Parks & Gardens
London is one of the greenest cities in the world, with huge expanses of park land and gardens throughout the city. Check out below what these parks have to offer.
Links to:
Regent's Park
Greenwich Park
St. Jame's Park
Hyde Park (see immediately below)
Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens
Hyde Park is one of London's green lungs - a huge expanse of park land that was originally a landholding of Westminster Abbey, then passed to royal hands in the time of Henry VIII, and was opened to the public in the early 1600's.
Incorporating Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park has played host to innumerable public gatherings, concerts, and even hangings and duels.
Highlights:
Listening to the orators (and hecklers) at Speaker's Corner
The Wellington Arch, commemorating the Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at Waterloo.
The Serpentine Lake - and the nutters that swim in it!
Kensington Gardens with its Orangery and sheltered garden areas (with attendant squirrels).
Kensington Palace, former home of Princess Diana and that old gin soak Princess Margaret.
The impressively restored Albert Memorial (pictured above), with the backdrop of the Royal Albert Hall.
Marble Arch, marking the spot of the notorious Tyburn Gallows, where public executions were held.
Princess Diana Memorial - opened in 2004 by the Queen. Kind of a huge open-air urinal, really.
Feeding those squirrels!
Getting There
Marble Arch, Queensway, Hyde Park Corner, or Lancaster Gate Tubes.
Opening Times
Dawn to dusk.
More Information
Hyde Park website.
Kensington Palace website.
Royal Albert Hall website.
Other London Parks.
Walking in London.
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