Parks and Gardens

London has over 1 700 parks and open spaces!

Best Parks in London:

Battersea Park

Battersea Park is a large (83 hectares/200 acres) Victorian park, built between 1854 and 1870.  It was formally opened in 1858. 


A major programme of work has recently been completed to restore and refurbish many of the Victorian and Festival of Britain elements of the park. Below is a photo of the Peace Pagoda.


Chelsea Physic Gardens

Tucked away beside the Thames, Chelsea Physic Garden is a celebration of the beauty and importance of plants. This walled Garden was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries for its apprentices to study the medicinal qualities of plants. It became one of the most important centres of botany and plant exchange in the world. Today, as an independent charity, we rely on visitors, Friends and supporters to help protect and nurture the Garden for future generations.

Green Park

Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit The Green Park, the smallest of the capital's eight Royal Parks.


Comprising just over 40 acres of mature trees and grassland next to Buckingham Palace, the peaceful triangle between Piccadilly and Constitution Hill offers a popular location for picnics and sunbathing in fine weather.


Greenwich Park

Greenwich is the oldest of London's Royal Parks and was famously the hunting and pleasure grounds for Henry VIII's favourite royal palace. Seventy three hectares (183 acres), the park stretches from the level plateau of gravel and sands of Blackheath in the south, then drops some 30 metres (nearly 100ft) before levelling out on the north side towards the Thames.

Hampstead Heath

Located just just four miles from Trafalgar Square, Hampstead Heath is one of London's best loved green spaces. The Heath has some of the best views and highest points in London for everyone to enjoy.


It includes Parliament Hill, Golders Hill Park (with a zoo and butterfly house), an open air Lido (open 365 days a year), swimming ponds, splash pools, countless sports pitches and facilities, athletics track, playgrounds, stunning listed Pergola and Hill Garden and enough green space to really feel like you have escaped the City!


Holland Park

The Royal Borough’s largest park with 22.5 hectares of gardens, children’s play facilities, sports areas, a cafeteria and large areas of woodland abundant with wildlife. Contained within the park is the beautiful Kyoto Garden; a Japanese garden donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991.

Hyde Park

Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit Hyde Park, one of the capital's eight Royal Parks.


Hyde Park covers 350 acres and is home to a number of famous landmarks including the Serpentine Lake, Speakers'€™ Corner and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.


The park also offers various recreational activities including open water swimming, boating, cycling, tennis and horse riding.


Syon Park

Syon is one of the last great houses of London, and has been in the family of the present owners for more than 400 years. Profoundly historic, the House holds a wealth of art within its grand classical interiors, while the Park and Gardens feel like deep countryside, although barely nine miles from Charing Cross.

Kensington Gardens

Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit Kensington Gardens, one of the capital's eight Royal Parks. Kensington Palace, the Italian Gardens, Albert Memorial, Peter Pan Statue and the Serpentine Galleries are all located within its 242 acres.


Planted with formal avenues of magnificent trees and ornamental flower beds, the gardens are also home to the popular Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground.


Kew Gardens

There are over 100 world-class attractions to see and experience at Kew Gardens. From iconic buildings and glasshouses, to inspirational gardens and landscapes. Discover 250 years of history at the world's most famous Gardens. For a free Walking tour look here.

Regent´s Park

The Regent's Park, designed by John Nash, covers 395 acres and includes Queen Mary's Gardens which features more than 12,000 roses of 400 varieties, as well as the gloriously restored William Andrews Nesfield's Avenue Gardens.


With excellent sports facilities spanning nearly 100 acres it includes the largest outdoor sports area in central London.


The park also houses the Open Air Theatre, London Zoo, Primrose Hill, the country's largest free to access waterfowl collection and 100 species of wild bird.


Richmond Park

Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit Richmond Park, the largest of the capital's eight Royal Parks and the biggest enclosed space in London.


The park is a National Nature Reserve, London's largest Site of Special Scientific Interest and a European Special Area of Conservation.


It is home to the beautiful Isabella Plantation, Pembroke Lodge and herds of Red and Fallow deer.


St James´s  Park

The oldest of the capital's eight Royal Parks.


The park includes The Mall and Horse Guards Parade and is at the heart of ceremonial London, providing the setting for spectacular pageants including the annual Trooping the Colour.


More parks and open spaces:

Friends of Queen´s Wood

Queen's Wood is a wonderful local nature reserve situated in Muswell Hill, between Muswell Hill Road, Onslow Gardens, Connaught Gardens, Queen's Wood Road and Priory Gardens. There are several entrances to the wood, with the nearest tube being Highgate on the Northern Line.

Smaller parks  and gardens worth a visit:

Postman´s park,  in the City close to St. Paul´s Cathedral (picture below)

Phoenix Garden,  St Giles Passage WC2  (Tube: Tottenham Court Road)  Frogs!!

St Mary´s Secret Garden, 50 Pearson Street, E2 (Bus 67, 149, 242 and 243)

Camley Street Natural Park,  King´s Cross N1

St Dunstan in the East Church Garden, St Dunstan´s Hill  (Tube:Monument)


Open Garden Squares Weekend

Feed your curiosity with over 200 gardens to explore in this magical two-day event in June each year. Gardens range from the historic and traditional to the new and experimental and can be discovered across 27 London boroughs.

A list of Gardens here.

Tibetan Peace Garden

in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park is beside the Imperial War Museum. It was completed in 1999, funded by the Tibet Foundation and designed by a sculptor: Hamish Horsley. The garden name is Samten Kyil, Tibetan for “Garden of Contemplation”.

Chiswick House and Gardens

Burlington Lane,W4 T:Turnham Green

Chiswick House is a magnificent neo-Palladian villa set in beautiful historic gardens in west London.The gardens at Chiswick are the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement and have inspired countless gardens including New York's Central Park. Read more here.


Visit woods in and around London. List here.

King Henrys Walk

King Henry's Walk Garden is an award-winning new green space in the Mildmay ward of Islington, created by the local community, for the local community.


Run by volunteers, with support from Islington Council, the garden contains growing plots for cultivation by local residents, where the use of organic gardening methods helps to promote a diversity of plants and wildlife, and a full programme of education and events engages the whole community.

Gardens of the City of London

A gentle stroll round some delightful places ; gardens, churchyards etc in the City.

 

A Walk trough the City of London

This walk explores nearly 2000 years of London's history, with gardens built around Roman remains and church ruins, the gardens of city livery companies, and those made in churchyards and on bombsites after WW2.


My favourite:

Mount Street Gardens in Mayfair

A hidden secret  (no more!) right in the middle of Mayfair. An excellent little park, very peaceful. (Picture below). A lovely contrast to the  world outside. Tube: Green Park

Kyoto Garden

Holland Park Kyoto garden was designed and built by an eminent Japanese Garden designer and his team to celebrate the Japan Festival in London in 1992. It was a co-operative project between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

Kensington Roof Gardens

One hundered feet above Kensington High Street. Yes, thet have flamingos!



Visit the Barbican Rooftop Conservatory

(plants, fishes, quails and trees)