Regent's Park

About Regent's Park

Royal Park of London, England, UK

The Regent's Park is one of the largest and loveliest of London's Royal Parks, occupying 170 hectares (410 acres) in north-west Inner London between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden. The land came to the Crown on the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1500s and was used for hunting and tenant farming until the Prince Regent, later George IV, proposed turning it into a pleasure garden in the 1810s. It was designed by John Nash with James and Decimus Burton, and James Burton financed its construction privately after the Crown Estate rescinded its pledge to do so; the scheme included the development of grand white aristocratic terraces around its edge, and the park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Besides its wide central parkland and ornamental lake with boats and a waterfall, the park contains various public and private institutions around its periphery, including London Zoo and Regent's University, an open-air theatre with summer productions, Queen Mary's Gardens with more than 12,000 roses, London's largest collection, extensive sports pitches, regular puppet shows, a cafe and play area beside the boating pond, splendid ancient trees, and neighbouring Primrose Hill with its view over the city. On its western edge stands the London Central Mosque with its golden dome, London's largest and most important mosque. Wikivoyage describes it as a large open space very popular with Londoners and less visited by tourists than the other great city parks, a quiet refuge for families, and for Muslim visitors it offers the chance to pray at the Central Mosque and then stroll in the park.

Where:

London, United Kingdom