Why is Regent Park in London democratic? Regents Park: history, description and visiting rules
Is a 400-acre idyll of greenery and flowers that begins at the northwest end of Marylebone.
Situated between Camden County and Westminster, Regent's Park encompasses some of the city's most beautiful parks, a shipping canal, theaters, restaurants and a lake large enough for boating.
Originally, this place was one of the favorite hunting grounds of Henry VIII, where the public was not allowed until 1812. Renowned architect John Nash then designed the landscape for the entire area and the park opened its doors to the public.
Nash's project includes beautiful terraces and nine large villas that surround the park, as well as a lake with boats and a canal. Regent's Street was originally rebuilt to link St James's Palace and the Prince's Summer Residence, which was never built.
Regent's Park has two ring roads: an outer circle that surrounds the entire perimeter of the park, and a much smaller inner circle that encircles the southern part of the park.
The inner circle surrounds Queen Mary Gardens – beautiful rows plantings, trees, alleys, fountains and hedges. Renowned for its magnificent roses, Queen Mary Gardens has over 30,000 plants, representing about 400 different species. Due to the fact that the distance from the gardens to any part of the Inner Road is the same, there are not many people here, and the place is very peaceful and calm, where you can find many secluded corners to escape from the bustle of the city.
If you enter Queen Mary Gardens from the west side, you can find a restaurant called The Garden Café, which is open from 10 am to 9 pm (in winter until 4 pm).
Also adjacent to Regent's Park is the 1,200-seat open air theater, first opened in 1932, and famous for its summer Shakespearean productions. Midsummer Night's Dream is especially popular. However, musicals, children's plays and evening concerts are also staged here.
On summer evenings, the theater grounds open 90 minutes before the start of the performance, and you can organize a picnic, enjoy a barbecue, buffet or visit one of the longest bars in London.
There is also a large tennis center where you can just play or learn from the players who grew up in the shadow of Wimbledon.
In the west, the bend of the willow-edged Boating Lake begins with a small island where flocks of waterfowl live. Walking along the western shore of the lake, you will find a restaurant with a large outdoor terrace, open from 9:00 to 20:00 in summer, and from 10:00 to 16:00 in winter. Near the lake, from May to October, you can rent boats and sun loungers.
Opposite the northern edge of the lake is the beautiful Central Mosque, opened in 1978. As the cultural and spiritual hub for much of the city's vast Muslim population, the mosque can accommodate up to 1,800 people and has a huge, comprehensive library of Islamic texts.
To the northeast of Lake Regent's Park, sports fields for football, rugby, hockey and cricket are flooded. Behind the sports fields is a circular glass structure called The Hub. It houses a sports center and a restaurant with a 360 ° view. Both establishments are open 7 days a week: the center from 9:00 to 18:30, the restaurant from 10 am to 5 pm.
To the east of the Hub is one of the most beloved - the London Zoo. The huge zoo is home to more than 600 species of animals, and the institution itself is divided in half by the Regents Canal, along which river trams float.
Part of London since the days of Henry VIII, Regent "s Park is one of the largest green areas in the city and home to a variety of attractions. The park is bordered by grand 19th century buildings designed in the so-called Regency architecture.
The origins of the park
Queen Mary "s Gardens
The area that would later be known as London "s Regent" s Park was first appropriated in 1538 by King Henry VIII to be used as hunting grounds. Originally called Marylebone Park, it remained a "royal chase" until 1646 after which it was mainly used as farmland.
In 1811, famed architect John Nash added his magic touch, at the request of the prince Regent, and made the park into what it is today. With 166 hectares to design, Nash had huge plans for Regent "s Park. Round in shape, the park would have a canal, lake, and fifty-six planned villas, though just eight were built and only two remain -
St. John "s Lodge and The Holme.
Both the zoological society and the Royal Botanical Society took up residence in the park and it wasn "t until 1835 that the general public was actually allowed to use the park, but only certain sections. More than a century later, the park marked another landmark with the creation of beautiful Queen Mary "s Gardens. By that time, the entire park was open to all.
Regent "s Park Today
Twenty-first century Regent "s Park is a vibrant and lively place to be. The park features a number of sports facilities such as tennis courts and the" Hub ", a sports community pavilion.
The centerpiece of the park is the London Zoo. Home to dozens of
mammals, birds, invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, visitors of all ages will love this excellent zoo, which is open year round.
The park has also become an important site for wildlife, especially with the recent addition of a "wildlife-friendly" community garden, and flower aficionados will enjoy the colorful Queen Mary "s Gardens, a rose garden named after the wife of king George V . Other gardens include the formal Avenue Gardens; the adjacent, more informal English Gardens and the St. John "s Lodge Garden, which belongs to one of the villas in the park. The villa is private property, but part of the garden is open to visitors.
The pretty lake in Regent "s Park is open to rowboats and paddle boats, which may be rented at the boathouse.
Regent's Park was formerly called Marylebone Park and, like many other royal parks, was once a royal game reserve. Here in the 16th century, Henry VIII hunted deer, but then the park until the 19th century was used first as a source of timber, then as land for fields and vegetable gardens. The situation changed at the beginning of the 19th century, when King George III fell seriously ill and his son became regent. He wanted for himself new palace and, accordingly, to it new park... Renowned architect John Nash was entrusted with the project, who named the new park Regent's park. New landmark has been completed in 1835, and just ten years later, the entrance was made free for all residents of London. Since then, new buildings have appeared in the park and interesting places, but its layout remained the original - a complex system of rings connected by vectors of alleys.
