In 2017, the lake was drained down and silt removed.  The banks were reformed using this silt and planted up with a mixture of planting to increase habitat for wildlife and add colour.  Water lilies were also introduced and aerators installed to provide additional oxygen to help maintain a healthy aquatic habitat.  The 1898 OS map of the Warren Estate showed the lake marked as a fish pond – maybe one day soon we will be able to re-introduce fish!

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