The London parks

Debby's Blog

Sometimes the crowds are overwhelming and you want to get away from it. What I always do is visit one of London's parcs. Most of the time it is Hyde Park, but there are more parks in London. You can find them at the strangest places in town. A tip is to buy an A-Z guide and use it during your London visit. I bought one a few years ago, and it is a good help. Most of London is covered in this little booklet form streetmap. As I said, I visit Hyde Park from time to time. Just sitting on a bench and watch the world go buy is a favorite thing to do. Hyde Park is nothing really special. It is a large grassland with some trees and lanes. The thing I like about it is that it is a park where people meet. They have a picnic or just have their lunch there. Getting away from the many offices in the area to spend some time outdoors. There are also many sportive people. I see many people play football, run and even riding their bikes or rollerblades. Kensington Gardens is next to it, and it is easy to walk from one to another. You hardly notice you are there. The only thing is that you see Kensington Palace. I talk about that in another blog, but it is a nice building to watch.

Hyde Park is surrounded by busy roads. At one end is Marbe Arch and Oxford Street is around the corner. Harrods is at another end of the park, and there are lots of statues in the park or close by. In another blog I wrote about the one for the animals that suffered or died during both big wars, but there is also a statue of Peter Pan. It is lovely to see. Squirrels are all around, and they are not shy.

Another Park you must visit is St James's Park. It is much greener than Hyde Park and it has much more to offer the people. There are more animals, plants and trees here. If you stand on the bridge in the park take a moment to look around you. At one hand you have a wonderful view on Buckingham Palace, and if you look the other way you see the London Eye. If you visit St James's Park on sundays you find it very quiet. There is no traffic on the Mall and lots of people use the road to ride bikes, to rollerblade or just for a family stroll. I visited Primrose Hill, but the only thing I liked there was the view on London. If you are lucky, and I wasn't on my few visits there, you see London at your feet. The reason I visted Primrose Hill was because it was used as a location in the populair TV series, the Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Lynley and his wife Helen shared their portion of fries there, and it was the place where Lynley came to mourn the loss of Helen. Ofcourse Primrose Hill has been location for more film and TV stuff, but I have no idea which films or series there were. On my list to visit are the Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common, which I might visit next year, when I hope to walk the Royal Marsen March for the hospital charity. But more of that later. The London parks are a nice contrast to the hectic city life and many people go out and enjoy theirselves there. It is a bit like Paris, when the families visit the parks en masse on Sundays, when dad is off from work and has time to take his family on an outing. In London you see the same thing.

Last year Hyde Park was host to the Winter Wonderland. It was the first time, as far as I know and I think it is a way better location for a fair than Leicester Square was. Keep an eye on this site, because I have a feeling that there will be another Winter Wonderland this year. Hyde Park also hosted lots of huge concerts, and it is very suitable for it. If you visit the park it is hard to imagine the thousants of people that saw Live Aid in 2005. It will also host some sporting events in the Summer Olympics of 2012. Speakers Corner is a part you can't miss. On Sundays people can step up to a box and tell the whole world what is bothering them. A tradition that is almost as old as London itself. All the parks I have visited have hidden spots, that only some people know about. You can find out about them on various internet sites. The London parks are ideal for people who want to escape crowds and relax. I am a fan for sure.

Posted Date
Jul 31, 2011 in Debby's Blog by Debbylynley