Outdoor sights in London
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Greenwich Park
This is one of London’s largest and loveliest parks, with a grand avenue, wide-open spaces, a rose garden, picturesque walks and impressive views across the River Thames to Docklands from the top of the hill near the statue of General Wolfe opposite the Royal Observatory. Covering a full 73 hectares, it is the oldest enclosed royal park and is partly the work of Le Nôtre, who landscaped the palace gardens of Versailles for Louis XIV. It contains several historic sights, a teahouse near the Royal Observatory, a cafe behind the National Maritime Museum and a deer park in the southeast corner.
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B
St James’s Park
This is one of the smallest but most gorgeous of London’s parks. It has brilliant views of the London Eye, Westminster, St James’s Palace, Carlton Terrace and Horse Guards Parade, and the view of Buckingham Palace from the footbridge spanning St James’s Park Lake is the best you’ll find (get those cameras out). The central lake is full of different types of ducks, geese, swans and general fowl, and its southern side’s rocks serve as a rest stop for pelicans (fed at 3pm daily). Some of the technicolour flowerbeds were modelled on John Nash’s original ‘floriferous’ beds of mixed shrubs, flowers and trees, and old-aged squirrel-feeders congregate under the trees daily, with …
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C
Clapham Common
This large expanse of green is the heart of the Clapham neighbourhood. Mentioned both by Graham Greene in his novel The End of the Affair and Ian McEwan in his brilliant Atonement, it’s now a venue for many outdoor summer events. The main thoroughfare, Clapham High St, starts at the common’s northeastern edge and is lined with many of the bars, restaurants and shops for which people principally come to Clapham. However, for a simple stroll it’s much more pleasant to explore the more upmarket streets of Clapham Old Town, a short distance northwest of the tube station, and Clapham Common North Side at the common’s northwesternmost edge. On the corner of Clapham Park R…
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D
Wimbledon Common
Running on into Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common covers 460 hectares of South London and is a wonderful expanse of open space for walking, nature trailing and picnicking. There are a few specific sights on Wimbledon Common, including Wimbledon Windmill, a fine smock mill (ie octagonal-shaped with sloping weatherboarded sides) dating from 1817 which now contains a museum with working models on the history of windmills and milling. It was during a stay in the mill in 1908 that Robert Baden-Powell was inspired to write parts of his Scouting for Boys. On the southern side of the common, the misnamed Caesar’s Camp is what’s left of a roughly circular earthen fort built in the …
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Kennington Park
This unprepossessing space of green has a great rabble-rousing tradition. Originally a common, where all were permitted entry, it acted as a speakers’ corner for South London. During the 18th century, Jacobite rebels trying to restore the Stuart monarchy were hanged, drawn and quartered here, and in the 18th and 19th centuries preachers used to deliver hellfire-and-brimstone speeches to large audiences; John Wesley, founder of Methodism and an antislavery advocate, is said to have attracted some 30, 000 followers. After the great Chartist rally on 10 April 1848, where millions of working-class people turned out to demand the same voting rights as the middle classes, the r…
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Victoria Park
If you want a little more green than Mile End Park affords, head north from Mile End tube along Grove Rd, until you reach 88-hectare Victoria Park, the ‘Regent’s Park of the East End’. This leafy expanse has lakes, fountains, a bowling green, tennis courts, a deer park and much more. It was the East End’s first public park when it opened in 1845 and came about after a local MP presented Queen Victoria with a petition of 30,000 signatures. In the early 20th century it was known as the Speaker’s Corner of the East End. During WWII the park was largely closed to the public and was used as an anti-aircraft shelling site as well as an internment camp for Italian and then Germa…
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Highgate Wood
With more than 28 hectares of ancient woodland, this park is a wonderful spot for a walk any time of the year. It’s also teeming with life, and some 70 different bird species have been recorded here, along with five types of bat, 12 types of butterfly and 80 different kinds of spider. It also has a huge clearing in the centre for sports, a popular playground and nature trail for kids and a range of activities – from falconry to bat-watching – throughout the year.
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Wandsworth Common
Wilder and more overgrown than the nearby common in Clapham, Wandsworth Common is full of couples pushing prams on a sunny day. On the western side is a pleasant collection of streets known as the toast rack, because of their alignment. Baskerville, Dorlcote, Henderson, Nicosia, Patten and Routh Rds are lined with Georgian houses. There’s a blue plaque at 3 Routh Rd, home to the former British prime minister David Lloyd George.
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