Other parks have even more surprising origins<\/a>. \u201cThe square mile has hundreds of green spaces, including many former burial grounds which were converted into the city\u2019s first \u2018pocket parks,\u2019\u201d says Katie Wignall, a tour guide and founder of Look Up London. \u201cMany Londoners aren\u2019t aware of these charming places. My favourites include Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden and St Dunstan in the East.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Greenwich]()
Greenwich Hill offers an expanse bed of green and a mesmerizing view of the London skyline. Photo \/ London and Partners<\/p>\n
That said, don\u2019t discount the big hitters. Rabbitts points out that they\u2019re filled with hidden corners which are often overlooked. \u201cHampstead Heath has the fabulous Hill Garden and Pergola on the edge of the West Heath, which is tucked away and has a wonderful secretive feel to it,\u201d says Rabbitts. \u201cAnother fine example is Regent\u2019s Park\u2019s St John\u2019s Lodge Garden, to the north of the park\u2019s Inner Circle area. This is where you\u2019ll find a secret garden with sculptures, exotic plants and bubbling fountains. It was designed to be a garden \u2018fit for meditation\u2019 and was laid out by Robert Weir Shultz in 1889. Yet many visitors to London\u2019s parks are unaware of its existence.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The Greenwich Hill Vista. Photo \/ London and Partners<\/p>\n
Hyde Park offers further proof that even the biggest green spaces have hidden corners. \u201cPeek through the railings on Bayswater Rd by Victoria Gate,\u201d suggests Wignall at Look Up London. \u201cYou can see row upon row of tiny tombstones which make up a pet cemetery established in Hyde Park in the 1880s.\u201d For a history fix, this particular park is certainly hard to beat. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany important events and individuals are commemorated here,\u201d points out Darren Share, director of parks at London\u2019s Royal Parks. \u201cHead east from Hyde Park\u2019s Serpentine lake and you\u2019ll find Britain\u2019s first memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Surrounded by pretty birch trees, it provides a quiet place of contemplation for visitors. The park is also home to the Diana Memorial Fountain, opened in 2004 as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The Buckingham Palace is just a few metres away from St James Park. Photo \/ Tamara Hinson<\/p>\n
Other landmarks are easier to miss. In St James\u2019s Park, metres from Buckingham Palace<\/a>, one of the smallest buildings is Duck Keeper\u2019s Cottage, a picturesque Victorian home for the person who once looked after the park\u2019s birds. I recommend visiting this part of the park at dusk, when it\u2019s highly likely you\u2019ll glimpse pipistrelle bats flitting between the trees. See? I told you pigeons were boring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St James Park is bordered by three royal palaces, blooming through generations of monarchs. Photo \/ London and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,95,27299,9420,2199,156,8815,27298,16773,538,13848,1861,5511,12027,6431,111,139,69,3111,27301,9224,22399,27302,544,10041,13847,27300,2044,406,9192],"class_list":["post-27488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-and","tag-arent","tag-brilliant","tag-city","tag-entertainment","tag-explore","tag-gems","tag-great","tag-hidden","tag-hinson","tag-history","tag-just","tag-learn","tag-londons","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-parkitects","tag-parks","tag-places","tag-shaped","tag-some","tag-spots","tag-tamara","tag-theyre","tag-time","tag-wildlife","tag-writes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}