The man-made terracing that surrounds the southern and eastern façades of the Royal Monastery contained the Friars’ Garden and the Gardens of the King and Queen. The viewing platform looks out over the lake, the market gardens of El Bosquecillo and La Herrería, with the peaks of Las Machotas as a backdrop.
Gardeners were summoned by Felipe II to plant squares of boxwood hedging with brightly coloured flowers, resembling “fine carpets brought from Damascus” planted within, although these have now been replaced with original hedge designs.
The neoclassical gardens of the House of the Prince are arranged on different levels, comprising a series of parterres of roses and conifers, framed by boxwood hedges and fruit trees, with original ornamentation in the form of pitchers and fountains.
The House of the Heir Apparent in El Escorial is fronted by gardens with avenues of boxwood hedges beginning at a fountain, along with majestic sequoias and conifers. The rear gardens feature a grid of fruit trees, rose bushes and conifers, an arch of cypresses, a small waterfall and a great golden mascaron from which the water to irrigate the garden flows into a lake.