Translation of the "Wooded park" sign
The wooded park stretches for 1 km along the west of the Basse-Plante, to which it is connected by a footbridge built in the 19th century.
In the 16th century this was the small park, threaded with walkways, embellished with buildings and attractions (like the famous Castet Beziat, much loved by Jeanne d’Albret). It contained an aviary, a tortoise house, barn, and fishpond. Animals (even a camel) roamed uncaged through the woodlands.
Around that the large park (now disappeared) extended as far as the southern point of the Pont-Long (the long bridge).
In the 18th century the small park lost a large part of its area when the town of Pau built the Route de Bayonne along the former Allée de Madame (the walkway of the Queen). In 1969 a road tunnel was built across part of it to join the Ossau valley to the centre of Pau.
Its restoration began in the early 2000s. The forest has been regenerated, a new Allée de Madame has been created, bordered by lime trees, and other walkways have been restored, such as the Allée du Roy (the King’s walk) with its magnificent views over the Pyrenées.
The work to diversify and enrich the landscape of the park and improve the visitor experience is continuing.
A few words about biodiversity
The castle’s park has been classed as a Special Area of Conservation (ZSC in French) Natura 2000 since 2006 because it houses three insects of particular Community Interest: the hermit beetle, the stag beetle and the great capricorn beetle, as well as a number of other heritage insects.
Two species of bat, among the many that live on the site, are also classed as of Community Interest. Various measures have been adopted to conserve and improve the rich animal and vegetable biodiversity of the site including, protection of old woods, reintroduction of wetlands, cutting the fields by sickle rather than mowing, clearing by the use of eco-pastoralism and special maintenance of habitats favourable to the species found there.