in the fields surrounding the nearby danesbury house, now converted into accommodation, is a dilapidated and neglected former fernery designed by anthony parsons (then gardener for the danesbury estate) and constructed in a small chalk pit in the grounds of danesbury park by the younger james pulham in 1859. in its day it was well admired, with one w. robinson (writing in "the english flower garden", published in 1883), stating that "in the home counties there is probably not a better fernery than at danesbury."