Getting lost finding deer in London

I have this thing with animals. I love them. (Well, except for spiders… and Great White sharks… but more or less all the others are great.)

So when I heard there were free-roaming deer in a park down in Richmond – just outside of London – I knew this was something to check out. Add the fact that this park used to be the private hunting grounds of Henry VIII and I was doubly hooked (slight obsession with the Tudors.)

I decided to venture down South West yesterday – waiting what felt like 2 hrs at Earls Court to take the District Line down to Richmond. And this is where my latest rookie mistake crept up on me. But just tell me you wouldn’t have done the same….

Look on any map of London and you’ll see Richmond has two large parks on either side of it. One is Richmond Park. The other is Kew Gardens and Old Deer Park. So, logically, I head off in the direction of Old Deer Park and a good 20 minutes into my walk realise this is not at all where the deer are. I’m standing in the middle of football fields. Maybe the word “Old” should have been my first clue.

Anyway, here it is for the record people: London’s free-roaming deer population is in Richmond Park. Walk all the way through the center of Richmond from the station and up Richmond Hill on the other side and that is where you’ll find the entrance to the park.

I stopped at the gates and started silly-panicking. What if I couldn’t find the deer? What if on the one day I visit, they are all sleeping in the woods? What if I wander so far I don’t make it back to the gates by 4pm when it gets dark?

I crept into the park, much like I did when I was safari, with all senses blaring. Every branch I saw I thought was an antler and every squirrel that dashed by I thought was something much bigger approaching. But then, just 5 minutes in, I came to a clearing and stumbled on this…

Huge males butted heads with each other, skiddish females nibbled the grass and some gangly teenagers – still with their spots – wandered out onto the road that cuts through the park. There are 630 deer in total in the park, so the ones I saw were just a fraction. Deer have wandered freely here since 1529 and there is a wonderfully wild feeling to the place – much like on Hampstead Heath – that gives you the impression you are far outside of London and that winter is just around the corner. But you still got there on the Tube.

I highly recommend a trip up – just make sure you go to the right park.