Better London boasts a hanging 3,000 public open areas throughout 32 boroughs and the Metropolis of London. In the course of the worst of the pandemic, London parks served an awfully vital perform for locals. They have been locations the place individuals may very well be energetic exterior, locations the place some semblance of normalcy may very well be staked. Fortunately, you don’t have to attend for the subsequent pandemic to understand these parks.
Most guests are aware of London’s most well-known parks, amongst these, Hyde Park, Inexperienced Park, St James’s Park, and the Regent’s Park. These parks are 4 of London’s eight Royal Parks, which implies that they have been initially utilized by the royal household for leisure functions.
However past these central London parks are an enormous variety of pretty verdant locations for year-round enjoyment. Swim and loosen up within the shade through the summer time; observe the altering of the seasons in autumn and spring; keep energetic through the darkish winter season.
Listed below are 4 much less well-known parks throughout London, parks most guests are unlikely to come across.
Associated: 20 free museums in London
Peckham Rye Park & Frequent
Nearest practice station: Peckham Rye (Overground and Thameslink)
Bus traces: 12, 63, 343, 363
Peckham Rye Park sits south of buzzy, quickly gentrifying Peckham, far south of the Thames. There’s a quiet neighborhood backyard, an arboretum, a number of gardens (a proper English backyard, a Japanese backyard, and a nature backyard), and a enjoyable, cheery café referred to as The Spherical.
Peckham Rye is beautiful all yr, although, like all of London parks, it actually comes alive through the summer time months.
As a bonus, it’s inside straightforward strolling distance from each Peckham Excessive Road and really nice East Dulwich, each of that are filled with nice locations to eat. (Lunch tip: Head to Persepolis, a great worth vegetarian supermarket-café at 28-30 Peckham Excessive Road.)
Beckenham Place Park
Nearest practice station: Beckenham Hill (Thameslink)
Bus entry: 54, 136
This huge south London park, expanded in 2019 by annexing a golf course, has a BMX observe, a swimming lake, and a great deal of trails by woods. The social hub of the park is a 1760s mansion sitting atop a delicate inexperienced slope, which homes a café and hosts frequent occasions.
Beckenham Place Park takes a while to succeed in from central London; except you need to make a day of the park, mix a go to right here with another south London sights, just like the Horniman Museum and Gardens or Crystal Palace, with its triangle of attention-grabbing retailers and cafes.
Vibrant blooms at Golders Hill Park. Photograph: Laura Nolte
Golders Hill Park
Nearest Tube stations: Hampstead and Golders Inexperienced (Edgware department of Northern Line)
Bus entry: 210, 268
Adjoining to the a lot better-known Hampstead Heath, Golders Hill Park is an enormously interesting London park. It has a playground, a free zoo, tennis courts, a stunning Georgian pergola with sweeping park views, a botanical backyard, and a chicken pond, amongst different options. Paths crisscross the park; the paths by wooded areas are particularly rewarding.
Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Nearest Tube station: Holborn (Central and Piccadilly)
Bus entry: 1, 8, 13, 55, 59, 113, 168, 188, 243, 521
The one actually central London park — to be precise, this can be a public sq., not a park — on this record, Lincoln’s Inn Fields sits adjoining to Lincoln’s Inn, one in every of London‘s 4 Inns of Court docket. (Inns of Court docket are skilled authorized associations; each lawyer — or barrister — in England and Wales belongs to one in every of these 4 associations.) The park encompasses a broad grassy space excellent for summer time picnics. There are additionally tennis and netball courts and a café.
On the north aspect of the sq. is Sir John Soane’s Museum, a stunning and infrequently ignored home museum that includes restored interiors and work from Soane’s wide-ranging assortment.
What hidden gems have you ever come throughout in London? Share your favourite London parks and different sights within the feedback beneath!