St James’s Park - London Parks - London

St James’s Park is the oldest Royal Park in London and occupies 58 acres of prime land right in the centre of the city. It runs from the edge of Horse Guards Parade and the Foreign Office buildings west to Buckingham Palace, bordered on its north side by The Mall and Birdcage Walk on the south.

If you’ve had a hard day’s sightseeing around the Westminster and Buckingham Palace area St James’s Park offers a very tranquil and peaceful place to take a break in, traffic noise isn’t to apparent and The Mall is closed to traffic on Sundays. It has a lake running its length and a bridge crossing the middle offers good photo oppurtunites looking back towards Buckingham Palace or Horse Guards.

The park attracts a lot of bird life that breed’s in the park including Tawny Owls. Around the lake you’ll see lots of geese and ducks that are so used to being fed by visitors they’re almost demanding it. The lake has a couple of nesting sites for 15 differnet types of water bird.
There are some huge Great White Pelicans that are extremely tame and not bothered at all by the presence of people.

The park seems popular with joggers although I imagine at the height of summer the number of people walking on the paths might make Green Park a better bet to run in. Benches are spread all along the paths in the park if you need to take a load off, alternatively deckchairs are available from spring to autumn, weather permitting.

There’s an interesting looking restaurant called Inn The Park that opened in 2004 on the north side of the lake towards the Horses Guards end. A curved timber building with a turf roof and views over the lake, Inn The Park is open from 8am-10pm Mon-Fri and 9am-10pm Sat-Sun for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu looks good but not cheap.
You can take a number of guided walks around St James’s Park reflectin the time of the year. Up coming walks include Slavery and freedom on October 25th and Gunpowder,treason and plot on November 4th, the day before Guy Fawkes Day. For any walk at the park you need to call 0207-930-1793 mon-fri 8am-4pm to reserve a place.

St James’s Park has a play area for smaller children and toilet facilities for disabled visitors, the park is open from 5am-midnight all year round. St James’s Park, Charing Cross and Green Park are the nearest tube stations.