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High Elms Country Park is an extensive public park on the North Downs in Farnborough in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a Local Nature Reserve, and together with the neighbouring Downe Bank, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.〔(Natural England Citation, Downe Bank and High Elms )〕 The park surrounds High Elms Golf Course, and has extensive woodland, chiefly oak and beech, chalk meadows and formal gardens. It also has a cafe, a visitor centre, nature and history trails and car parks. The rangers of the Bromley Countryside Service, who manage borough owned parks, are based at the park.〔(London Borough of Bromley, Countryside Service )〕 There is access from High Elms Road and Shire Lane. ==History== The history of the High Elms estate can be traced back to the Norman Conquest, when it was given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother, Odo, bishop of Bayeux. In the early nineteenth century it was acquired by the Lubbock family,〔 and in 1840 the astronomer and banker, Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet inherited it on the death of his father.〔(Timothy L. Alborn, ''Sir John William Lubbock'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 )〕 He built a grand new mansion in the Italian style.〔(High Elms Golf Club, Historic High Elms )〕 He became a friend of Charles Darwin, who lived nearby at Down House, and Lubbock's son, the fourth baronet, also called John Lubbock and later Baron Avebury, was a close friend of Darwin and frequent visitor to Down House from his childhood.〔(R. B. Freeman, Charles Darwin, A Companion, 1978, Darwin Online, Sir John Lubbock )〕 In 1938 the estate was sold to Kent County Council and the house became a nurses' training centre. In 1965 the area became part of the London Borough of Bromley, and the estate was transferred to the new borough. The land then became public open space, but in 1967 the mansion burnt down.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「High Elms Country Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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