Outdoor sights in England
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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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Williamson Park
Lancaster's highest point is the 22-hectare spread of Williamson Park , from which there are great views of the town, Morecambe Bay and the Cumbrian fells to the north. In the middle of the park is the Ashton Memorial, a 67m Baroque folly built by Lord Ashton (the son of the park's founder, James Williamson) for his wife.
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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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Yorkshire Dales National Park
Sitting snugly between the brooding North York Moors to the east and the dramatic Lake District to the west are the Yorkshire Dales (from the Viking word dalr, meaning 'valleys'), a marvellous area of high hills and moors, cut through by rugged stone walls and spotted with extravagant houses and the faded, spectral grandeur of monastic ruins.
Thankfully, nature's feast has been protected as a national park since the 1950s, assuring its status as a walker's and cyclist's wonderland. But the fabulous scenery attracts plenty of four-wheeled visitors, making the roads very crowded - especially during the summer. If you can't avoid busy summer weekends, try to come by bus or t…
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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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Dartmoor National Park
At first glance, Dartmoor can come as something of a shock to the senses. The largest stretch of open moorland in the southwest, Dartmoor covers an area of 945sq km (368sq mi) between Plymouth and Exeter. It's a stark, wild and bleakly beautiful place, dotted with granite-topped hills, marshy bogs and patches of purple heather, as well as many weirdly shaped tors.
Dartmoor encloses some of the wildest, bleakest country in England: suitable terrain for the Hound of the Baskervilles (one of Sherlock Holmes' more notorious foes). The landscape and weather can make this an extremely eerie place; try not to think of An American Werewolf in London on a dark, foggy night. With …
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New Forest
Less than 30 minutes from Southampton is an ancient swathe of wild heath and woodland grazed upon by wild ponies, donkeys and deer. A unique place, the not-so-New Forest has an even more singular history and fascinating archaic traditions that date back almost 1000 years.
Wild ponies mooch around its picturesque scrubland, paying no attention to the walkers and cyclists that pant past. Deer flicker in the distance and rare birds flit among the foliage. A scattering of genteel villages dot the landscape and a web of walking and cycling trails connects them.
The New Forest is the only area of England to remain relatively untouched since Norman times, thanks in large part to…
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Eden Project
The giant biomes of the Eden Project - the largest greenhouses in the world - have become one of Cornwall's most celebrated landmarks. Tropical, temperate and desert environments have been recreated inside the biomes, so a single visit can carry you from the steaming rainforests of South America to the dry deserts of Northern Africa.
There's an education centre, constructed according to the Fibonacci sequence, one of nature's most fundamental building blocks.
In summer the biomes become a spectacular backdrop to a series of gigs known as the Eden Sessions (artists have included José Gonzalez, Goldfrapp and The Magic Numbers) and from November to February Eden transforms …
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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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Castlefield Urban Heritage Park
The Roman fort that gave birth to Manchester was built in Castlefield in AD 79. Later, this became heart of industrial Manchester, a landscape of enormous, weather-stained brick buildings and rusting cast-iron relics of canals, viaducts, bridges, warehouses and market buildings. Castlefield has now been redeveloped into an Urban Heritage Park.
Aside from the huge science museum, the big draw here is the Castlefield Basin. The Bridgewater Canal runs through it; in summertime thousands of people amble about the place and patronise its fine pubs and trendy restaurants.
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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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Norfolk Broads
The county's most beautiful attraction, the peaceful Broads are a mesh of navigable slow-moving rivers, freshwater lakes, wild water meadows, fens, bogs and saltwater marshes, flourishing nature reserves and bird sanctuaries. Together they form 201km (125mi) of lock-free waterways. A boat is best to spy on its birds, butterflies and water-loving wildlife.
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Slopes
Opposite the Crescent, a small park called the Slopes rises steeply in a series of grassy terraces. From the top there are views over the centre and across to the grand old Palace Hotel and the former Devonshire Hospital, with its magnificent dome. It is now part of the University of Derby.
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Undercliff Nature Reserve
A 2-mile hike west of Lyme along the coast path takes you into the lush rainforest-esque Undercliff Nature Reserve. It's a landscape of landslips - partly collapsed cliffs, exposed tree roots and tangles of brambles. Follow the signs from the Holmbush car park.
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Ridgeway national trail
The Ridgeway national trail starts near Avebury and runs westwards across Fyfield Down, where many of the sarsen stones at Avebury (and Stonehenge) were collected.
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walking tours
Guided walking tours run from outside the tourist office in Castle Hill daily from June to September, and at weekends in June, September and October.
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Quarry Park
Stroll along the riverside to enjoy an ice cream in the tumbling gardens of Quarry Park.
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Reading Abbey
Founded in 1121 by Henry I and consecrated by Thomas Beckett in 1164, this abbey was one of the most influential in medieval England and a popular destination for pilgrims. It once covered most of the town area. Most of the abbey's property was destroyed after its dissolution in 1539 by Henry VIII. Today, the ruins can be seen in the Forbury Gardens.
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Weald Country Park
Weald Country Park is a huge parkland dotted with lakes. Once a playground for deer, it became a hunting ground for abbots in 1063. After years of running in the opposite direction, the deer were reintroduced in 1987. Don't miss the visitor centre with its colourful historic displays, and the remains of an Iron Age settlement dating back to 1 BC.
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National Forest Maize Maze
Unaware of the maize-maze craze? Puzzle no more at Burton's own Adrian Fisher extravaganza. The maze proper is essentially a big noise-absorbing plot for the relief of parents who've been shushing their kids through England's quieter attractions. A Fun Field is filled with generally boy-centric appeal: football, go-karts, tractors and - out of left field - llamas.
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Brockhill Country Park
With excellent views to the English Channel, Brockhill Country Park is part of an estate dating back to Norman times. A large grassy valley is bisected by the Brockhill Stream as it makes its way to the Royal Military Canal at Hythe. The park has two sign posted trails. The rich mosaic of plants provides shelter for many beautiful butterflies.
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