Major parks in London

Wild and undulating, the 320-hectare grassy sprawl of Hampstead Heath makes a wonderfully untamed contrast to the more manicured parks elsewhere in the capital. A playground for picnickers, dog-walkers and nature-lovers alike, keep an eye out for some very special residents such as muntjac deer and parakeets.

Insider tip Take a dip in the heath’s swimming ponds. The men’s and ladies’ ponds are open all year round, but be warned that even in the summer the water is pretty frosty.

Covering 410 acres in north-west London, Regent’s Park is teeming with attractions, ranging from the animal noises of the ZSL London Zoo to its enchanting Open Air Theatre, food and music festivals that pitch up over the summer, and Frieze art fair, which takes place in October. But there’s good reason to come year-round, with beautiful rose gardens, a hidden Japanese garden, tennis courts, football pitches and eateries waiting to be enjoyed. Nearby Primrose Hill is considered part of the park and boasts great panoramic views.

Insider tip Come spring, I love hopping in an electric blue pedalo and gliding (or at least attempting to) across the boating lake. It gets you closer to some of the park’s many species of wildlife and feels even more peaceful than other areas you can explore by foot. Rowing boats are also available, and hire is cheaper before 1pm in the week or 12pm on weekends.

As obvious choices go, this one has gotta be up there, but Hyde Park isn’t just a tourist destination. The largest of the four neighbouring Royal Parks in central London, Hyde Park was my go-to green space when I lived in nearby Bayswater. When friends visited from my hometown, I would always suggest we meet at Hyde Park Corner and Lime bike our way past the Serpentine and across the criss-cross paths which divide the grassiness into plots – it’s a fun (and quick) way to explore and take in a bit of the city skyline.

Insider tip: Enter the park via Victoria Gate and grab a coffee from the café in the Italian Gardens – its my favourite place to sit when the sun’s out.

One of London’s finest green spaces, the park surrounds a Jacobean mansion, Holland House, named after its second owner, the Earl of Holland, whose wife (fun fact!) was the first person in England to successfully grow dahlias. They’re still grown within its 55 acres, which also houses the Japanese-style Kyoto Gardens with its koi carp and picturesque bridge at the foot of a waterfall. In summer, open-air theatre and opera are staged in the park.

Insider tip Keep your eyes peeled for the many peacocks, which are right at home amid the ornamental scenery.

Brockwell Park is a much-needed slab of green just south of Brixton. Locals from Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and Brixton flock here in summer to sun-worship, fly kites, swim in the famous lido, play football and parade all kinds of dogs.

Insider tip Make a splash at Brockwell Lido and admire its grade II-listed art deco buildings, which have been at the centre of park life here since the 1930s.

This oasis of peace amid the clogged traffic of south-west London dates back to the eighteenth century. At its perimeter, it has a number of cafés, a skate park and the largest bandstand in London, which hosts open-air concerts during the summer.

Insider tip Grab your tackle and go fishing at Eagle Pond – the common’s most ‘natural’ lake – with wooden decked fishing platforms perfect for casting off. Just remember to pack your fishing permit.

Situated right in the centre of swanky Dulwich Village, this park is charming and peaceful. Not only do the abundance of flowers mean that this park is easy on the eye, but it has a particularly friendly atmosphere. You’ll find all the usual suspects here, such as playgrounds, football pitches and tennis courts.

If you’re up for something sporty, then there is an outdoor gym complete with recumbent bikes (the chilled-out brother to the bikes in spin class). There’s also table tennis, and if you’re feeling particularly poetic, then you can hire a boat and float around the lake.

Insider tip Take a look at Conrad Shawcross’s giant looping sculpture ‘Three Perpetual Chords’, which was commissioned to replace a Barbara Hepworth sculpture famously stolen from the park in 2011.

Battersea Park has so much going for it that it’s almost unfair. What other green space in the capital can boast Thames views, an art gallery (The Pump House) and a family-run zoo, complete with lemurs, meerkats and wallabys? Oh, and there’s Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, too.

Insider tip Check out the Buddhist London Peace Pagoda, which features four large gilded bronze sculptures of Buddhas overlooking the Thames.

