London parks and what they're good for

Also, heaths beat parks hands down for picnics. You can't really have impromptu games of rounders in a small park.

The Elthorne Peace Park is the best park in London to get murdered in.

Russell Square, for smiling nostalgically at five year olds grabbing a quick run around before they get dragged back into the British Museum.

Queen's Square always makes me think contemplatively about death.

They're lead-clad stone, I think, though I'm not sure what the outer layer is now they've been spruced up. I'm not even sure that corner of the park is open yet - the landscaping is about 12 months behind schedule and the only way you've been able to spy the big lizards since late 2001 is on a train on the loop between Palace and Sydenham just before it crosses Thicket Road.

Gunnersbury Park = quite cool. It has a boating lake. And my friend said there was a satantic ritual hapening their one evening. I think he was lying.

Regents Park - good for football, and flowers, and playing with the ducks.

Hampstead Heath - feeding swans and fucking. Also feeling boring but cute.

St James Park - being in a fairy tale. Also they have pelicans. Except when you're there with some stranger to London, and you say, "There are pelicans here", and the pelicans disappear.

Hyde Park - assembling for demonstrations, riding bikes, hiding from children.

Clapham Common - used to be good for attending free gay festivals and laughing on the dodgems, and playing chess. I don't know any more.

Green Park - one one this. Has no distinguishable features. Good for lying down in the sun when you've got no time to go anywhere else.

I hadn't actually tested out whether HH was good for fucking when I wrote that. But I did this afternoon, and I recommend it.

(this is Liz :x btw)

a gaping smile

http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/green_park/

anyway, yesterday i hired a deckchair for the first time in my life, which was cool. i'll definitely be doing it again, it made lazing around reading all afternoon much more comfortable. i then wandered down to st james's park via the ica (i seem to do this quite a lot at the moment, it's nice to have a break inside looking at some art) and lazed around a whole lot more. i need to eat here sometime this summer:

http://russelldavies.typepad.com/ateaandathink/2004/05/inn_the_park_st.html

the only downside is that i was a bit less careful wih the sun than i'd thought and i now have a distressingly red nose.

Regents Park on a sunny day is beautiful.

Greenwich Park rocks just cos of the view.

Queens Park NW6 is great for its Petting Zoo and Pitch and Putt facilities.

Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks near Charlton are great for the animals, the Antonioni tennis courts and The Pinefox Nostalgia Experience.

I used to love the walk up the hill from Golders Green bus station to Golders Hill Park, speshly in autumn when it was full of brown leaves and you could scuffle through them and send them everywhere.

(actually my first outdoor swim of the year was last weekend, but that was in a pool with some artifical heating, so doesn't properly count).

Mind you, the naked hippes go to the heath early to salute the dawn and stuff, so people swimming at a civilised hour would probably avoid the full hairiness.

Toby - Bloomsbury Lido = here, apparently.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.merrington/lidos/oasis2.jpg

i'm planning on doing some swimming in the serpentine lido this summer, what with it being quite close to work etc etc.

Because I want to talk about the wonder of the Streatham Smell Garden, I mean, erm, Rookery.

There's a walk in a few weeks taking in all the parks of Lambeth. Shall this be an excuse to finally stop fearing the Plague Pits?

But I haven't *actually* gardened since I was a child, and can't really see myself doing it even now I have a back garden.

They have quite careful themes for their various garden areas - there is an all white "bridal" garden which is very popular with local wedding photographers.

I love the idea of a tactile garden - I would put those lambsear plants in it.

xpost maybe 'resting' actors, Peter?

St Ann's Well Gardens are great. There's an ancient spring underneath them - in the 18th century there was a whole health spa there with a pump room, and George Albert Smith built a film studio there later:
http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/images/st_annes_well_gardens_postcard.JPG

Part of the fun of Streatham Kite Day (I keep wanting to type Streatham Kate Day) was that they would have stalls where you could buy extravagant box kites and Chinese kites and the like, like we used to make when I was a child.

x-post... that looks lovely, Archel - where is that, Brighton?

and Highbury Fields!!

