London is renowned for its intensity of city life – the crowds, the pollution, the high prices and fast pace are common to all major cities. But it’s also one of the greenest cities in the world, with the vast expanses ofHyde Park, Greenwich Park and Hampstead Heath as much ‘London’ as Westminster Abbey and The Tower.They are the green lungs of the city, providing havens of nature and tranquillity for Londoners and visitors alike.

Scattered around the capital are plenty of other green spaces, not quite so grand or famous, but they have just as much to offer by way of classic English garden design, open spaces and inspiring landscapes – where much of what makes London great really can be enjoyed for free.

Battersea Park

A walk across Albert Bridge from the busy Kings Road area of Chelsea will take you to Battersea Park. Its 83 acres run along the south side of the River Thames, between Albert and Chelsea bridges, and the Riverside Walk takes you the whole length of the park.

Battersea Park was opened to the public by Queen Victoria in 1858.A major programme of work has recently been completed to restore and refurbish many of its Victorian and Festival of Britain elements. Rowing boats are available for hire on the 16-acre lake, and there’s a lakeside Italian café. Henry Moore’s Three Standing Figures can be seen on a small mound facing the lake at the corner of the Sub-Tropical Garden, and Dame Barbara Hepworth’s Single Form stands at its southern edge.

The Victoria Pump House, built in 1861 to house the lake’s water pump, is now the Pump House Gallery, a grade II listed building with free art exhibitions throughout the year.

The Old English Garden, set aside as a quiet space, was planted and built in 1912. Its geometric patterns, a goldfish pond with fountain and a sundial is typical of the design of this period. The Sub Tropical Garden, designed to be a microclimate of tropical plants, was one of Victorian London’s most famous sights.

The 33.5 metre high Peace Pagoda towers over the River Thames. It was built and dedicated to universal peace in 1985 by the Japanese Buddhist Order of Nipponzan and Myhoji using ancient Indian and Japanese designs. Its four gilded statues of the Buddha face north, east, south and west.

The Park features an hourly fountain display (from early March through to late November), the Millennium Arena with athletics track and fitness  centre, a children’s adventure playground and a children’s zoo.

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Major landmarks nearby are Battersea Power Station and the Battersea Dogs Home, plus of course shopping across the river in the Kings Road.

Nearest tube station: Sloane Square; nearest train station: Battersea Park Station

Dulwich Park 

Dulwich Park, just a short walk from the peaceful locality of Dulwich Village, features a long and winding boardwalk, a boating lake, formal gardens and horse-riding paths. Considered by some to have been the forerunner of modern country parks, its 72 acres were originally part of the Manor of Dulwich, once owned by Edward Alleyn, an actor and friend of Shakespeare. Alleyn donated the land to Dulwich College in 1619 and they presented it to the public in 1890.The park became one of Queen Mary’s favourites and the gate through which she entered is named after her.

Improvements and restoration works were made to the park following a £3.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2004, with the key aims of protecting and conserving the park’s historic elements alongside facilities fit for the 21st century. The ornamental lake and American Garden were restored and essential works such as improving the drainage and upgrading paths were carried out to conserve the original park design.The work was completed in spring 2006.

The colourful Dry Garden, next to the café, demonstrates the wide range of plants that can be successfully grown with little water except rain. For sculpture spotters, another of Dame Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures, Divided Circle Two Forms, stands in the centre of the park and can be seen from the carriageway.

Dulwich is one of London’s most bike-friendly parks – riders of all ages pedal their way around the designated paths on bicycles of all shapes and sizes – available for hire from the park branch of London Recumbents.

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Just across the road from the park is Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest public art gallery in England, established 1817. If you can’t spare time to go in, the building alone – designed by Sir John Sloane – is worth a look.

Nearest train station: North Dulwich

Golders Hill Park 

The lush grounds of Golders Hill Park are attached to Hampstead’s West Heath, but the park is a world of its own, completely different in atmosphere from the rest of the Heath. Its 36 acres of gently sloping lawns are ideal for picnics and games, and there are free brass band and jazz concerts on Sundays in summertime.

The park’s main attraction is its animal enclosures. All the wildlife here is part of co-ordinated breeding programmes.The stock is grouped geographically so that species that live together in the wild are kept together in captivity.Thousands of children visit the zoo each year and are able to see different species interact.

Deer are so tame some will come to the enclosure fence to greet visitors and receive handfuls of grass and leaves (but please note: feeding the animals is strictly prohibited) while the alpacas are less interested in humans.

They share their enclosure with Patagonian cavies (or maras) – a small, agile creature from Argentina that, although a rodent, looks something like a dwarf ‘Bambi’.

There are birds here from around the globe, for example the Asian pheasant Temminks Trapogan and the lesser Magellan goose from South America.  Particularly striking is the white Silkie chicken from Asia.The hen of this species is a devoted mother and will happily foster eggs from other birds, such as the Red Crowned Crane – the females of this species can be erratic mothers and the males have been known to crack the eggs.

Golders Hill Park also has a children’s playground, café and water garden.The elegant formal garden, with its fountain centrepiece, provides a peaceful resting place.

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The West Heath, featuring the Hill Garden and Pergola, is sign-posted from the park.

Nearest tube station:  Golders Green –Northern Line