Greenwich Park boasts the honour of being the oldest enclosed Royal Park. A 183-acre grassland, it provides an urban sanctuary for deer, foxes and over 70 species of bird. Not only does it pack in a child-friendly boating lake, six tennis courts and the Greenwich Meridian Line, which represents the prime meridian, it’s also home to The Royal Observatory, while the views from the top of the hill across to Canary Wharf and beyond are spectacular, and well worth the trek.

Insider tip: Take a look at Queen Elizabeth’s Oak. It may look like a mossy old lump of wood, but it’s been in the park since the twelfth century. Acording to legend, Henry VIII once danced around it with Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I often had picnics on it.

This vibrant hipster hangout is probably the coolest of London’s green spots. It’s home to a permanent ping-pong table, a wildflower meadow in the spring and summer, and London Fields Lido, while Broadway Market is conveniently located nearby for posh picnic food.

Insider tip Bring a picnic, not a disposable barbecue. This used to be one of the few open spaces in London where you could barbecue legally, but that’s been changed recently due to cleaning costs. Remember, leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures (or should that be selfies?). 

If not exactly a ‘secret’, Peckham Rye is still hugely underrated in comparison to some of London’s more illustrious green spaces, even if former locals like myself will wax lyrical about the charms of its sprawling 113 acres years after leaving the area. Perhaps that’s a good thing, because unlike some of London’s more famous parks, this place really belongs to its local community. On a sunny weeknight, you’ll find local sports teams practising everything from rugby to hurling, kids populating the well-maintained playground, groups of twenty-somethings lounging around on the grass listening to portable speakers, and countless hobbyist runners spluttering their way around its 2-mile circumference. 

Insider tip People tend to flock to the open fields on the corner of Rye Lane, but be sure to also explore the far side of the park, which is home to an outdoor gym, skate park, bowling green and several manicured gardens (the Japanese Garden, with its wisteria-covered pergola, is my personal fave).

St James’s Park was founded as a deer park for the royal occupants of St James’s Palace, and remodelled by architect John Nash on the orders of George IV. The central lake is home to numerous water-loving birds and its bridge offers some very snappable views of Buckingham Palace.

Insider tip Keep an eye out for wandering pelicans, a species that has lived in the park since the seventeenth century. The big-billed birds are fed between 2.30pm and 3pm daily, though they have been known to supplement their diet at other times of the day with the occasional pigeon.

Victoria Park started life as a Royal Park but became municipal to benefit the everyday people of the East End in 1887. It’s a bit rougher round the edges than its western counterparts, and has a great green expanse to kick back and let nature revitalise you. Wildlife includes a deer enclosure, moorhens, grey and canada geese, and squirrels, while, by the lake, you’ll find The Pavilion Café serving tasty, locally sourced food from breakfast to teatime. It also plays host to a theatrical fireworks display every November, plus summer festivals All Points East and Field Day. 

Insider tip If a deluge hits, take refuge in nearby People's Park Tavern, which has a vast covered terrace.

Richmond Park is the largest of London’s Royal Parks, occupying 2,500 acres. There are hundreds of red and fallow deer roaming freely across it, presumably much happier without having to listen out for the ‘view halloo!’ cries of one of Henry VIII’s hunting parties. From the park’s highest point, there are famous views of St Paul’s Cathedral, more than 12 miles to the east.

Insider tip Get your floral fix at the Isabella Plantation, a 40-acre woodland garden bursting with the bright blooms of azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias in the spring and summer.

Situated just north of Hampton Court Palace, Bushy Park is one of several vast open spaces that sprawl across the leafy borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. Named after the large number of hawthorn bushes that grow within its boundaries, it’s home to herds of both red and fallow deer.

Insider tip Take a look at the Christopher Wren-designed Chestnut Avenue, where locals gather annually on Chestnut Sunday in May for a festival to celebrate the blooming of the trees.

Finsbury Park is underrated. Sure, everyone’s heard of it, and it’s on the Victoria line, but it rarely comes up when you think of London’s best and most iconic parks. But it has it all if you ask me. There’s a cute cafe, a boating lake and loads of sports stuff. It’s got a Yard Sale round the corner for al fresco dining, and it’s not as heaving as some of the other big boys so you can whack your portable speaker on while you picnic without anyone getting annoyed. Obviously, when it’s day festival season, stay as far away from Finsbury Park as physically possible. But it’s fabulous any other time of year.