Either side is flanked by new appartments. The eastern ones are typical boxy docklands, but the western side flats are beautiful with terraces and endless glass.

The park looks new with young trees and smooth gravel paths that jump into your shoes.

A small cafe sits at the northern end, with views onto the river and the Thames Barrier, spaced across the Thames like Gehryesque building blocks (ha!).

Small and perfectly formed.

Would love to but will be watching Dr Who round then. We could always start another Balkanised ILE thread for Hackney/Clapton happenings though. Or not.

i wish it was warm enough to sit in parks again!

Richmond Park: good for cycling, staring contests with deer.
Highgate woods: good for trees and cake.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.riba.org/imageLibrary/jpeg330/9117.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.riba.org/go/RIBA/About/RIBALondon_4809.html&h=264&w=330&sz=22&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=ZJnFQxSpHFaqJM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthames%2Bbarrier%2Bpark%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

(OK, not today, because I have curry which needs nuking, but some day I have sandwiches.)

unfortunately a lot of the green spaces closest to home suffer from a lack of toilets, as far as i know. even highbury fields is rub for this.

Went to Battersea Park for the first time yesterday. It's totally the best park in London. Subtropical garden! Huge boating lake! Barbeque dudes! Awesome pagoda! River views! Giant fountain the size of a swimming pool that you can paddle in!

I got turfed off the DLR due to a bomb scare on Friday. It meant I had to walk through Millwall Park, which is about as salubrious as its name suggests. Mmm, constant smell of sewage.

the pagoda is a lot larger than it looks from chelsea embankment

I've heard THAT one before

It is good. Another plus - a simple squareish shape, with a common-sense circuit. Contrast the disjointed Burgess Park experience - disconnected, trafficky, bad sightlines. (slum clearance = cursed park space?).

Also, not too big, not too small.

Yeah Dulwich Park is good for the same reason, it's two circuits around one another.

I'm not keen on Burgess Park, or London Fields, or any of those other parks that are basically flat bits of grass. London Fields can be pleasant or a bit grim depending, Burgess Park is actively horrible.

The giant oak trees surrounding the cricket pitch in London Fields are absolutely gorgeous. At the right time of day it's a magnificent flat bit of grass.

victoria park was lovely yesterday.

all you need is a flat bit of grass!

i find finsbury park resolutely unloveable, but i do have a secret tiny park literally behind my house that it appears no one really knows about - gonna use the hell out of it this summer.

I like a bit of landscape in my parks. London Fields is fine for sitting and drinking on but otherwise, meh.

I've never been to Finsbury Park, never wanted to really.

Well even without getting shot at, London Fields has been going downhill. It's become a very crowded beach. Why the "hipster triangle" next to Broadway Market became so popular I don't know; there's easy access to Pub on the Park up at the north end, shade if you want it, and even a gentle roll to the ground.

Yeah, I feel like no matter how much money they put into Burgess Park, it'll always be quite horrible. The flatness is a part of its problem - adds an element of dullness on top of fractured topography and views of the Aylesbury. I live next door to it tho, so grudging affection developing. Still would go to Kennington for sitting on flat grass nearby.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/3247402829_8400253e2d.jpg

the first time i was in battersea park as a kid i was kinda in awe of the pagoda

I dig all the central london parks. St James > Regents > Kensington Gardens > Green > Hyde, roughly, imo.

St James works for me because a) PELICANS and b) across from the ICA.

it is actually my closest london park. which is nice.

Mine is Coram's Fields but that requires a child; lots of parky squares around here but St James is closest real park for me, too. Coming into Hyde Park from the east is like crossing the Rubicon, but with the additional hazard of lorry drivers or the grim-ola Marble Arch subway tunnels

Coming into Hyde Park from the east is like crossing the Rubicon, but with the additional hazard of lorry drivers or the grim-ola Marble Arch subway tunnels

Yeah it's ridiculous, that bit round Hyde Park Corner especially. Breaks up what is otherwise a pretty glorious walk from Charing Cross to Kensington through nothing but parks. Hyde Park itself is wonderful around the Serpentine but otherwise I can take or leave it, especially if there's a gig on.

