英国 彭斯特霍普自然公园 Pensthorpe Natural Park 位于英格兰东部诺福克郡费肯纳姆（Fakenham）一带的温苏姆谷（Wensum Valley），占地约 700 英亩（280 公顷），是一片将湿地、林地、草地、农田与多个主题花园融为一体的自然保护区，也是诺福克郡内常年开放的休闲与园艺目的地之一。
这里最初是砾石开采场，自 1980 年代起由自然资源保护者 Bill Makins 改造为以湖泊和涉禽浅滩为核心的自然保护区，园方在采掘过程中共取出约 100 万吨骨料，同时形成了今日温苏姆谷中水网纵横的基底。2003 年初，Bill 和 Deb Jordan 夫妇（Jordans cereals 创立家族）整体购入该地，同年 1 月成立 Pensthorpe Conservation Trust（PCT），由其负责管理栖息地修复与物种保育工作。
机构概况与基本盘
公园占地约 700 英亩，温苏姆河自西向东贯穿园区中心，是国家层面受保护的低地白垩河流，沿河区域获得欧盟特别保护区（SAC）和英国国家特殊科学兴趣地（SSSI）双重认定，也是英国生物多样性行动计划（BAP）的优先栖息地之一。园方将这一片原本因采石而被扰动的河谷，改造为对公众开放、兼具保护与展示功能的国家级自然公园。
运营层面，公园隶属 Pensthorpe Natural Park 私人企业，并和 Pensthorpe Conservation Trust 共同分担保护与游憩功能，园内设有人工湖、淡水沼泽、再生林地、田埂树篱与开阔草甸等多类典型栖息地，常年对外开放的园区面积约 200 英亩，附带冒险乐园、室内活动空间 Hootz House 和数个主题花园，整体定位兼顾家庭出游、园艺观赏和保育科研三种用途。
历史沿革与创始人
1980 年代，Bill Makins 在温苏姆谷内一处废旧砾石坑启动了大规模生态修复工程，他设计的可持续开采方式，让原本因取土而被破坏的河谷逐步演替为湖泊、浅滩与林地交织的复合栖息地。采掘过程中，挖掘机在砾石层下出土过据信距今约八千年的手斧，以及猛犸象的牙齿和象牙等更新世遗存，这些发现后来被纳入诺福克郡考古档案。
2003 年，Bill 和 Deb Jordan 整体接手这一片区，将原本的私人保护地升级为向公众开放的自然公园，并创立 Pensthorpe Conservation Trust，统筹园内的栖息地管理与物种保育项目。此后多年里，公园以国家级的物种重引入与栖息地修复项目闻名，成为英国本土保护网络中的重要节点之一。
园艺布局与园中园
园内目前对外开放五个主题花园，分别是千年园（Millennium Garden）、林地雕塑园（Glade Sculpture Garden）、野生动植物栖息园（Wildlife Habitat Garden）、耐候钢无限园（Corten Infinity Garden）和林浪园（Wave Garden），每个园子风格与功能各异，组合起来构成园方对外展示的核心园艺面。Pensthorpe 也以”四座诺福克顶级花园”的说法出现在早期宣传中，指的正是这一类主题鲜明的展园集合。
千年园由荷兰景观设计师 Piet Oudolf 主持设计，集中栽种 150 余种灌木、观赏草和攀援植物，以多年生植物的天然韵律为骨架；林浪园由切尔西花展金奖得主 Julie Toll 操刀，主体是一片木本林地，园路与雕塑穿插其间，适合慢行观赏。耐候钢无限园是园中最新加入的版块，以大型耐候钢装置为中心，搭配香蕉、姜等亚热带观赏植物，营造出与其他四园截然不同的视觉感受。
生态保护与旗舰项目
园方长期参与的旗舰保护项目包括 Operation Turtle Dove（欧斑鸠保护行动）、The Great Crane Project（鹤类重引入项目）、红松鼠保育与玉米鹑（corncrake）重引入等国家级计划。其中玉米鹑项目由 Pensthorpe Conservation Trust 与皇家鸟类保护协会等机构合作，在园区及周边农田开展栖息地修复与人工育雏放归，是英格兰东部近年来玉米鹑种群恢复的关键节点之一。
园内常驻展示的鸟类涵盖火烈鸟群、红冠鹤、稀有涉禽以及多种园鸟，动物展区与花园相互嵌套，访客在游线中既能看到保育展示，也能直接观察自然状态下的野生动植物。园区周边约 4 处 SSSI 地块与温苏姆河 SAC 共同构成一个连续的生态网络，使 Pensthorpe 在英国自然保护体系中具备区域性枢纽地位。
公众参与与媒体记录
Pensthorpe 自开放以来一直是英国自然类电视节目的常驻取景地。2008 年至 2010 年，BBC 旗舰自然节目 Springwatch（春之观察）连续三季以园区为主场地拍摄，向英国观众系统呈现了温苏姆谷四季更替中的野生动物与园艺景观。2013 年 12 月，BBC 园艺类纪录片 Great British Garden Revival 首集亦在 Pensthorpe 取景，将其纳入英国代表性花园之一。
对普通访客而言，园方提供季节性的农事讲解、自然夜行、生物荧光夜观、圣诞花环工作坊、家庭南瓜节等参与型活动，会员可享受门票折扣和专属开放日。公园常年开放，具体票价、季节活动与开放时间以官网公告为准，建议出发前查阅其官方信息。
Overview and Scale
Pensthorpe Natural Park sits in the Wensum Valley near Fakenham, Norfolk, eastern England, covering roughly 700 acres (280 hectares) of wetland, woodland, meadow and arable land interwoven with a chain of themed gardens. The River Wensum, which bisects the reserve, is a chalk lowland river of national importance, designated both as a UK Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a European Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and listed as a priority habitat under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).