The area of the park is about two hundred hectares. Most of them are dedicated to the flower garden sectors, which are called gardens. They are separated from each other by an internal gilded gate. The most beautiful of them - queen mary's garden, or a garden of roses. It was founded in 1932. More than thirty thousand roses of four hundred varieties grow here. Many of them belong to the climbing varieties, and special supports were made precisely so that they would be wrapped around the shoots of roses and form not only a horizontal, but also a vertical rose garden. In the garden of Queen Mary, a wonderful strong scent of roses constantly smells, combining the most subtle shades of odors of rare varieties. By the way, all varieties of roses are marked with plates with their names.
Not far from the rose garden there is a descent to a cozy small lake. Its shores are overgrown with irises and ferns, there are many benches for recreation, and those wishing to swim on the lake on a boat can rent it. A bronze sculpture of an eagle is installed right in the water. Despite the small size of the pond, there is small island designed in Japanese style. A beautiful curved bridge and a small waterfall complement the image of the lake.
Walking through the park, it is impossible not to pay attention to all its complex and beautiful structure lovingly maintained in order. The neatly trimmed hedges are perfectly shaped, and the classic English lawn is as beautiful as carpet. Nevertheless, the English style of parks also implies the obligatory presence of corners of wildlife in an almost untouched form - there are also they, where old oaks, plane trees and elms grow.
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However, in addition to floral and landscape beauties, the park is interesting for its sports component. For this, there are many bicycle and jogging paths, tennis courts, football fields, as well as for the traditional English sport - cricket.
In Regent's Park there is the central London mosque, from a distance its building looks like a water tower. Therefore, one should not be surprised to meet here and there in the park people in Muslim clothes and with the Koran in their hands - these are parishioners of a mosque that can accommodate five thousand people.
Finally, if you just want to sit on the grass under the sun and enjoy beautiful view to London, then it is worth heading to the northern part of Regenst Park - on Primrose Hill(Primrose Hill). It is a hill that residents of the capital love to have picnics on due to its large open sunny spaces. There is also a large playground.
- group excursion (no more than 15 people) for the first acquaintance with the city and the main attractions - 2 hours, 15 pounds
- see the historic core of London and learn about the main stages of its development - 3 hours, 30 pounds
- find out where and how the culture of tea and coffee was born, and plunge into the atmosphere of those glorious times - 3 hours, 30 pounds
Regents Park or Marylebone Park (old name, XVI century, under Henry VIII) is located in England, London. It covers 197 hectares and is one of the favorite parks of Londoners. Architect John Nash in 1811 designed new plan the area where the park is now located with the construction of fifty secluded country villas, the device of an artificial lake with an island and the creation of terraces around its perimeter.
Regents Park plan
The original site of the Nash plan was later downsized. The surviving houses of John Nash are now the property of the Crown and are rented out for offices and living quarters. In 1836, the architect W.E. Nesfield designed a portion of the park called Evinue Gardens, and the Queen Mary Rose Garden was created in the 1930s.
The rose planting patterns used in the Queen Mary Rose Garden are rarely seen in modern gardens. There are old bushes, huge flower beds dedicated to one cultivar, climbing roses, hanging between trellis turrets. Regular cutting of faded flowers, good watering and spraying of the leaves keeps the roses in bloom until late autumn.
Next to the Rose Garden, there is a Japanese-style composition with a pond and an island, bridges and a large cascade. There is a rock garden on the island. Boat rentals are open at Nash's pond. The lake is designed with elongated bays, over which bridges are thrown.
Linden alley separates two parallel paths, where trimmed hedges, columnar and pyramidal plants, graceful fountains, large stone vases with flower beds and a sea of flowers of various shades are combined in harmony. At the end of the alley there is a white well in the form of a Gothic turret.
The northern part of Regents Park is a large open areas planted with trees around the perimeter. Here they can relax on green lawns or in the shade of trees and play sports. The London Zoo is also located here.
In the southwest of the park is the Central London Mosque, built in the seventies of the 20th century.
Regents College is located in the park.
In the center of London, among the bustle of the city and a variety of noise, there is the most peaceful place, a picturesque creation of man - Regent's Park, or in another way Regent's Park, originally called Marylebone Park. With an area of almost 190 hectares, planted with well-groomed trees and covered with soft lawns, the Royal Regent's Park has been open to visitors since 1838.
It contains golf courses, soccer fields and tennis courts. But besides this, the park is replete with reservoirs, next to which waterfowl nest, and in summer time boat rental is available here. Particularly eye-catching are the regular Victorian gardens, with neat trimmed hedges, linden avenues, a rose garden, and many flower beds and fountains. Towards the south of the park, there are more and more tall plantations of trees, and moving to the northern part, you will see spacious meadows and open meadows.
In the northeastern part of Regent's Park there is a huge London Zoo, where there are over ten thousand individuals and more than 750 species of animals. It is the oldest science zoo in the world, created for research work and has been in existence since 1828.
The park also houses the private residence of the US Ambassador and London's Central Mosque with a golden dome, built in the twentieth century and capable of accommodating nearly 2,000 Muslim worshipers.
The current name of Regent's Park was given in honor of the Prince Regent of Wales, according to whose decree the plan was developed for the organization of the entire park by the architect John Nash. Landscaping was carried out from 1811 to 1820. Initially, when it was allowed to admit visitors to the park, it was possible to visit it no more than twice a week. Today the Regent's park has become popular place for both residents and guests of the capital, being an important landmark of the city.
Regent's Park in April 2014 - VIDEO
Having visited London, you will not be able to see all the interesting things in this city in one day. , Westminster Abbey, and much more you will certainly want to see with your own eyes, and not only on the pages of history and in almanacs.
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Regent's Park - PHOTOS