St James's Park is magical and a great one for Friday evening drinking. Green Park is somewhat less pleasant now one corner is a building site.

Plus if I get in the subway tunnels something unplanned happens such as a massive Maroush craving = ABORT PARK MISSION.

special mentions for regent's park, waterlow park, bunhill fields (kinda) and naturally primrose hill

don't like st james park cos its always the hardest park to have a sunshine spliff in - too many cops around, not enough secluded spots

Well even without getting shot at, London Fields has been going downhill. It's become a very crowded beach.

i know it's crazy how much worse it seems to have got this year

not somewhere i'd make a trip to if i didn't live so close, but the park in Gordon Square is one of the best quiet spots in central london to spread out with a newspaper

maybe one for you Ward Fowler

Yeah, I was explaining to a couple of baby fashionistas that London Fields is East London's answer to Comedown Common now. xpost

Times like this I do regret not living by Hampstead Heath - before I moved to the epicentre that's where I was, in a draughty maisonette above what is now the South End Green Starbuck's. Primrose Hill is now super-crowded and features actual paparazzi looking for Alexa Chung and whatnot.

these places are all mostly terrible if they're crowded but for most of the year they're not

Hampstead Heath is big enough for that not to be an issue really. It requires special effort and planning for me to get up there though seeing as I have Blackheath and Greenwich Park's astonishing view on my doorstep.

Has anyone ever taken the trek to Danson Park in the extreme South East? This Flickr set makes it look amazing, but on the other hand it's in Welling and could therefore be crack and stabbing country.

'extreme south east london'

does look nice but in my limited experience the london borough of bexley is either estuarial grimness or the worst kind of conservative suburbia

kate bush tho, obv

Mine is Coram's Fields

There is an old graveyard near this - just past the Brunswick centre and on the right, which I sometimes use. Doesn't get too crowded, and you don't need to be accompanied by a child.

Swimming in the Serpentine (during the week/outside the school holidays) is always a good feature of Hyde Park. And did once, when v v drunk, go swimming mid-afternoon in St James' in front of Buckingham Palace, the memory of which still fills me with joy every time I walk past.

Still like Clissold Park, nice size, spires, water (rather manky) and trees, and goats.

And Richmond Park is just a delight all year round, although it's debatable that's really London, you do get amazing views of all of London from it.

Not a park as such but was at the Horniman gardens last w/e and it was idyllic and eerily chilled out, like not being in London.

Yeah I spent Saturday afternoon in the Horniman Gardens. Absolutely lovely. Also they have a giant bunny and a goat.

Also a human sundial:
http://www.foresthill.org.uk/sundial_10a.jpg

<3 hampstead heath but i think it's better for brisk walks in the spring or autumn, when there's a nip in the air, than lazy summer picnics.

Chiswick House and grounds also - at least, I haven't been there for a while and I know they were doing 'improvement' works, but when I used to live round there, the mixture of wooded paths, ornamental gardens and hothouses, lime avenue, lake, Palladian villa, theatrical follies and lovely tree-girtled cricket ground, often in use, was a truly idyllic resting place, (school holidays/weekend caveat as usual).

nah, hampstead heath's at its best in hot late summer when the grass is two feet high and lying down you're hidden in the crackle of little lazy insects and wild wheat.

Also, when I was a kid various families from my street used to go and have picnics in the fields beyond Kenwood when the concerts were on, pretty much a middle class idyll.

Finally got to drop by Walthamstow Reservoir over the weekend - probably takes the biscuit for best parky experience in London so far, partially for weirdass way of getting in there. We saw about 3 other human beings the whole time there, lakes boiling with masses of foot long fish, herons wanting to eat out of our hands, hoards of baby ducks, otters and old steam driven mills. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walthamstow_Reservoirs or http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/6253.htm for the details, but so worth a visit.

And if you're up that way anyway, why not visit the Markfield BEAM ENGINE??