Operations are split between Pensthorpe Natural Park, a private visitor business, and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust (PCT), a charity founded in January 2003 to manage habitat restoration and species reintroduction work on the ground. The publicly accessible portion of the reserve is about 200 acres, with the remaining land kept under low-intensity farming and conservation management.
History and Founders
The site began life as a working gravel pit. In the 1980s, conservationist Bill Makins set out to convert the exhausted workings into a network of lakes and wader scrapes, designing a gravel-extraction sequence that left a functioning wetland landscape behind. About one million tons of aggregates were removed during the works, and the excavations also yielded Palaeolithic artefacts, including a hand axe tentatively dated to around 8000 BC, alongside woolly mammoth tusks and teeth that have since been catalogued in the Norfolk Historic Environment Record.
In 2003, Bill and Deb Jordan, founders of Jordans cereals, purchased the site and brought it into public ownership. They also established the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust to take on the long-term species and habitat work, and the park has since grown into a regional hub for both visitor recreation and applied conservation in eastern England.
Garden Layout and Sub-Gardens
The park currently shows five themed gardens to visitors. The Millennium Garden was designed by Dutch planting designer Piet Oudolf and packs in more than 150 species of shrubs, grasses and climbers, structured around a perennial matrix that changes expression through the year. The Wave Garden, designed by Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Julie Toll, sits in a woodland setting threaded with sculpture pieces and quiet walking paths.
Three newer additions round out the visitor circuit. The Glade Sculpture Garden, originally home to the park’s red squirrel reintroduction project, now centres on a collection of figurative sculptures set under a canopy of evergreens. The Wildlife Habitat Garden frames dragonflies, amphibians, bees and bats among nectar-rich plantings such as kniphofias, foxtail lilies and salvias. The Corten Infinity Garden, the most recent addition, is built around a large weathered-steel installation and showcases exotic-leaning species such as bananas and gingers.
Conservation and Flagship Programmes
Through the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, the park runs or co-runs several nationally significant species programmes, including Operation Turtle Dove, the Great Crane Project, red squirrel conservation and a long-running corncrake head-starting and release scheme carried out in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and other bodies. These projects use the reserve, its surrounding farmland and a network of neighbouring SSSI sites as a working landscape for reintroduction and monitoring.
Resident and seasonal wildlife on view to visitors includes a flock of flamingos, red-crowned cranes, rare waders, red squirrels, otters and a wide cast of garden birds. Interpretive signage and seasonal guided walks tie the visible animals back to the underlying habitat work, giving visitors a more direct line of sight into how the conservation programmes are run on the ground.
Public Engagement and Media Coverage
Pensthorpe was the principal location for BBC Springwatch from 2008 to 2010, broadcasting live from the reserve across three consecutive spring and early-summer seasons. In December 2013 the park also hosted the first episode of BBC Two’s Great British Garden Revival, cementing its place within the national gardening conversation as well as the wildlife documentary circuit.
Today the park runs a year-round programme of family and member events, including seasonal pumpkin festivals, after-dark biofluorescence walks, conservation farm tours and Christmas wreath workshops, alongside everyday admission, an outdoor adventure area and the indoor Hootz House play space. Visitors are advised to check the official website for current opening hours, ticket prices and the latest activity programme before travel.
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