Kensington Gardens – strange chestnuts and up close at the Albert Memorial

Saturday 8th November was a glorious day weather-wise – a perfect day for the Lordy Lady Mayor's Show, but this year I had something else to do – I had an appointment at the Albert Memorial for another up close look at the Parnassus Frieze, this time not just as the final stop at the end of the tours we volunteers lead for The Royal Parks, but a site specific visit to find out more about the details and the people on the monument. 

I approached from Kensington High Street and entered the gardens at this little gate opposite Victoria Road (shown here in 2022):

As I veered to the right, heading towards the South Flower Walk, I happened to notice some strange conker-looking things on the grass at my feet. These were more shrivelled than the horse chestnut's globe-like shiny battle fruits, and the casings around the them were not thick and prickly but thin and almost smooth, segmented into three parts and very easy to remove. They certainly were not sweet chestnuts either as the leaves weren't right. I suspected these trees were likely from Asia.

Just as I was about to walk away, two adults and a child came up to me and asked me if I knew what the tree was and the child asked if she could eat the nuts. Ooh no, I said, best not, don't risk it. I thought about doing a reverse picture search, but the battery on my phone was down to the red section and I was keen to save the tiny bit of juice I had left for the Albert Memorial. I gave them my card and, picking up a half-cased nut to take away as reference, I told them I'd write it up here if I found out any info.

So here we are. I did try doing the reverse image search thing later that day when I was fully-charged. I got nowhere fast. It kept telling me it was a horse chestnut. If I searched using a pic of the leaves I got something else entirely. I gave up and decided to return to the task another day.

Two days later, on Monday evening, I was at a London Historians event. I got chatting to a nice couple and asked if they'd had a good evening seeing at this was the first time they'd attended. Chit chat chitty chat and, blow me down, if I hadn't just introduced myself to Greg Packman, who is the Arboricultural Officer for The Royal Parks! How have I not met this man before?! He's a walking talking tree encyclopaedia! So, of course, I asked him about my nut case and before I could get to the end of my sentence he'd interrupted me with "Indian Chestnut" – it turns out there's an avenue of these Aesculus indica trees along the edge of the road. 

Greg leads tree identification walks, workshops and events in the parks as listed in this Facebook page – I'll definitely be joining in soon. 

Back to Saturday... waving goodbye to the people by the tree, I passed Esme Percy's dog fountain near the closed toilets just beyond the cafe/kiosk and headed down the flower walk towards the Albert Memorial. 

Incidentally, why can't these toilets be reopened, or the ones at Hyde Park Corner for that matter? I have collected a lots of pics of public loos in the past two years – another topic lurking in my To Do folder).

At the memorial Barbara led us around the monument pointing out the many references before we went inside the gates and up the steps to get a good look at the frieze and other details that adorn this OTT monument, a memorial that Albert had said he most definitely didn't want, because all his efforts had never been about himself but for the betterment of the masses. I wonder if the plans for the revamp and additional statuary planned for St James's Park to commemorate our late Queen will also be a bridge too far, as I very much doubt she would have agreed to a blingy wedding tiara replacing the understated Blue Bridge that currently crosses the lake. 

Boob job?

What a lovely few hours. I told everyone on the tour that we lead guided walks every month in Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James's Park, yet I've since learned that only the former is available this side of January. Such a shame. However, other events are available on TRP website here, or join me for one of my own tours.