Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Kensington Gardens, Kensington W2 2UH. Website: royalparks.org
What are the opening hours?
Opening times are 6am to 4.30pm (1st half Jan and Nov to Dec); 6am to 5pm (2nd half Jan and 2nd half Oct); 6am to 5.30pm (Feb); 6am to 6pm (1st half Mar); 6am to 6.30pm (2nd half Mar and 2nd half Oct); 6am to 8pm (1st half Apr and 1st half Sep); 6am to 8.30pm (2nd half Apr and 2nd half Aug); 6am to 9pm (1st half May and 1st half Aug); 6am to 9.30pm (2nd half May and 2nd half Jul); 6am to 9.45pm (Jun to 1st half Jul); 6am to 7.30pm (2nd half Sep); 6am to 7pm (1st half Oct).
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to Kensington Gardens takes 1 to 1½ hours.
Which buses go to Kensington Gardens?
Bus routes 94, 148 and 274 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is Lancaster Gate on the Central line. You can walk the ½ mile to Kensington Gardens in about 9 minutes.
Which other attractions are nearby?
Here are four attractions within 15 minutes walk of Kensington Gardens: Albert Memorial, Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall and Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
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While Christopher Wren was busy turning Nottingham House into Kensington Palace William III fenced off the western-end of Hyde Park and turned it into private gardens. Mary then set about beautifying it with flower beds and hedges, Queen Anne added the Orangery, and Queen Caroline built the Round Pond and Serpentine.
In 1841 the gardens were finally opened back up to the public on the proviso that they were suitably dressed. These days people just come here to walk their dogs and throw biscuits to the birds. Ten years ago I could probably have done a lap of the lake in twenty minutes but now I like to stop off for a coffee at each of the three cafes – the Lido, Italian Gardens and Serpentine Bar & Kitchen – it’s a bit like a pub-crawl for middle-aged people.
The Round Pond
Photo: londondrum.comWhen people think of a pond they’re usually imagining something with lily pads and tadpoles, but this place is more like an inland sea, like a Canadian lake. It’s also one of the coldest places on Earth. If you want to know what it feels like to be a crisp packet in the wind then have a walk around the Round Pond on a cold November morning. I can see people clamping down their hairdos with the flat of their hand and holding onto their hats so they don’t spiral up into the sky. Others are leaning into the wind with their coats pressed out behind them like a flat flag in a hurricane.
The pond is also surprisingly deep (up to 16 feet in places) and if you’re lucky then you might catch some hobbyists from the Model Yacht Sailing Association and London Model Yacht Club launching their boats onto the water.
Queen Caroline’s Temple
Photo: londondrum.comA short distance from the Round Pond is a stone summer house called Queen Caroline’s Temple. Why she chose to build it here I haven’t got a clue because it’s in the middle of nowhere, but today it’s packed out with kids doing their school sports day on the grass, and it’s just about the most health and safety conscious event I have ever witnessed. The adults have kitted them out with fluorescent yellow bibs and are escorting them over the ankle-high hurdles in case they fall flat on their face.
If I was in charge then I’d make them leap over barbed wire fences and fire machine gun blanks over their heads to simulate battlefield conditions – these kids need to toughen up a bit! And I wouldn’t clap the losers over the line either – I’d throw cabbages at them and make them run another lap around the lake. That’s what they used to do at my school I turned out all right (sort of).
JM Barrie’s Peter Pan statue
Photo: londondrum.comSee if you can find the Peter Pan statue on the western edge of the lake. A few years after Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens came out the author JM Barrie decided to sneak up a statue in the middle of the night so the kids would think it had appeared as if by magic. He put it in the same spot where Peter landed his boat in The Little White Bird and surrounded it with fairies, finches, squirrels and mice. If you point your mobile phone at the QR code by the gate then you’re supposed to hear a message from Peter Pan himself only it never works when I do it. Somebody joked that it’s probably because I don’t believe (but I do believe).
Photo: londondrum.comPrincess Diana Memorial Playground
Everybody knows that Princess Diana loved children, but not a lot of people know that she also loved pirates – hence the big pirate ship in the middle of the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. I’d love to be able to show you a photograph of it but there’s no way I’m standing there taking photos of a children’s playground because I’ll probably get arrested. It’s also fenced off like Fort Knox and you need a child to get inside (you literally do – they won’t let you in otherwise).
It’s sitting on a beach of sand like it’s dropped anchor on a desert island, against a background of tropical trees and plants, surrounded by teepees, swings and slides.
Photo: londondrum.com
Just outside the entrance is a little cafe and the famous Elfin Oak – an old tree stump that has elves, gnomes, fairies and woodland creatures carved into its bark by the illustrator Ivor Innes. Nobody recognises their names nowadays but the characters include Wookey the Witch, Huckleberry the Gnome, Grumples and Groodles, and a naughty elf who’s stealing some eggs from a nest.
The Sunken Garden & Princess Diana Statue
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Just to the side of Kensington Palace is the Sunken Garden, originally built for Edward VII but now more closely associated with Princess Diana. Following her divorce from Charles she continued living at the palace and was particularly fond of the garden so William and Harry commissioned a statue for the top.
They don’t let you step inside the actual garden itself but you can walk around the edge for free and see the statue from behind. If you want to get a better look at her face then remember to bring your binoculars because you’ll have to stand up the other end of the pond.
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What do you think? (3)
Ask a question, or share your experience of Kensington Gardens
Anna We had a lovely day in Kensington Gardens today. We walked around the outside of the Palace which is absolutely beautiful. It was just a shame that we couldn’t go inside, but we walked around the Sunken Garden and then had a wander around the lake to see the ducks, which was quite breezy, which in this hot weather was wonderful! Then we headed back to Kensington to do some window shopping. It was quite a nice day! (reply)
Gabe This is our favourite place to walk with our dog barney, who loves it as well. We go along the south side to see the Royal Albert Hall and Albert Memorial first and then turn right past Kensington Palace, then across the top and then past the Italian gardens and down the side of the lake, which is my favourite part, back to where we started. I don’t know what we’d do without Kensington Gardens to walk in on our daily walks. (reply)
vera This is so much nicer than Hyde Park because it has the palace and the round pond. Yes Craig, I agree that is very cold! but I love sitting there watching people feed all the birds. They have a wonderful variety of ducks and geese, and I have seen green parakeets in the trees. (reply)
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