Which once pumped two million gallons of sh*t from Tottenham into the London sewer system EVERY DAY

http://www.mbeam.org/

There's a predictably dotty band of steam enthusiasts who actually get the engine running every couple of months

My favorite thing about the Markfield Beam Engine is that the sewage was collected first in "settling tanks" (ugh) in which the solids sank to the bottom and the "liquor" (ueeegggggghhhhh) rose to the top; the latter was pumped into London and the former was sold as fertilizer!

Just spent a lovely lunch work at Wandsworth Park in Putney. Small park with a slope down to a quiet part of the Thames. Very relaxing.

I recently moved to London Fields (to a council block just behind those ugly Pearly King statues on the park). Fortunately it's much quieter on the weekends, and the location more than makes up for the heavy hipster quotient. It's true, though, it's not good for much except drinking -- it's like a massive version of the grass outside a student campus pub.

Also -- Hendon Park: Boring but great for teenage smoke-ups/come-downs, and staring morosely at the Watford Way.

Springfield Park remains London's best 'secret' park

i can confirm that gillespie nature reserve is a+ for sushi lunches and accidentally stumbling into primary school nature lessons

hampstead heath has rabbits and kestrels and stuff, it's in a category unto itself

Chuck do you live in that block of flats that's actually INSIDE London Fields? I have always thought that it would be pretty crazy to live there.

Springfield Park remains London's best 'secret' park

Yes, it is a great little park, and sort of supplies a nice kempt space beside the Lea Valley marshes and reservoirs, which, as per posts above, are great in various and changing ways - Herons and sunsets one day, dead bleak end-of-the-world stillness the next.

Yeah, that's the one -- our kitchen and bedroom windows look right onto the park. It was quite a lucky find, and it's nice and quiet generally, except when our upstairs neighbour isn't playing sub-woofer R&B at 930 am on a Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing Springfield Park now, thanks for the recommend.

it's a shame the only thing you can see from the hill view there is Leyton/Stow. the cafe there does a good breakfast.

from the park i walked along the Lea for a bit including under the railway viaduct where you can shout and stomp feet for awesome short-delay echo thrills. gotta go back there with a mic some time.

iirc those railway arches on the east side of the Lea were the provisional garage for an early, ill-fated attempt at creating an airplane, a year or two before the Wright Bros

yes - "Another first was created here under the arches of the North Chingford branch of the Great Eastern Railway.

Here Edwin Alliot Verdon-Roe, evicted from Brooklands for non-payment of rent, built and flew his triplane - the first British aircraft.

This led to the Avro company and ultimately world beating aircraft such as the Lancaster and the iconic Vulcan the delta winged V-bomber."

I'm sure I remember a church devoted to animals round there - oh wait, I must be thinking of the Church of the Good Shepherd (from Wikipedia):

Upper Clapton is home to one of London's more unusual churches, the Church of the Good Shepherd, was used as a place of worship by the Ancient Catholic Church and now is used by the Georgian Orthodox Church. However, the church was originally built by the Agapemonite cult in 1892 as the Church of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Agapemonites, who held decidedly unconventional views on marriage and the role of women, relocated to Upper Clapton from their spiritual community in Spaxton, Somerset, and had clearly prospered by this time. Although it is fairly conventional in floor plan, the outside of the church is a riot of statuary and symbolism. The main doorways sport large carvings of angels and the four evangelists symbolised by a man, an eagle, a bull and a lion. The same four figures, cast in bronze, look out over the four quarters of the Earth from the base of the steeple. The two flanking weather vanes show a certain symbolic debt to William Blake's Jerusalem depicting, as they do, a fiery chariot and a sheaf of arrows (presumably of desire), while the main steeple is clearly surmounted by a spear. The stained glass windows betray the unconventional nature of the sect as they illustrate the 'true station of womankind'.

