LONDON WEEKEND BREAKS - Regents Park

Regents Park is one of London's most famous and most visited relaxation and recreational areas.

The total area of the park is about 410 acres and it sees significant recreational and sporting sections with playing fields and tennis courts.

In fact, with almost 100 acres dedicated to sports and outdoor activities, Regents Park is London's largest single sports zone.

The gardens

Away from the park's sporting areas there are extensive gardens and flowers beds that boat over 400 different hybrids of rose. The plantings are regularly updated and the park is modern in its outlook with Regents park gardens numerous sub-divisions and specialised areas.

However this is not a new park, but one that has developed and evolved over centuries from the hunting grounds of King Henry VIII in the early sixteenth century. It has also seen a change in name from Marylebone Park and numerous changes in ownership and intended use.

Much of today's Regents Park was instigated by King George IV and designed by John Nash, however not as a municipal park, but rather as a king's formal and gardened residence.

Nash's original design included a lake, a canal and a royal residence and saw the parks name changed to Regents Park. There was also a commercial side to the park's development that saw the building of large villas and a revenue for the king.

This grand royal palace and gardens concept did off course ever come to fruition, but some of the features that were planned and built then remain today.

Public use of Regents Park

In 1835 sections of the park were first made open to the public and the popularity of this massive area of urban recreation space has continued to this day.

Zones of the park include, the Winter Gardens, Cumberland Green, Regents Canal, the Boating Lake, Clarence Bridge, the Pavilion, Marylebone Green and Queen Mary's gardens.