It’s not just the height of Highgate Hill that makes you look down your nose at the rest of London. TPĪddress: Hyde Park, W2 2UH Website: Opening times: open daily, 5am–midnightĭelightful hillside park in London’s leafiest village
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It’s part of the Welcome Winter campaign by the Royal Parks charity, encouraging city folk to get out and explore their local green spaces even in chillier months. The loop takes just over an hour, or you can dip into sections. Why visit in winter? To ramble the Dragonfly Trail, where you’ll look out for winged wonders as you pass woodland, grassy and watery hideaways (the trail itself is entirely on pathways, making it accessible for wheelchair users). Most of the time, however, the park is simply a huge and peaceful place to jog, ride, rollerblade, practise tai chi, swim in the Serpentine, have a picnic or do whatever it is Londoners do to feel free. Summer rock concerts and the Winter Wonderland funfair are only the latest incarnations of crowd-pleasers stretching back to the grisly carnivals that accompanied executions at Tyburn Tree, now Marble Arch. It’s where Londoners go to express themselves – to rally, protest and say their minds at Speakers’ Corner or to share the excitement of the big event, such as the Rolling Stones playing to half-a-million fans. TPĪddress: Take the overground to Hampstead Heath or Gospel Oak Website: Opening times: 24 hours And the Heath’s hilly geography and open expanses make it the ultimate snowy playground for anyone keen to use a sled or toboggan. It’s a classic sunset spot, made even more enjoyable by an extended daytime walk prefacing it. Why visit in winter? Less sunlight has its downsides, but watching daytime fade out from Parliament Hill makes the dark seem a whole lot better. A summer’s picnic in the long grass, kite-flying on Parliament Hill or tobogganing down it in the snow, a splash in the bathing ponds, a Sunday ramble to emerge muddy-booted at a village pub or Kenwood (no.3) – these are sacred institutions for many, many Londoners, who would probably lay down their lives for the Heath if they had to. Its rolling hills and meadows, copses and glades, glittering ponds and views conjure a deep sense of the rural that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere. This ancient expanse of common land straddling a high ridge between Hampstead and Highgate is, perhaps, London’s most beloved open space. The greatest countryside escape in London TPĪddress: Richmond Park, TW10 5HS Website: Opening times: Open 24 hours to pedestrians, except Nov and Feb 7.30am–8pm during deer cull The chances of snow and spotting a deer in the park, frolicking in said snow, may be slim, but if it happens, it’s something you won’t forget in a hurry.
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But let’s be honest: winter in Richmond Park is all about the deer, whose coats take on a slightly new colour this season (faded grey brown or red).
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The sunsets above all that wide, open land are beautiful and if you’re an early bird, the sunrises are even better. Why visit in winter? This is a real favourite winter walking spot for Londoners, and rightly so. The landscaping isn’t all left to the deer: the Isabella Plantation is a sizeable woodland garden crammed with flowering azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons that look their stunning best in mid spring. Away from the roads and cycle tracks (it’s great for a spin), few places in London feel so open and wild. It’s London’s largest nature reserve, topped off with a protected view that cuts a line between ancient oaks to St Paul’s Cathedral, 10 miles distant.
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Free-roaming red and fallow deer have been nibbling this rare grassland habitat into existence since at least 1637, when Charles I enclosed it.