The Royal Parks
Eight of London’s 1,000-plus green spaces are classified as Royal Parks. They were originally owned by the monarchy for recreational pursuits which, in times past, was mainly hunting. Some have an intriguing history and hold dark secrets: The Green Park, for instance, once the haunt of highwaymen, was the scene of an assassination attack on Queen Victoria in 1840; Hyde Park, where inspiring orators can still have their say at Speakers’ Corner, was site of the Tyburn gallows in the days of public executions. Greenwich is the oldest royal park and is where the remains of a 12th-century oak tree with historic links to Queen Elizabeth I can be seen. Speaking of oaks, there is a 900-year-old Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens. Now a stump, it is carved and painted so it looks as if elves, gnomes and small animals live inside.
Regent’s Park is as traditional as they come with bandstands, ice-cream sellers and children’s playgrounds, while in St. James’s Park visitors can rent a deckchair and relax while admiring magnificent views of the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. Locals hold a May festival on Chestnut Sunday in Bushy Park’s Chestnut Avenue to celebrate the trees blooming, while Richmond Park has the only view in the country to be protected by an Act of Parliament. All of these glorious parks offer opportunities for relaxation, exercise and entertainment while as some of London’s largest green spaces, they also help the environment by cooling urban temperatures, reducing wind speeds and absorbing pollution and flood water.
Richmond Park
Designated a National Nature Reserve, London’s largest Site of Special Scientific Interest and European Special Area of Conservation, Richmond Park (pictured left and below) is home to over 600 red and fallow deer. The park is frequently used as a television and film location while the vista from Richmond Hill has inspired painters and poets over the centuries. Ancient trees abound here and these, alongside associated decaying wood, support nationally endangered species of fungi, as well as scarce invertebrates including the cardinal click beetle and stag beetle. There is plenty of bird life here with around 144 species recorded over the last 10 years; however, some ground nesting species which breed, including the skylark, grey partridge, stonechat and meadow pipit are in serious decline.
Bushy Park
A haven of woods, gardens, ponds, grassland and home to around 320 deer, the park (above) lies to the north of Hampton Court Palace and is the second largest Royal Park. This is an ancient place — archaeological records found here date back to the Bronze Age and it is an ideal location for serenity seekers. Named after the large number of hawthorn bushes that grow within its boundaries, the Upper Lodge Water gardens comprise a Baroque-style collection of pools, cascades, basins and a canal created in 1710 for Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, the Ranger of Bushy Park who lived at Upper Lodge. Every May a Chestnut Sunday parade takes place and the park comes alive with a fairground, concerts, pony rides and historical re-enactments.
Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill
Designed by architect John Nash, the park is a sight to behold in summer when 30,000 roses of 400 or so varieties burst into bloom. Besides being London’s largest outdoor sports area catering for football, rugby, tennis and cricket it also has a picturesque boating lake with rowing boats for hire. Originally the park was a retreat for royalty until Primrose Hill was purchased from Eton College in the mid-1800s. This meant the parkland was extended so that lesser mortals could have access for open-air recreation. Before the famous Palm House at Kew there was a Palm House and a water lily house in Regent’s Park. The Open Air Theatre, opened in 1932, is a cultural hub and a fixture of summer in the city.
Greenwich PARK
On a hilltop with sweeping views across London, this World Heritage Site dating back to Roman times provides a variety of habitats including woodland, deer park and grassland.
The Royal Observatory, overlooking the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum, is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian.
Queen Elizabeth’s Oak tree dates back to the 12th century. King Henry VIII would sit under this tree with Anne Boleyn, while as a child Elizabeth I enjoyed playing beside it. Although the tree died in the 19th century, the patchwork of ivy which had grown around it held it upright for a further 150 years. If you visit today, you will still see it, although now it is almost horizontal. The park contains a herb garden and remains of Queen Caroline’s bath-house, which would have been semi-attached to Montague House.
St. James’s Park
Frequented by picnickers and sunbathers in summer, the park plays something of a supporting role to some of London’s regal ceremonies as it is bordered by The Mall and leads to Buckingham Palace. One of the most important monuments here is Admiralty Arch, a Grade I listed curved stone building with three arches which links The Mall to Trafalgar Square. If you look closely you will see that the inside wall of the northernmost arch has a small protrusion like a human nose. For anyone one horseback it stands about waist height and is thought to honour the Duke of Wellington, known for having a large nose. Soldiers would rub the nose for good luck as they rode through the arch.
Kensington Gardens
Between 1536 and 1689 much of the land that would become Kensington Gardens was part of Hyde Park. The sunken garden and flower walk provide alluring ways to while away a sunny afternoon while Queen Caroline’s Temple, a classical style summer house overlooking the Long Water, is worth a visit. Graffiti inside dates back to when the park was first open to visitors. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is fun for youngsters with its treehouse and massive wooden pirate ship (below) while Peter Pan’s statue erected in 1912 is also much loved by visitors. J.M. Barrie, Peter’s creator, lived near Kensington Gardens and in his story The Little White Bird, Peter flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water, where the statue is.
Hyde Park
Popular with skaters, swimmers, horse riders and joggers, the park incorporates the Serpentine Lake while the Senior Playground, a free outdoor facility, offers exercise equipment. Around the time of the Domesday Book, the area belonged to monks from Westminster Abbey. Henry VIII acquired the park in 1536; he was partial to a bit of deer hunting here. In those days it was a rural landscape, meadows dotted with trees and speckled with wild flowers. In 1665, when the Great Plague caused havoc, many Londoners left the city to set up camp here. They thought it might be far enough away to avoid catching the lurgy. A memorial in the park honours the victims of the 7th July 2005 London bombings. It comprises 52 stainless steel pillars collectively representing each of the victims, grouped together in four interlinking clusters reflecting the four locations of the disaster.
Green Park
Every year millions of people visit Green Park, a peaceful triangle and smallest of the capital’s eight Royal Parks. Comprising just over 40 acres of mature trees and grassland it is next to Buckingham Palace (below) between Piccadilly and Constitution Hill. The trees primarily consist of plane and lime, and besides providing a cooler microclimate in summer they help improve air quality by absorbing vehicle fumes and filtering out harmful pollutants. Unusual trees here include the black poplar, Britain’s rarest native timber tree, recognisable by its gnarled trunk, and the silver maple, distinguished by finely cut silvery leaves. Native oaks and hawthorn thrive here too; the latter supports wildlife with its blossom providing nectar for insects in the spring and berries providing food for birds in autumn.