Woah! This park has it all! Also known as St Mark's Park…read more(after the street on which is located) Kensington memorial is brilliant and the perfect place for kids and adult to go crazy. This park has been recently refurbished and I am very happy because its like 10 mins away from mine. It is wheelchair accessible, has a adventure playground with colourful apparatus+ sand box, a larger play area for older children with space rockets climbing frames etc and a large water park that is an absolute blessing on these hot, hot day! And the best part?! It is all free!! There is also a small shop(open during the summer months) that sells hot/cold snacks and chairs and tables you can eat at. Lots of toilets, grass, shade etc. It also includes tennis courts, football, junior cricket classes and One O'clock club which is managed by Family and Children's Services. The park was opened in 1926 in memoriam to those who fell in the Great War.

From where we stayed in Notting Hill, we were a very short walk to Holland Park…read more We entered through Holland Walk and headed to the Dutch Garden first, where thousands of tulips were starting to bloom. It was a bit early in the season so the garden was not nearly as beautiful as it might have been just a week later. This year, the color theme was primarily purple and yellow and those were the tulips not fully bloomed. A garden plot with vibrant red tulips that were in full bloom was very pretty! After, we walked onto the Kyoto Garden, which was much more congested because it is a picturesque spot. There is a walking path around a pond with a key photo spot being the waterfall. The tourists queue up in one line clockwise to take photos at the waterfall. Oddly, there are some walkers that are clearly frustrated by the presence of visitors and insist on walking counter-clockwise through the visitors. We exited on Abbotsbury Road, on the opposite side of the park. It was a nice 1-2 hour excursion, a nice walk and recommend it!

When we visited London a few weeks ago, my husband and I spent a day exploring Kensington. I'm glad…read morethat that included a visit to Holland Park, a gorgeous little park in the area. The park contains a cafe, formal gardens, a playground, murals, a giant chess set, and more. We took a stroll through the park, visiting the Dutch Garden and Kyoto Garden. Kyoto Garden was the highlight of our time in the park - the tiered waterfall, koi fish, and peacocks made for some beautiful photographs. It was such a relaxing way to spend some time and stretch our legs between house tours in the neighborhood!

When you live in the area you learn to love it. Most people anyway, not my husband he always…read morereferred to it as a back yard more than a park. For me, it was a green space to have walk around in with my daughter, or if I was feeling particularly active to have a run around. Of course, it is no Hyde Park but the Green definitely has character. One in particular is a guy that screams at himself and I suppose to the rest of the world, he's not quite there but he is harmless. Also a good way to spend a hot summer day is to grab a falafel, (Mr. Falafel in the market) a couple of beers at the local off license and a spot under the sun with a mate. They are more and more organizing events in the Green, there was the summer fair, full of games for adults and children alike and now they have the Ice Fair, which deserves a visit. Ice skating for £8 (skates included), world food, mulled wine, Santa's Grotto for the little ones, and fun fair games (Dodgem Cars, Victorian Carousel, and more), admission is only a quid and it all goes to the NSPCC (charity to prevent child abuse), what more can you ask for this Christmas?

I'm not a big Shepherd's Buh fan. I've always found the area a bit too busy and I always feel like…read moreI'm on my guard here. Shepherd's Bush Green is a little green literally right in the middle, in the heart, of Shepherd's Bush. It's a weird place to have a green / park / common I always find. Traffic flows all the way around this little green space and all of Shepherd's Bush's local shops and amenities are dotted around it too. At the moment there's a fun fair / small amusement park, which just adds to the busyness of the area (there's already a cinema / small shopping centre, two tube stops and the massive Westfield Shopping Centre). I don't feel this is a place to relax and rest, it seems to serve more as a conduit between all sides of Shepherd's Bush.

Adding to the win column that Holland Park has racked up, you shouldn't miss Kyoto. Slow down to…read moreexamine everything: there are so many intricacies that it's worth a second time around on this or a repeat trip. Try not to drop your phone into the pond along the journey (no I didn't) as you'll want to capture so many unique views. We're fortunate to be a walk away to return often. I think it's a good idea to go clockwise if you don't want any condemning stares (don't worry nobody will say anything they're all too polite). Say hello to the birds hanging out as well, or to me, the one without the condemning stare if you walk counterclockwise.

