Not really sure when I first noticed the little patch of land on Kings Road in Southsea that has been given over to nature. I used to pass it all the time years ago going down to university and home again and it must have caught my eye. In a part of Southsea that was almost wiped clean off the map during the Blitz and 1960s redevelopment, Gloucester Terrace looping around to Gloucester Place (and backed with Gloucester View) is one of the few pieces of the original Kings Road area still intact.
This old road and its old buildings surround a small, gated park much like a smaller version of those fenced garden squares in London. This garden on the other hand has been given over to nature as a small preserve, slap bang in busy Southsea. Whilst the people of the city go about their work, studies and life, this little part of the island sees insects, plants, trees and birds (and probably snakes and lizards) go about their own lives too.
As Portsmouth gets even more developed and continues to be the most densely populated city in the UK, I hope this little area dedicated to a wilder version of city life goes on untouched.
If you know more about this small garden, please let us know.
David Yates
14 April
Nature Garden on Kings Road in Southsea.
I was a 4 year old boy living in one of the adjoining flats on Kings Road 69 years ago. It was a bomb site with deep cellars and a mecca for children to play in. There was a rumour that several people had been killed in the demolished properties. Between here and central Portsmouth was a waste land of bomb sites. Even then, wildlife was returning to the site with adders, a fox family, butterflys, budlea bushes, and other shrubs. It’s great to see it has been retained by the local authority.