Royal Parks cleberate 150 years

London's treasured Royal Parks - once the preserve of monarchs and forbidden territory to commoners - are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their transformation into public spaces.

A two-day celebration, called Countryside Days, has been lined up at Richmond Park this weekend.

The festivities will include a Victorian themed area, vintage bus service, pond dipping, teenage marching band, riding displays, face painting and willow sculptures.

Public access to Richmond Park and Bushy Park was restricted for hundreds of years until the Crown Lands Act of 1851 finally proclaimed them open to all.

Richmond Park, famous for its deer, was built up over a 10-year period by Charles I during the 1620s.

Bushy Park, named in 1604 after its mass of hawthorns, first began to take shape in 1500 when the Lord Chamberlain bought farm land to provide deer hunting for the King.

Prior to the 1851 Act, only a privileged few were able to experience the Royal Parks.

The first reported visit by a commoner to Bushy Park for pleasure was in 1829, when a young boy called George Aycliffe flew his kite there, blissfully unaware of the royal regulations.

The boy was discovered by the Duke of Clarence, shortly afterwards crowned King William IV, who told him: "Well, you are a good boy George. You may fly your kite whenever you like. If the Ranger says anything to you, tell him the gentleman who owns the park says you are to fly your kite here."