Today’s outing was to another royal park, Regent’s Park or, as Royal Parks prefers to call it, The Regent’s Park.

It is much larger than St James’s Park that we visited yesterday, comprising 166 hectares/410 acres. You will find information about it here and here.

Aboard the 30

To reach the park we took a number 30 bus. It was a bit fuller than yesterday’s buses and so we went upstairs.

York Gate

We left the bus at the Harley Street stop and crossed the road to the gated street called, appropriately enough, York Gate. I don’t know whether they ever close the gates and, if so, in what circumstances.

Into the park

We entered the park by one of its many gates and walked a little way along the path until we found a vacant bench and sat down. In this position we were near a branch of the lake which here presented as a narrow strip, rather like a river.

A branch of the lake

There was quite a lot of bird activity with pigeons foraging and courting on the path and grass and ducks and geese on the water and the banks.

Grazing goose

After a while we went for a walk. Regent’s Park has a strange structure with pedestrian paths and vehicle roads intercalated. We were careful to avoid the roads and keep to the paths.

Chestnut in flower

Arboreal filligris

Much of the park is composed of open grassy space (some of it used by schools as sports grounds) with scattered trees, wooded areas with more closely planted trees and some formal avenues, as we shall see later.

Tree in blossom

Tree in blossom

There were trees in blossom and some with new leaves and quite a few still bare. Are they late responding to spring or are they dead? The former, I hope.

One of the broader paths

There are broader paths, like this one, that are used by many people, including joggers, and even by motor vehicles used by park staff.

One of the narrower paths

Then there are narrower paths, like the above, that are followed by fewer people. Depending in your preferences, they may be nicer to explore.

Another branch of the lake

We generally stayed near the water or curved back to it as it was more pleasant and interesting.

Formal avenue

To return, we followed the formal avenues. On first entering the park, I had pronounced it less attractive than St James’s Park but discovering these formal gardens caused me to change my opinion because they are very pretty and well set out.

One of the formal arrangements

These avenues are straight, thus providing a vista. Along their length are formal arrangements with flowers and perhaps a sculpted object as here. The flowers were chosen, it seems, for their brilliant colours.

A squirrel appears… and disappears

At one point, we spotted a squirrel and I just managed to catch a photo of him as he disappeared among the vegetation.

Formal arrangement with griffons

This was perhaps one of the most striking of the formal arrangements, including, as it does, a chalice of flowers supported by four griffons.

The griffons – detail

This detailed view shows the dramatic styling of these mythical beasts, the winged lions or griffons.

A last look

From the formal avenues, we soon reached the street again at York Gate and then made out way to a neighbouring bus stop.

On the top deck again

When our bus arrived, we again needed to go to the top deck but there were plenty of seats and it wasn’t crowded. We were soon back at the Angel and home.