What does your favourite Royal Park mean to you?

The last 18 months has seen the parks become an even more essential backdrop to our lives, offering a sense of normality in a changing world and at times being literally the only places to go. This winter, Royal Parks are asking for your donations to support their work caring for the nature, landscapes and rich heritage that make the Royal Parks what they are for everyone who needs them.

From boating lakes to birdsong, grand gardens to kids’ playgrounds, visit the parks today and find your escape from city life.

Hyde Park

Once the hunting ground for Henry VIII, this large royal park is best known for its famous Speakers’ Corner and Serpentine Lake, home to waterfowl and oarsmen. The Lido only opens for the summer, but the Swimming Club is open all year round so brave folk can swim in frigid waters, sometimes as cold as 4C.

Kensington Gardens

Covering an area of 265 acres, Kensington Gardens is planted with magnificent trees and ornamental flower beds. It is a perfect setting for Kensington Palace, the Albert Memorial, Peter Pan statue and the Serpentine Gallery. Did you know? you can pick up tips for growing fruit and vegetables from the park’s very own allotment which is also home to a number of chickens.

THE REGENT’S PARK

‘Regent’s Park’ covers 197 hectares, consisting of formal gardens, shrubberies, sports pitches, rough grassland, a large lake, small enclosed wood and a canal. Regents Park also houses various structures and organisations, including the iconic ZSL London Zoo. Walk through the elegant flowerbeds in the Avenue Gardens, see more than 12,000 roses in Queen Mary’s Gardens, or hire a rowing boat and join the ducks on the boating lake.

St James Park

St James’s Park includes The Mall and Horse Guards Parade, and surrounded by landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Whitehall. The park’s famous flower beds are a familiar backdrop to pageants including Trooping the Colour, as well as state visits and other ceremonial occasions. Enjoy impressive views of the lake and fountain, watch the resident pelicans at feeding time, or while away a sunny afternoon in a deckchair.

Victoria Tower Gardens

A small pocket of green space in the heart of Westminster, between the Houses of Parliament, the River Thames, Millbank and Lambeth Bridge. Look out for memorials celebrating freedom, including the Buxton Memorial which marks the abolition of slavery. And for children the Horseferry Playground includes a sandpit, dance chimes and a water play feature.

Richmond Park

One of London’s most breathtaking landscapes, the 1,012-hectare space is made up of woodland, grassland and ponds attracting hedgehogs and bats hibernating in winter. But the park is best known for its 630 wild red and fallow deer. Discover the Isabella Plantation woodland gardens, refuel at Pembroke Lodge tea rooms and enjoy distant views of St Paul’s Cathedral from King Henry’s Mound.

Brompton Cemetery

The Grade I listed Brompton Cemetery is the well-loved resting place of over 200,000 people and a haven for wildlife. Nestled among the spectacular trees and undergrowth are over 35,000 gravestones and monuments with the amazing stories of all the people buried there since the 1830s, including some well-known names like Emmeline Pankhurst and John Snow.

The Green Park

‘Green Park’ is a peaceful refuge; a triangle of mature trees and grasslands, offering a quiet retreat from city life, right next to Buckingham Palace. Visit a range of memorials, fountains and statues and look out for Royal Gun Salutes when ceremonial guns are fired to mark special royal occasions.

Greenwich Park

The 74-hectare space is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as it overlooks the National Maritime Museum and the Old Royal Naval College. It is an amazing mix of 17th century landscape, stunning gardens and a rich history that dates back to Roman times and a small herd of Fallow and Red deer. There’s also a children’s playground where kids can run around and exhaust themselves.

Bushy Park

At over 1000 acres, Bushy Park lies just north of Hampton Court Palace and is famed for its mix of waterways, gardens, and roaming herds of red and fallow deer. Visit the Upper Lodge Water Gardens, a historic gem hidden away in the north of the park. See if you can spot the arresting birdlife, from kingfishers to kestrels. And enjoy a walk in the peaceful Woodland Gardens.

Your Gift To The Royal Parks

Whatever personal connection you have with your Royal Parks, your gift will go towards conserving and improving the 5,000 acres of parkland in our care, impacting the lives of millions of people each year.

When other locations were forced to close, Royal Parks worked even harder to make sure they were there for everyone who needed them, providing free access to nature, playgrounds and spaces to exercise, all while managing biodiversity and preserving the landscapes’ rich heritage.

That work never stops, with park teams out and about all year round tending to the special places that have become like a second home for many.

If you value your Royal Parks please make a donation. Your gift will help care for precious green space in London that plays an essential role in the lives of millions of people each year.

Please give what you can by visiting royalparks.org.uk/ support-the-parks