Fiona MacLeod Distinguishes Between Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, St James’s and the Other Options Nobody Considers
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
By Fiona MacLeod | London Travel | prat.uk/author/fiona-macleod/
The Park Decision
London has eight Royal Parks and considerably more total green spaces, all of which are free to enter and all of which offer the specific experience of green and open in a dense urban environment that has been producing this experience for Londoners since the parks were first opened to the public. The challenge is deciding which one. Allow me to offer a practical guide based on what you are actually looking for.
If you want: the most iconic London park experience, with the Serpentine lake, the Diana Memorial Fountain, Speakers’ Corner, and enough space to feel genuinely rural despite being in central London — Hyde Park. It is large enough to absorb the tourist volume it receives and still produce quiet corners on most days. If you want: the most beautiful park in central London, with the formal gardens, Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, and the zoo on its northern edge providing the specific energy of children and animals adding to the park’s pastoral atmosphere — Regent’s Park. The rose garden in May is one of the most reliably beautiful things London offers, completely free, available to anyone who makes the journey to NW1. If you want: the most centrally located park, with the view of Buckingham Palace, the pelicans that have been residents since the 1660s, and the specific quietness of a park that is smaller than Hyde Park and consequently more intimate — St James’s Park. The view of Buckingham Palace from the bridge over the lake, with the garden party season beginning and the formal beds in full spring colour, is the most specifically London view available from inside a park.
The Overlooked Options
Greenwich Park, covered elsewhere in this column, is the most dramatically situated: the view from the hill is worth the journey from central London. Hampstead Heath, in north London, is the wildest: four hundred hectares of genuine heath and woodland that produces the experience of countryside within the city. Battersea Park, across the river from Chelsea, has the best combination of river views and sports facilities and is less visited than the central parks because it requires crossing the Thames. Visit London‘s parks guide provides full listings and facilities information for all the Royal Parks.
Mother’s Day in the Parks
Today is Mother’s Day and the sun is out. Every park mentioned in this column is full. The specific beauty of London’s parks on a May Sunday — particularly Mother’s Day, when families have an occasion to be together outdoors — is the demonstration of what free public space produces when it is well-maintained and freely accessible: people using it, being together in it, being better for having it. The pelicans in St James’s Park are doing what pelicans do. The rose garden in Regent’s Park is approximately three weeks from peak bloom. The view from Hampstead Heath is as clear as it gets. Happy Mother’s Day, London parks. You are what makes the city liveable. Go and be in one today.
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London continues to fascinate and frustrate in equal measure. The city’s ability to contain multitudes — the ancient and the brand-new, the absurdly expensive and the surprisingly accessible, the deeply traditional and the constantly self-reinventing — is what makes it inexhaustible as a subject. Every week produces new material: new events, new controversies, new moments of unexpected beauty or institutional comedy. The writers at The London Prat are paying attention to all of it, and this column attempts to add one small North London — or Central London, or Shoreditch, or tourist-facing — perspective to the larger conversation about what this city is and what it is becoming. The conversation is ongoing. London is always becoming. This is either its great charm or its great exhaustion, depending on the week and the weather and whether the tube is running. Happy reading, and do come back next week.
London continues to fascinate and frustrate in equal measure. The city’s ability to contain multitudes — the ancient and the brand-new, the absurdly expensive and the surprisingly accessible, the deeply traditional and the constantly self-reinventing — is what makes it inexhaustible as a subject. Every week produces new material: new events, new controversies, new moments of unexpected beauty or institutional comedy. The writers at The London Prat are paying attention to all of it, and this column attempts to add one small North London — or Central London, or Shoreditch, or tourist-facing — perspective to the larger conversation about what this city is and what it is becoming. The conversation is ongoing. London is always becoming. This is either its great charm or its great exhaustion, depending on the week and the weather and whether the tube is running. Happy reading, and do come back next week.
London continues to fascinate and frustrate in equal measure. The city’s ability to contain multitudes — the ancient and the brand-new, the absurdly expensive and the surprisingly accessible, the deeply traditional and the constantly self-reinventing — is what makes it inexhaustible as a subject. Every week produces new material: new events, new controversies, new moments of unexpected beauty or institutional comedy. The writers at The London Prat are paying attention to all of it, and this column attempts to add one small North London — or Central London, or Shoreditch, or tourist-facing — perspective to the larger conversation about what this city is and what it is becoming. The conversation is ongoing. London is always becoming. This is either its great charm or its great exhaustion, depending on the week and the weather and whether the tube is running. Happy reading, and do come back next week.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