The church was completed in 1895, by J. Morris, in a Gothic style; and was designated a Grade II listed building on 12 September 1969 — for its "curiosity value".[2]
The Good Shepherd's extravagant main entrance. (October 2005)

The cult had always been surrounded by scandal during its sojourn in Somerset and, after the move to Clapton, this degenerated into sheer farce. The original leader, Henry James Prince, who claimed to be immortal, died in 1899 and was succeeded by the charming but philandering John Hugh Smyth-Pigott, who wasted no time before declaring himself as The Messiah. Challenged by a jeering mob to prove his godhood by walking across Clapton Pond, Smyth-Pigott declined and retired to Somerset, where he was said to enjoy the favours of as many as seven 'spiritual brides' a week. Smyth-Pigott who, of course, also claimed immortality, died in 1927, after which the cult went into decline. The Clapton church had already been abandoned by the cult, was acquired by the Ancient Catholic Church in 1956 and the Georgian Orthodox Church in 2005[3].

I call it the Sex Cult Church

With reason, it seems. Aren't there a load of animal graves surrounding it tho? Maybe that was a dream.

Possibly - when I went there last (I'd guess 2007, but I sort of remember it still being Ancient Catholic) there was definitely a sign saying that Animal (Healing?) services were taking place.

It's an A1 church. Hadn't thought of it in ages.

more info on it here: http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=425966&resourceID=5

sorry this is not really the park itself (unless clapton common counts as a park), carry on

Dammit if people don't like an animal sex cult church derail that's their problem.

^^^says 'woof' poster ;-)

lol. yes. That is an unfortunate... coincidence. SO! away from Clapton's Zuul, back to parks I guess. How about that Brockwell Park eh? A Lido!

TS: Lee-do vs Lie-do

Lee-do, I think, although I never feel happy saying it that way, so just sort of mumble lie-do. The sound... isn't right. Anyway, yes! had some merry times at Brockwell Park outdoor swimming facility last year, but if you want somewhere quiet... oh god, another park derail, despite the name... go to Priory Park Road pool, near Turnpike Lane. Often offers a v quiet outdoor swim of a weekday. Of course it's hell on a sunny weekend.

There's a rubbish park nearby if you need it.

Then you can go up to all the parkland/scrub surrounding Ally Pally. In fact, you can give yourself a very decent, almost entirely verdant walk from Wood Green to Hampstead - Alexandra Park - to Queen's Wood (woodland mainly, but a nice park area in the centre) to Hampstead Heath.

does parkland walk count as a london park?

it's lie-do, right? it's not feedo deedo, nor is it eminem (featuring deedo)

the one that is pronounced lee-do is a spelt Lidl.

i've always said lie-do.

what hampstead heath is good for: this afternoon at the far end of the kenwood ladies' pond everyone kept stopping because there were BABY COOTS omg so tiny and fluffy and orange-headed

^^^nice

I like all the bigger, wilder London parks. Greenwich Park is really, really hard to beat, though, and I'm not just being parochial.

I never seem to go to any parks except Streatham Common/Norwood Grove any more.

Walking distance always seems to trump any other concerns. (Which is odd cause The Pharoah is also walking distance of my flat, but it involves crossing main roads, so I never go there.)

I just want to record my vast affection for Brockwell Park. It is magnificently hilly. Parts of it almost feel serene. And it even has ice cream at the top of it. Surely every park needs ice cream at the top.

TS: Lee-do vs Lie-do

― I don't want to go into my newt details (ledge), Monday, May 24, 2010 4:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

"we're incognito down the lido" iirc

also went to shoreditch park for the first time yesterday. not impressed tbh. the amphitheatre seats are good but otherwise it's a bit mangy. didn't help to see (from afar, luckily) a dude dragging his dog along as it was trying to shit (but not actually cleaning it up).

Swam in Highgate Men's Pond last week. Still horribly cold (13 degrees C). I'd be interested to know how many people actually pay since the ticket machines were installed.

no-one seems to pay at the ladies' pond- it's not like the machine issues receipts or anything

I just want to record my vast affection for Brockwell Park.

Lambeth Country Show! Where sheep shearing meets reggae! Always one of the best days out of the year (except for that year Alton Ellis didn't show up, then died a couple of weeks later).

Does anyone know if the Crystal Palace Maze is open again? The last time I went it was closed for some reason or other.

