Going green
For over 1,000 years the Palace has been and continues to be a green oasis in West London. Thanks to the work of our dedicated team and volunteers, the legacy of the Bishops lives on throughout the garden.
As custodians of a heritage site, we recognise the impact of action (and inaction) on a site that is centuries old. In May of 2021, we launched our biodiversity and climate change resilience policy.
We are committed to reducing our own environmental and pollution footprint, increasing biodiversity and inspiring others to do the same. We understand the Palace is not yet as green as it can be and that we must do more.
Some of the steps we’ve already taken to become more green include:
- growing fruit and vegetables in our walled garden according to organic principles, for sale on our market barrow, contributing to local health and wellbeing.
- using biological methods to control pests in the vinery and orchard.
- composting whenever possible in our special built compost area. This is where we are able to produce leaf mould as well as compost and mulch for our planting areas.
- using biodegradable takeaway in the café which is now composted by the garden team alongside coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable waste from the café.
Moving forward we’d like to:
- engage a wider range of visitors and community groups to access the Palace with the work we are doing in the areas of biodiversity and climate change through workshops and talks.
- produce a long-term tree planting and natural regeneration plan to ensure that we have different age cohorts of trees and that we are managing our tree stock with the long-term aim of supporting biodiversity and that fits the history of the Palace.
- produce an action plan for long-term habitat management based on recent wildlife, plant surveys and historic records. This will include supporting natural regeneration and, where suitable, planting environmentally resilient and ecologically suitable plantings as well as other measures to support biodiversity.
As we strive to be as green as can be, we frequently record surveys of plants, insects and more across our site and our neighbour, All Saint’s Church. These surveys help to guide us in managing the sites going forward, protect the habitats of species already found here and make improvements to attract or support species that are not found here or are rare on site.