Famous parks in London!

London has got great and really amazing parks. It´s quite impossible to imagine a city as London having so much green and open space. In any part of London, you can find at least one park. It doesn't matter if it's just a small pool with surrounding trees or a park like the magnificent and slightly wild Richmond Park.


Hyde Park:

This is the most famous London park. Surrounded from north with Queensway and Bayswater (plenty of youth hotels and hostels including Whiteleys shopping centre), with Mayfair (American Embassy, Bond Street, the Intercontinental hotel) from east, Kensington on west (nice small shops on Kensington Church Street) and Knightsbridge on south (Exhibition Road, Royal Albert Hall, Harrods shop, Belgrave Square with Embassies), this park has the best London location from where you can reach main shopping areas. Being 360 acres in size it can take some time to cross it over. In summer time, there is an option of renting a small boat and gently paddling in the lake, having a refreshing drink or maybe fishing in certain allocated places. You will need a licence for fishing so please purchase one before you come there. If you are into roller-skating this is the place for you. At the Speakers Corner you are free to scream at the whole wide world or have a normal debate with strangers about topics that interest you. Kensington Palace can be found in Kensington Gardens, part of Hyde Park. If you would like to pay a tribute to Princess Diana, go there. After her death, thousands of people came just to lay the flowers and leave cards.



Green Park:

The second London Park that visitors regularly see is Green Park. This is the place where on Saturdays and Sundays you can hardly move due to a huge number of people standing outside Buckingham Palace gates. Maybe while you are at the gates you will have a chance to see people attempting to access the Palace driving car trough the gates or just landing with parachute like it happened before.
The Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 and bought by King George III, sixty years later on. It became a permanent residence of Kings and Queens after King George IV commissioned remodelling in 1824. It was "updated" twice more for needs of the court and their families. If you can see the Royal flag flying over the east front, you know that Her Majesty the Queen is inside. The interior of the Palace is open to visitors during August and September.


St. James Park:

Adjacent to the Green Park is St. James's Park. You can really enjoy these parks on Sundays when they are closed to traffic. Inside the park you can see St. James's Palace that was originally built on the site of a lepers` hospital. Just before his execution, Charles I decided to spend his last night there. The Duke and Duchess of Kent live there. You are not allowed to go inside, apart from Chapel Royal that is open for services only. Short walk from the Palace you will emerge on to Parliament Square and you can see the Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.


Regent Park:

Taking a tube to Baker Street, Regents Park or Portland Street you will emerge in front of Regent’s Park. Situated in northwest London, this park can offer you variety of fun and leisure. Inside the park is a boating lake where you can rent a boat and take pictures of birds nesting on an island found in the middle of the lake. If you are a lover of beautifully cultivated flowers, you will have a unforgetable experience. With plenty of chairs and benches around, you can also sit and watch the time pass you by.


Work made by:
Sara Carvalho
Nº 25
6ºB