Yes, it was completely rebuilt and opened last summer (not that I've been). Unfortunately, it's in that bit of the park which is sealed off when they have concerts at the Bowl, so it isn't always accessible.

london fields does the job just fine as a park imo...i've never not had enough space there, unless you want to play a round of golf or something. other parks may be prettier but would prefer less families as they make me feel aged...victoria park is too wholesome, i feel like if you swear you have to look over your shoulder in case someone's kids are there.

i guess it's diff equations for diff people but personally sun+grass+friends=great park, there's no need for walking around or whatever...vic park is also too big, you can go to the exact same part of ldn fields roughly on a sunny day and be fairly sure of meeting more people you know to go along with whoever you came in with.

London Fields is now London's coolest park according to Grazia magazine:

http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/fashion/archive/2010/05/28/london-fields-the-coolest-park-in-london.htm

Undeterred by the shooting that happened in the park on Saturday afternoon, East London’s pretty people were out in force in Sunday’s 27 degree heat.

Christ on a bike.

Inside the park, we battled our way through the hula-hooping girls and their guitar-strumming cohorts to find the perfect sunspot. We plumped for a space near the lido, which is London’s only 50-metre heated outdoor pool. Who should be sat nearby (with a host of implausibly beautiful friends), but Florence Welch, enjoying a day in the sunshine to celebrate a friend’s birthday. “I don’t live anywhere near here,” she said, “but I can’t think of many better places to come on a sunny Sunday.” Her barbeque put ours to shame, as we watched them carving up perfectly pink fillet steaks on a wooden chopping board. From the John Lennon sunnies to the gorgeous boyfriend and the perfect steak - some people just have it all.

Fuck Hackney, srsly.

That article makes me want to walk around Hackney with a semi-automatic. Srsly.

' London Fields is one of the only parks in London where you’re still allowed to light up.'

this isnt true is it?

haha

haha at that par, i mean, brilliant, envy-inducing journalism

today is just right for wandering around regent's park (so long as you have an umbrella)

you can tell the tourists a mile off w/ their pinched 'why the fuck didn't we go to _____ instead' faces and complete incomprehension of the miserable sublimity of the english early summer

guitar-strumming cohorts

http://msuma.wrzuta.pl/film/1zMf5QLJxZa/douchebag_with_guitar_-_family_guy_6x04

You're allowed to smoke in all London parks as far as I know, but I'm not sure you're allowed to barbeque in most of them.

i thought you werent allowed bbqs in london fields and everyone just ignored it, i've definitely seen ppl being told off before

Yes, where are you not allowed to smoke in parks?

Fuck Hackney, srsly.

― The Men Who Stare At Goatse (Matt DC), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 11:20 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

“I always get some good shots up here,” he said, as he headed for a pint at the Cat and Mutton, Broadway’s perpetually hopping pub.

I was sitting within 20 feet of the man who was shot last weekend in the incident you gloss over so briefly - it was horrific.

i think they meant 'light up' to mean 'a bbq'

lol tho of course a third meaning of 'light up' is 'rake with bullets' amirite

not exactly street legal even in hackers

Yes, where are you not allowed to smoke in parks?

Er, CenterParcs?

I don’t live anywhere near here,” she said, “but I can’t think of many better places to come and get shot at on a sunny Sunday.”

you guys are just jealous that these people are beautiful and have nice meat

(tesco finest??)

Florence isn't beautiful... actually it's only claimed her friends are, so strike that... can't comment on her meat

it's beautifully carved and pink

I'm vegetarian. Take your lambchop tools of the patriarchy away from me! ;-)

vegetables can be beautifully carved and pink

You're definitely not allowed to BBQ on London Fields, but like everywhere else, people just do it until they're told not to.

That Grazia article is totally awful, but it is quite possible to have a wanker-free existence in Hackney/London Fields. Still predominantly a family area.

london fields does the job just fine as a park imo...other parks may be prettier but would prefer less families as they make me feel aged..

Ha ha - I have the opposite experience! Wandering around near London Fields on the May Day bank holiday I was struck by the sheer number of unattached (or loosely tethered) twentysomethings milling about, seemingly with the whole day stretching in front of them to get slowly pissed in. I felt very out of place and very old. Definitely not my constituency thesedays.

