The Regent’s Park combines large open spaces with tree-lined pathways, formal gardens, and four children’s playgrounds. It has excellent sports facilities, and contains central London’s largest outdoor sports area.

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. Visit the Open Air Theatre and London Zoo, then take a stroll up Primrose Hill for excellent views of the London skyline.

The park also provides a warm welcome for wildlife. It has a large wetland area and is home to around 100 species of wild bird and a breeding population of hedgehogs.

Did you know?
The Regent’s Park is named after Prince Regent, sometimes known as the playboy prince, who later became King George IV (1762-1830).

The Regent’s Park is one of London’s eight Royal Parks and covers an area of 395 acres.

Sports Pitches
The Regent’s Park is the biggest outdoor sports area in central London. We operate a seasonal sports programme with football, rugby and lacrosse in winter and cricket, softball and touch rugby during the summer.

PRIMROSE HILL
Primrose Hill has a character all of its own, at the summit of this grassy hill are some spectacular views across London. It is separated from Regent’s Park by Prince Albert Road and the ZSL London Zoo.

Like Regent’s Park, this area was once part of a great chase, appropriated by Henry VIII. Primrose Hill, with its clear rounded skyline, was purchased from Eton College in 1841 to extend the parkland available to the poor people of north London for open-air recreation.

At one time this was a place where duels were fought and prize-fights took place. The hill has always had a somewhat lively reputation, with Mother Shipton making threatening prophesies about what would happen if the city sprawl was allowed to encroach on its boundaries.

At the top of the hill is one of the six protected viewpoints in London. The summit is almost 63 metres above sea level and the trees are kept low so as not to obscure the view. In winter, Hampstead can be seen to the northeast. The summit features a York stone edging with a William Blake inscription, it reads:

‘I have conversed with the spiritual sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill.’

An oak tree, known as “Shakespeare’s Tree” stands on the slope of the hill, planted in 1864 to mark the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. A large crowd of workmen marched through London to watch the planting ceremony in 1864. A replacement tree was re-planted in 1964.