For generations of English children, Kensington Gardens represent the setting of the book Peter Pan by James Matthew Barrie. For others, they are the locus amoenus chosen by William III and Mary II for their London home or where Queen Victoria was born in Kensington Palace itself. Giving these gardens in the heart of London their current luxurious look was Caroline, wife of George II, who, in 1728, designed them to include the Serpentine and Long Water (two sections of the same lake) from the waters of the Westbourne River. For the better part of the XVIII Century, these green lungs were closed to the public, gradually being opened only to those who were dressed respectably enough. In 1860, on the North side of the park, near Lancaster Gate, Queen Victoria commissioned the Italian Gardens. With the central rosette sculpted in Carrara marble and Portland stone, it presents a collection of stone statues of animals and a woman’s head. It is said that the garden was a gift from Prince Albert to his beloved Victoria. The grounds are reminiscent of the garden of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where the Royal Family spent its holidays. Prince Albert, passionate about gardening, wanted that residence to have an Italian garden with raised terraces, fountains and geometrically shaped flower beds. In 1860, this idea was transplanted in Kensington Gardens.
The Troubadour, Where the History of Rock was Written
From Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix, from Elton John to Led Zeppelin, they all graced the illustrious illustrated doorway of Earl’s Court at the edge of Chelsea.
The Origins of Universal Time - the Zero Meridian at Greenwich Park
What time is it? The answer is a given - a legendary iron line emerges from the green of Greenwich Park to remind us, among compelling testimonies to the Empire.
Elizabeth Mallet, the Director of London’s First Daily
The first editor in history announced that she wanted to publish foreign news items without additional commentary, supposing that readers had “enough common sense to think for themselves”.