Still predominantly a family area

i wouldn't say that. on a hot day L Fields is probably 50% families 50% unattached 20-35s.

Ha ha - I have the opposite experience! Wandering around near London Fields on the May Day bank holiday I was struck by the sheer number of unattached (or loosely tethered) twentysomethings milling about, seemingly with the whole day stretching in front of them to get slowly pissed in. I felt very out of place and very old. Definitely not my constituency thesedays.

love that this works both ways...i don't know why but the presence of families always makes me feel like suddenly rules or propriety is in effect...this is really heightened on sundays, i hate pubs where there are loads of families cos it makes me think of obligation and routine, not escaping that by being in the pub. it's not that i hate kids or something either, on the contrary i totally love kids...just not mixed into pub time.

i'd say ldn fields is v low on families, i'm not sure you see any hardly, maybe that's the part of it i tend to go to (near the shooting!) i wouldn't describe being at the shooting as "horrific" tho, obv it's an awful thing to happen but why wouldn't you "gloss over" it if by "gloss over" you mean go back to the park and live life as normal. the guy didn't die and even if he had, it's a public park and people should use it.

also yeah...that sense of the whole day to get pissed in the sun in ldn fields is pretty much the best feeling in the world, i love a saturday (and a sunday) spent in ldn fields more than just about anything else in this city, almost everyone i know will be there, float around from group to group, playing frisbee, maybe a bit of football, lots of beer, bbq, go for dinner when it gets dark, those are seriously the best days of my life...

apart from round the lido london fields is fucking vile man, get a grip

Long shot - but I've got a spare ticket for Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, 3.20 NFT, if anyone fancies it at such short notice. Sorry to hijack the thread but writing on my phone, and just hit the first London thread that came up. PM if interested.

people who go and hang out in parks as soon as the sun come out and play frisbee and shit like that are exhibitionist scum

lol

hadn't been to london fields in the sunshine until yesterday. wasn't quite prepared for the sea of yoof. i felt underdressed. in a park. there's something a little bit :-/ about the vibe there. everyone goes to stare/bitch/judge/lol @ everyone else there? maybe i wasn't hungover enough. surrounded by ppl jamming on their guitars. come kind of clapton thing from the unplugged album. not funny, shut up. a spontaneous version of hallucination city would have been ok. next time i'm going suggest we meet in a park where we have a bit more space for kicking a ball. where we can have a little hi-fi playing without disturbing anyone else. somewhere where finding a legal place to urinate takes less than 30 minutes.

i just go there to drink...not really sure how you could detect that everyone in a place is there for a particular reason.

was in hyde park yesterday, after my nose stopped bleeding i had a great time.

Actually got lost wandering around in circles somewhere in Epping Forest on Friday afternoon.

xpost

ha, yes, i guess that says more about the various ppl that stopped by our area tbh. "oh i know that person from x, y and z. what IS she wearing". lots of spotting and being spotted going on.

i'm leading a charity bike ride from stamford hill up to broxborne in a few weeks, we're testing the route this weekend. looking forward to finding some nice spots up round there!

kensington park: owls

London Fields is shit. There are SO MANY better London parks. Even for just drinking in.

mmm yeah all london fields had going for it was proximity to my flat - now i live elsewhere i'm not exactly moved to go back to it. it does often feel overcrowded, and most of the people in it put me right off...everything.

i have warmed to finsbury park, mostly by heading deep into its northern end and centre - it's really quite varied, a lot of spots which still feel secluded despite everything.

clissold park is fine for weekday sunbathing, i can confirm, though i'm not sure i've ever sat and drunk there w/a group of people

surrounded by ppl jamming on their guitars.

these are the WORST SAVAGES by the way - had to move away from some in clissold park and gave them such a side-eye on my way past

Yeah all you need for a drinking park is a bit of space and a nice view and London Fields has neither. I am quite pro- Clissold Park though due to its giant rabbits.

Spent half-an-hour in Beckenham Place Park. Didn't see a lot of it, but what I saw I liked - blooming gardens, nicely landscaped vistas, bosky paths. Downside is golf, but a potentially A1 park to explore.