Now it makes perfect sense for a Japanese-American to gravitate toward a Japanese garden when…read moretaking a trip abroad, don't you think? Gives me a touch of the motherland. Well, Jamie W and I ventured over to Kensington to spend the day at the parks starting with the 55-acre Holland Park, a charming oasis of greenery. The main lure if you ask me (of course) was this oasis within the oasis It was a gift to London from the city of Kyoto back in 1972. Neither the cherry blossoms nor the irises were in bloom, but the design aesthetic still entranced with ponds, peacocks (photo: https://yelp.to/6qYhFeQHNi), lanterns, and quite a spectacular waterfall considering it was manmade (photo: https://yelp.to/t1m2npR4tC). Quite tranquil and lovely. RELATED - Exploring London? Here's my collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/3zFACrx

Although the place is really cool, 2 weeks ago we went there again for some well deserved fun in…read morethe sun. Unfortunately, my kid and his friends found a dead bird in the middle of the playground. He was very intrigued and he even picked it up and was swinging the stinky thing around to show me. I know....don't ask... Obviously, I was mortified!! I told the staff about what happened and they weren't very surprised but they said they'll clean it up. Last week we went again and guess what, the bird was still there!! Totally unacceptable! The staff totally ignored that bird, the smell (ugh) or the fact that kids are playing next to a health hazard.

This is the best place to bring your kids on their school holidays! The playground is a charity…read morewhich provides loads of activites in areas such as arts and crafts and cooking. I think this is better for younger kids in your family - the lovely staff here will make them feel so welcome! The outside is very bright and colourful - there are sandpits and lots of play equipment. I think that it's restricted to children who live in the borough, as you have to register to use the park, but if there's room they welcome others! My friend's children love this place and I always enjoy bringing them here!

Apparently, this park is sited on the remains of an original Japanese garden designed for the 1910…read moreExhibition. As the garden was carved up for residential estates and then BBC Television Centre, the remaining area was landscaped and opened as Hammersmith Park. Ta-dah! The place is really lovely and has a gated children's play area (big, lots of space to run around, lots of climbing frames etc), a pond, statues, bowling green - your classic London park. It's easy to get to (White City & Wood Lane Underground Station ~ 0.3 km away) and situated at the end of a residential street, it's chilled out.

This is a lovely park, with a host of facilities including a gated children's play area, bowling…read moregreen, playing courts and a small landscaped garden with statues and a bubbling spring. This park appears well kept and based at the end of a residential road, this is a quiet retreat from the shopping bustle of Shepherds Bush.

I've been fortunate enough to stroll through this beautifully maintained landscape on multiple…read moreoccasions. There are lots of paths and historical monuments and statues to check out (including the Prince Albert memorial). The Peter Pan statue, Italian Gardens, and Princess Di playground are just some of many attractions worth seeing here. Lovely place to unwind from a day of touristy activities, the hustle and bustle of London, or for taking a lunch work break. The Round Pond is worth seeing as well.

Kensington Gardens is one of London's eight Royal Parks, covering 265 acres just to the west of…read moreHyde Park. We visited a week or so ago after a lunch in Kensington. We walked over to see the exterior of Kensington Palace. Then we took a picture of the Queen Victoria Statue, explored the Diana Princess of Wales Sunken Garden, wandered around the Round Pond, visited the Serpentine South Gallery, and then walked past the Albert Memorial on our way out of the park. And that was just scratching the surface of what the park has to offer! The Sunken Garden was the highlight for me. It was much less crowded than the rest of the park, and it's a beautiful tribute to Diana from her sons. It was also the lushest part of the park we saw - the park was a little brown and beige after the heat of summer when we visited the first week of September. It was a great place to stretch our legs after a wonderful but heavy lunch!

Beautiful playground in London. We came on a weekend on Father's day, so it was a madhouse. I would…read morelove to come check this playground out again when it's not on a holiday weekend. My kids loved the sandpit, mini wooden houses, and pirate ship. Would recommend!

Staying near this playground was the best decision we made in our trip to London! Our 5 year old…read moreloved it and wanted to go every day. He loved the pirate ship, and the many nooks to hide and explore. We loved that the gate is attended and kids can't leave without a parent, so we were very comfortable letting our kid go wherever he wanted out of eyeshot within the playground. There are clean bathrooms and a snack bar. If you have a kid in the 3-8 range this is the best place to bring them in Kensington Gardens.

This is a lovely park right on the river with great pubs nearby…read more I've been here several times with a picnic and a view and it's absolutely blissful. Take a walk along the river, see hammersmith bridge, watch the boat races and admire the way that the canal boat owners have pimped out their homes. Top tip: you can get a jug of pimms and some plastic cups from the local pub and go sit in the gardens with it!