Countryside House Park

Countryside House Park

The Casa de Campo in Madrid was a Royal Site destined to the hunting and recreation of the Monarchy from the acquisition of the primitive estate of the Vargas family by Felipe II in 1562 until the seizure of the assets of the Crown by Decree of the Government of the Second Republic of April 20, 1931. By virtue of that Decree, the land of the Casa de Campo and the Campo del Moro was ceded to the Madrid City Council to be used for recreational and educational parks. In 2010 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest, in the category of Historic Site. The Casa de Campo is currently the main lung of the city and hosts numerous activities linked to its purpose as a place of recreation and instruction of citizens.

To its ecological and landscape value is added an important historical load, materialized in significant archaeological remains, a set of buildings and civil works of historical-monumental character, testimony of its stage as a Royal Site and a wide representation of contemporary architectures of its stage as a public park. Historical park of mainly forest character of great extension with an undulating relief of gentle slopes in which small hills stand out, crossed by small valleys where some permanent streams run and other seasonal ones that converge in the Manzanares River. Most have their birth within the Park, although the two most important, Antequina and Meaques, are born outside it.

Among the sheets of water include that of the Lake and several artificial ponds for habitat and feeding of fauna. Several independently managed enclosures are located inside: among others the Amusement Park, Zoological Park, Fairground, Venta del Batán and the Country Club. Its vegetation includes holm oaks, potential vegetation of the Park, broom, ash, olmedas, riverside groves and the reforestation of pines and arizónicas. In some areas the holm oak begins to emerge initiating a natural process of substitution of the pine forest.