Royal parks to be restored for £100m

The capital's eight royal parks will be restored under £100 million plans after an official assessor's report found they were falling into disrepair.

The Royal Parks Foundation will revive recently rediscovered design features dating back to the Restoration and the baroque period.

The first project is a £7.2 million excavation of a massive water garden and adjoining woodland garden built nearly 300 years ago by the first Earl of Halifax in Bushy Park, near Hampton Court Palace.

At Greenwich Park, circular avenues of chestnut trees are to be replanted and at Hyde Park a new nature trail will be built.

Meanwhile, £5 million of sports facilities and a pavilion will be installed at Regent's Park and Kensington Gardens will see its treelinedavenues restored. A global investigation of art galleries and map rooms revealed important clues about the parks' original design.

Working with the government's Royal Parks Agency, the RPF - which last week became a registered charity - aims to collect a total of £100 million in Lottery funding and private donations over the next 10 years. It will receive more than £23 million of taxpayers' money this year.