Parks and gardens Дщтвщт

Parks and gardens

London is well endowed with open spaces. The eight Royal Parks of London,

covering over 5,000

acres of land, are former royal hunting grounds which

are now open to the public. Four of these — Green

Park, St James's Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens — form a green strand through

the western side of the city centre, whilst a fifth, Regent's Park is just to

the north. Many of the smaller green spaces in central London are garden squares which were built

for the private use of the residents of the fashionable districts, but in some

cases are now open to the public.

The

remaining (and largest) three Royal Parks are in the suburbs — Greenwich Park

to the south east, and Bushy Park and Richmond

Park to the south west.

In addition to these spaces, a large number of council-owned parks were

developed between the mid 19th century and the Second World War, including

Victoria Park, Alexandra Park and Battersea

Park. Other major open

spaces in the suburbs, such as Hampstead Heath, Wimbledon Common and Epping Forest, have a more informal and semi-natural

character, having originally been countryside areas protected against

surrounding urbanisation. Some cemeteries provide extensive green land within

the city — notably Highgate

Cemetery, burial place of

Karl Marx and Michael Faraday amongst others.

Completing

London's array of green spaces are two paid

entrance gardens — the leader is the Royal

Botanic Garden at Kew, whilst the

royal residence of Hampton

Court Palace

also has a celebrated garden.