Old Huntlands: Charvignie Park
This tract of land, roughly the central western region of the caldera, is the largest surviving part of the great primordial forest. For some time, it was the favourite hunting grounds for the people of the caldera, as the remaining bears, deer and boar had retreated there from the advancing civilization.
Today, with all the big game gone, the majority of the extant oak and pine woodland is divided between private tenants, renting it from the authorities. These plots are used to cultivate piachanters, a prized mushroom delicacy that was once very common, but has become much rarer due to the disappearance of the woods.
The remaining portion is in public use and is the largest park of Glade City – Charvignie Park, named after Pascal Charvignie, an architect, who suggested and completed the project. It has every feature to afford either a pleasant retreat or outdoor entertainment: Long walkways through neat lawns, alleys of old overhanging trees, an abundance of arbours and gazeboes, picturesque flower bed arrangements, artificial streams and waterfalls, ponds and canals with rowing boats for hire, a horse racing track, a sizeable menagerie, plenty of benches, multiple dance floors, and cafes to have a light meal at, as fresh air inevitably stimulates one's appetite.
Summers are short in the caldera, and so is the span of the park's full splendour, but even in winter you can enjoy the sight of verdure, thanks to the prominent Glass Gardens. It is a giant circular hothouse which is, effectively, a smaller park in its own right. One half of the interior represents a tropical forest, something you would find on the Crab Islands, while the other is a miniature of the more arid coast of Southern Frankia. In the middle of the hothouse, framed by a mountain ridge, which is also a miniature, flows a stream, connecting both climates and ending in two ponds with piers and boats. Clinging plants and shrubs adorn the rocky walls and ledges within the artificial canyon. Both gardens also have walkways, benches and a couple of cafes, serving hors d'oeuvres, sweets, cocktails and beverages, hot and refreshing.