Distant Day Out - Nonsuch Park

Cheam Park and Nonsuch Park are contiguous, but are officially separate and are operated by different councils. Hence this post is a "Distant Day Out", even though I was really close to London. 

Nonsuch Park is where King Henry VIII had a hunting lodge, and the park was the site of Nonsuch Palace. To build it, Henry oversaw the destruction of the village of Cuddington. It was named nonsuch as Henry wanted to build a palace that had no equal - one that would be extremely lavish, rivalling the Chateau de Chambord, owned by the King of France. Unfortunately for Henry, whilst it made sense for the palace to be situated near his hunting follies, the area had no reliable water supply. Hence, the palace became a bit of a white elephant.

Henry built it for his son, later King Edward VI, but he didn't want it, and eventually it ended up with the Earl of Arundel. Over time, the palace ended up in the hands of Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, a mistress of King Charles II who has a very in-depth description of her looks ("tall, voluptuous, with masses of brunette hair, slanting, heavy-lidded violet eyes, alabaster skin, and a sensuous, sulky mouth") in her Wikipedia article. Affected by gambling debts, she decided to pull the palace down in 1682 to pay them off. As such, the palace that was considered to have no equal was no more. Today it's best remembered in an XTC album cover.

I entered Nonsuch Park from the Cheam side, and followed a footpath which had various parking spaces alongside. From here, it wasn't too long before I arrived at Nonsuch Mansion, which stands where the palace used to be. 

Nonsuch Mansion was initially built in the 1740s, but was redesigned by Sir Jeffry Wyattville from 1802-6 in a Tudor Gothic style, apt considering the area's history. The mansion was the home of the Farmer family, with WF Gamul Farmer once a resident here - he has a memorial nearby, as I mentioned in the Cheam blogpost. It's certainly magnificent and hard to capture in one image, so I've resorted to a selection of croppings.

It wasn't open when I came, though as with most large houses, it's available for weddings and other large events. Round the back of the mansion, there's a cafe, and countless families and dogs were mulling about; some children with facepaint on, as I visited on Halloween. The more curious aspect though is probably this tree which gets its own plaque. I decided to walk onwards, into the park's vast green expanse. I didn't get too far, but should I have continued up to the end, I would have got to North Cheam. 

Cloudy, with naked trees and leaves staining the ground in large clusters. Rather peaceful, with the odd couple coming into view after returning from a lengthy hike. Whilst the mansion is the obvious highlight of Nonsuch Park, the greenery itself is a great pleasure to see.

Around the mansion itself are a series of gardens, with neatly trimmed grass and plenty of historical curiosities. Take the sundial, which wasn't functioning properly when I visited. on account of the clouds. There's the rose arch as well, which has small name cards attached which remember the dead along its perimeter, and there's a fish pond as well. As well as this, there's a ha ha which I foolishly didn't photograph. The ha ha acted as a ditch to prevent animals from entering the gardens, whilst keeping the view of the mansion unobscured. 

Other structures include the bothy, which doubles as a remembrance memorial. A sign stated that you could get through a gate to see a great view, though the one I thought they were referring to was locked shut. The old greenhouse, meanwhile, is a section which contains some nice hidden greenery, and which too wasn't that busy. And around these structures, you are free to roam wherever you want; I attempted to capture a squirrel climbing a tree, though as with my last attempts, it didn't pan out that well.

 

It's worth mentioning that Nonsuch Park is massive, and the area surrounding the mansion is far smaller in comparison. I regret not seeing the ponds which lie closer to Ewell, and perhaps I'll tick them off another time. Nonetheless, from what I saw, Nonsuch Park is a delightful space with great history, and it wouldn't hurt to take time out of your day to visit. It is nonsuch in this part of London for sure...and having seen online photos, it looks even better when it's snowy.