Isabella Plantation

The lowdown

Tucked inside Richmond Park is a forty-acre woodland garden that many Londoners have never found, and it is entirely free. Isabella Plantation was laid out in the 1950s around a series of ponds and streams, and it is best known for its evergreen azaleas, which in late spring turn the whole place into a riot of fierce pinks, oranges and reds.

The clever thing is that it works in every season. Camellias and rhododendrons carry the colour through, the streams and ponds keep it cool in summer, and the acers blaze in autumn, so there is never a wrong time to wander the gravel paths and little bridges.

It is a fenced garden-within-a-park, which keeps the deer out and the planting lush, and because you have to make an effort to reach it the crowds thin out fast. Bring a flask, find a bench by the still pond and you have one of the calmest free corners in London.