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Regent's Park Open-air Theatre: The summer season
kicks off with Merlin the Magnificent. For details see our kids'
london section. Bring a picnic or pick one up from the restaurant.
Rowing boats: can be hired on the main
boating lake and can seat up to 5 adults. There is also a smaller
children's boating lake with pedalos. Boats are available for
hire April-Sept (£4 per hour adults, £2 children.
Pedalos are £2 for a 15-min ride and children must be over
70cms tall.) Keep an eye out for the ducks - some are very rare.
There is even a heronry. children's playgrounds: Three excellent ones. The Tennis Centre: located on the southwest
side of the park. 12 courts are available to both members (annual
membership is £55) and non-members. Members can book courts
7 days in advance, non-members 3 days. Courts cost £9 (£7
members). Lessons can be arranged and cost from £35. There are numerous playing fields and a running track. Restaurants: four cafés - Boating House (Hanover Gate), Rose Garden Café (Queen Mary's Gardens), the Broadwalk and the Tennis Centre. Jazz evenings at the Rose Garden Café on Thursdays 6.15-7.45pm during August (except 29th) children's activities: at venues across the park taking place during weekday lunchtimes 22 July to 30 August. Call 020 7406 7905 for details.
Riding: Almost 4 miles of track to
ride, including the famous Rotten Row. Lido: One of London's best kept secrets. From 1 June until 8 Sept, £2.50 adults & 50p children buys you entrance to the nicest public paddling pool in London. Watch your children run in the sprinklers in spotless water against the backdrop of the Serpentine behind as you sit on a deckchair on an enclosed lawn. Also an excellent sandpit and swings. Basic refreshments and changing facilities. From 22 July to 30 August there will be a variety of children's entertainment every weekday from 2.30pm-4pm. Restaurants: the Dell and the Lido Café. Both will feature live jazz on alternate Wed evenings 6.30-8pm during July and August. Tennis: 6 outdoor courts at the western end of Rotten Row, accessed via the Pavilion Café - the whole place has the air of an upmarket country club. Membership will set you back £90 p/a but all the facilities can also be used on a pay as you play basis and include bowling, mini-golf and petanque. Tennis courts are £8.50 (£7 members) for 45 mins. Summer tennis camps (2-4pm Tues to Fri) will be run for 3 separate weeks during the summer (dates yet to be finalised) for kids aged 8-14. Call 020 7262 3474 for further details. Speakers Corner: Marble Arch. Catch the ultimate in soap box oratory.
Peter Pan: The rabbits, mice, birds and fairies have been kept smooth and shiny by a million tiny hands. Magic. Round Pond: Launch your miniature yacht or your remote-controlled power boat and, if the former, hope you have a fair wind to get you to the other side. There are plans to arrange boats for hire but currently you have to bring your own. Serpentine Gallery: one of the capital's
leading venues for contemporary art and a good one for kids. From
12 July a temporary installation by Toyo Ito will be in the garden
and will serve as a café. Restaurants: The Broadwalk Café and the Orangery Kensington Palace: 10am-5pm. Currently
showing exhibition of royal wedding dresses. adults £6;
children £4 Richmond Park Riding: Before 1pm you can ride horses
anywhere in the park. After then, you can ride on the roads and
extensive riding tracks. There are four riding stables from which
you can reach the park. Two are right on the doorstep: Fishing: Fishing can be arranged on the Pen Ponds from 16 June to 14 March. You need a license from the Post Office. Permits cost £15 full price and £8 for 10-17 year olds. Call 848 3209 for details. Golf: There are two public 18 hole golf courses. Group lessons
for kids take place on Saturday mornings at 10am. Restaurants: Pembroke Lodge Cafeteria and Roehampton Pavilion. Children's activities taking place weekday lunchtimes 22 July
to 30 August. The Holly Lodge Centre offers pre-booked educational and special interest activities. Call Dr Pat Ealey (020 8948 3209 x236) for details.
The park is cleverly laid out and makes the most of its 30 acres. There is a large grass area where a range of sports are played and a bandstand. The north end has a more overgrown, wild section. There are three, connected, playgrounds - one for toddlers with an enormous sandpit, one for pre-schoolers and one for older kids. The slides are particularly praised. There is an paddling pool in summer that is always very clean. Children can visit the, slightly uninspiring, pet's corner that
has goats, guinea pigs, rabbits etc. Sports include pitch and putting and petanque. There are 6 all weather tennis courts that operate on a turn up, pay and play basis. £2.40 adults/£1.20 children for 1/2 hour. Tennis coaching can be arranged. Details in the café.
Entrance to the grounds is free and they are well worth the visit in their own right. Free car parking by the A4 entrance. The gardens are laid out in formal Italianate style - the lawns below the house slope down to a long ornamental lake overlooked by weeping willows, waterfall, ducks, even parrots. There are formal gravel paths and high yew hedges and masses of woods filled with rhododendrons. There is also an excellent café (see our restaurant review section), which is well situated next to a biggish lawn so that adults can finish coffee/lunch in peace while keeping an eye on their offspring. First published in angels and urchins, Summer 2002
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By
August, when London's roads retreat into a haze of exhaust fumes
and road works, escape to the parks, once famously described as
'the lungs of London'. Over the next four pages, we have selected
our pick of the bunch. We have maps for five of the parks, which
are worth making a special trip to. These are followed by four
of our favourite West London parks. We have detailed everything
you could wish to know from golf lessons to boat hire, from riding
to art, to get the most out of these wonderful FREE facilities.
Enjoy!