Time Out tip Finsbury Park is the starting point for the Parkland Walk. It’’s one of London’s prettiest walks, and takes you through the old railway all the way up to Highgate Village. End with a roast at the Wrestlers.

The Crystal Palace, which gave the park its name, may have burnt to a crisp in 1936, but its landscaped grounds, which make up this delightful park in south-east London still house some pretty amazing features, including five massive dinosaur sculptures that lurk among the trees around a lake, the remains of a prehistoric Victorian theme park.

Insider tip The park hides a beautiful, abandoned Victorian subway with a Grade II-listed vaulted walkway supported by intricate Italinate pillars, and patterned orange and white bricks. But before you go strolling over there, it’s only open three times a year – visit cpsubway.org.uk for dates. 

The largest and most popular of leafy Stoke Newington’s multiple green spaces, Clissold Park’s 54 acres are blessed with just about all the facilities you could possibly want from your local park. Feeling sporty? There are tennis and table tennis courts, a skate part and a multi-use cage, as well as a bark-strewn running track that circles its perimiter. Entertaining kids? The playground features a zip wire, sand pit, metal slide and wooden shipwreck climbing frame, and there’s also an animal enclosure, butterfly dome, aviary and a splash pad offering a variety of water play features. Once you’ve worked up an appetite with all those activities, head to the Clissold House café for fairly-priced nibbles, or grab a coffee to go from Fink’s Pump House.

Insider tip When I visit, I make sure to check the noticeboard next to Clissold House for information on upcoming events. The park hosts all sorts, from a funfair in late spring, to live music, comedy, and a thrice-annual ‘feastival’ featuring dozens of street food and produce stalls, outdoor bars and free entertainment. 

This green, triangle-shaped expanse just beyond The Ritz to the south of Piccadilly was enclosed by Charles II as a hunting ground in 1668. Thankfully it was opened to the public in 1826 and today you’ll find lunching commuters and tourists lounging in the park’s famous stripy deckchairs. 

Insider tip If you happen to be strolling through on the day of a special royal occasion look out for (although it’ll be pretty hard to miss) the Royal Gun Salute by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. A basic salute involves 21 rounds of ear-shattering cannon fire, but in Green Park, 20 extra rounds are added – so hang on to your deckchair.  

For most Londoners, Alexandra Park is synonymous with Alexandra Palace or ‘Ally Pally’, the Grade II-listed music venue that sits atop the park’s hill and hosts the annual unruly World Darts Championship. But the surrounding parkland is vast – 196 acres, no less – and drop-dead beautiful no matter the season. I’ve spent many summer days steering a giant unicorn around the boating lake, crunching through carpets of yellow leaves on the tree-lined avenues in autumn, and sledding down the hill (when we get enough snow) in winter. And, of course, that panoramic city view is there to admire year-round.

Insider tip Ally Pally marks the start (or end) of the Parkland Walk, North London’s green belt that links Alexandra Park with Finsbury Park via an abandoned railway track. Pub pitstops, street art and gorgeous woodland can all be found on the way.

At the end of the seventeenth century, William III – fed up with the dank air of Whitehall – relocated to Kensington Palace. Subsequently, a corner of Hyde Park (thereafter called Kensington Gardens) was sectioned off to make grounds for the residence. Princess Diana’s presence in Kensington Gardens is strong: the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is a favourite for children and people flock all year round to her memorial fountain here.

Insider tip Look out for the bronze statue of Peter Pan, erected in 1912; eight years earlier the playwright JM Barrie had met Jack Llewelyn Davies – the boy who was the inspiration for Peter – in the gardens.

Famous among boomer Brits as the home of furry TV eco-heroes the Wombles, the 1,140-acre Wimbledon Common is one of the biggest green spaces in London. It takes about an hour to stroll from the Green Man on Putney Hill to Caesar’s Camp (actually an ancient hill fort) on the Wimbledon side – even longer if you decide to get lost in the woods, poke around the museum at Wimbledon Windmill, or stop for a pint at the Telegraph or the Fox and Grapes. Basically, it’s a taste of the well-to-do country life without stepping outside Greater London.

Insider tip The Capital Ring walk, which orbits inner London, cuts right across Wimbledon Common. Follow the signposts, duck under the A3 and you can stroll right into Richmond Park for another 2,000 acres of rural bliss.