Things to do in London – Hyde Park – Kensington Gardens

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are both placed one next to the other and take up a substantial overall area of 637 acres within the west part of central London. For regular visitors they serve as a delightful oasis of tranquility to spend their time during pleasant weather. There is no visual boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens thus the latter is often confused with the first one. It was Queen Caroline who made this division in 1728. What perhaps makes them different is that Kensington Gardens are closed at dusk whereas Hyde Park remains open from five am until midnight. Divided in two parts by the Serpentine Lake, Hyde park (350 acres) includes many interesting sites of interest such as the famous Speaker’s Corner that allowes to give a free speech on a topic of your choice, Serpentine boating lake with its swimming area, as well as Rotten Row and Tyburn Gallows. Before it became a public park , in the past it belonged to one of Henry VIII’s hunting parks. Nowadays, within its extensive and well-kept area you can enjoy picknick, organize a football game or just lie on the grass and observe people pass by. Kensington Gardens (275 acres) presents avenues boasting abundance of ornamental flower beds and beautiful trees and for this reason it resembles more of a garden than a park. All this picteresque natural scenery makes up the right setting within which visitors can admire Kensington Palace, Peter Pan statue, Italian Gardens or Serpentine Gallery.