Parque Isidora Cousiño, Historical park in Lota, Chile

Parque Isidora Cousiño covers 14 hectares in Lota, laid out between 1862 and 1872 by the English landscaper Bartlet, who combined French garden formality with English landscaping. Its slopes hold 83 plant species from Chile, North America, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, 27 cast-iron sculptures from the Val d'Osne foundry, and more than 50 vases, benches and pedestals. A glasshouse with a grey ridged metal roof and white-framed arched windows shelters tropical begonias, ferns and orchids; a white draped statue stands on a green cylindrical pedestal before it.

Luis Cousiño Squella commissioned British designer Bartlet to create this garden between 1862 and 1872, presenting it as a gift to his wife Isidora Goyenechea. The project drew inspiration from European garden traditions and became one of the few French-style landscapes established on Chile's coast.

The park holds one of Chile's most significant collections of French cast iron sculptures and decorative pieces spread throughout its pathways. These works create an artistic landscape that reveals itself as visitors walk through the garden.

Wear comfortable shoes as the pathways wind through the entire grounds with some gentle elevation changes. The park sits on the coast and welcomes visitors throughout the year, though clear days offer the best views of the gulf.

The park's weather observatory is not its only scientific trace: the grounds also hold a conservatory of tropical plants with begonias, ferns and orchids, and a lighthouse, the Faro Lustrín, that signals the coast. The 14-hectare site was laid out from 1862 by the English landscaper Bartlet.