The major improvement works taking place to upgrade the outside seating area at The Pheasantry Café in Bushy Park should be completed before Easter, Nub News learned today.

Hundreds of visitors were sitting outside of the café today at temporarily relocated tables on the grass while workmen and machinery was use to lay a new surface behind the fenced off area.

A major project to improve the pathways in the Woodland Gardens and the outside seating areas began early last month and much of the work has already been completed.

Two new viewing platforms are also due to be built near the stream which is home to thousands of wild birds including geese, Mandarin ducks, moorhens, mallards, coots, woodpeckers, parakeets and occasionally kingfishers providing fantastic opportunities for bird watchers as well as photographers.

The Pheasantry café has enjoyed an unprecedented number of customers during the pandemic, but the footfall has taken its toll on the area outside the café which has become muddy and uneven.

In a statement before the work began The Friends of Bushy and Home Parks said: "As is apparent to visitors who use the cafe outside seating areas, what was lawn has become mud.

"It is acknowledged that the pandemic has necessitated more outside tables and wider separation. In order to avoid this extended area of usage being permanently muddy and somewhat unsafe, a new permeable surface will be laid.

"The pathways leading from the cafe to each of the bridges are to be altered to reduce footfall compaction on the roots of several major trees and to ensure visitor safety. The surface of the pathways will be improved."

If you want to keep up with news about Bushy Park you can join the Friends of Bushy and Home Park here and learn much more about the parks.