It has a dilapidated pile with a charity shop inside. I resisted buying BBC TV's Bread: The Family Board Game.

iirc london parks are good for drinking cheap cider, pissing it out & sleeping it off.

i've never seen giant rabbits in clissold park, are you sure you don't mean the deer?

i don\t mean to sound antisocial but really my #1 priority in both pubs and parks is PERSONAL SPACE and NO CROWDS OF CUNTS

lex, do you have a garden?

not grassy or sunny enough :(

Also likely proximity of Arsenal fans.

Apparently the rabbits in Clissold Park were all killed by foxes :(

somewhere where finding a legal place to urinate takes less than 30 minutes.

u+k

london fields has plenty space...the only really crowded part is that one bit that everyone chooses to sit on, you could sit in space anywhere else on it if you wanted to. and even the busy part isn't particularly stressful, plus you don't need much space to chat/drink.

i played frisbee or football there most times last year tho so obv there is space.

it's not particularly pretty but who cares...i can go there and i know i'll meet friends without having prearranged to do so. other parks may be prettier but not worth travelling further to if you already live near one where your friends are likely to be.

victoria park is actually closer to my house but the atmosphere there is moribund family vibe...so london fields it is.

as for 30 mins to find a legit toilet, were you on stilts or something? prob about 10 mins, plus in the summer there are temporary toilets set up.

Apparently the rabbits in Clissold Park were all killed by foxes :

Shit really? I live right by the park (it's the whole reason I moved to the area actually) and used to love wandering up by the rabbits*. I thought they'd just moved them whilst they were doing their neverending redevelopment.

Aside from repping for the home team, I'll echo the comments upthread about springfield park - a real hidden gem.

(*can be a tricky business though... is there a thread for that thing where you really want to do something innocent but bottle it because you're a grown man and don't want to look too paed-y?)

Norwood Park has the best views in London, official. (I took in the views from both One Tree Hill and Norwood Park, and One Tree Hill is so overgrown I reckon Norwood pips it.)

At the moment, I am really feeling Upper Dulwich Woods.

Also, where are the wells in Sydenham Wells Park? I found only one. It had a megalith floating bizarrely on top of it. Why?

clissold park possibly now more tightrope than grass

gonna give a shout out to well street
common, peaceful and beautiful and quiet, even on a day like today

Grangewood Park is such an odd, odd place. The ridge of land is so high up, you can see for miles, but also sound carries in such an odd way. I was wandering around, and I kept hearing *chanting*. Sudden bursts of singing, monosyllabic buzz, the coordinated sound of hundreds of people all chanting together. It was very odd, almost spooky, especially wandering around this deserted hilltop oak forest. My mind was running wild, and I always wanted to believe it was the ghosts of druids or something.

Then I walked further on, and looked down into the valley below. The mystery solved: about half a mile below me was Crystal Palace F.C., like the hill is so far up you can peer straight down into it, and the wind was carrying the football chants right up the hill. I stood and watched/listened, mesmerised for about ten minutes, because I've never heard a football crowd before; I had no idea they were so *loud* but also so organised. Like, I really did think it was a religious service of some kind, by the sound of it. Completely extraordinary.

(I mean, the particular local conditions which carry the sound of a football match up into a forest; I'm sure football matches are perfectly ordinary events.)

^good post

the phenomenon of football crowd chanting must seem faintly amazing to an outsider - there are few if any other circumstances where you'd hear massed human voices chanting as one, entirely in rhythm, not entirely in tune. the comparison to a religious service is far from facile

to be amongst that morass is an exquisitely positive, communitarian feeling & is one of the reasons I enjoy attending football matches. but to observe it from afar, in arboreal surrounds, surely carries with it other comforts - and the phenomenon of displacement that brought the chanting to the forest surely evocative of an entirely other order of worship

my recent park exploit was the thin strip of forested land by the ravensbourne river, between catford and bellingham, while looking for a cricket ground i was due to play at - for a patch of railwayside wasteland it was surprisingly wild-seeming and green. would revisit. in season i'd imagine the butterfly-and-birdlife could be quietly surprising