Kyoto Gardens at Holland Park © Andrew Brackenbury
London's peaceful bank holiday alternatives
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By Time Out editors
Updated: Tue Apr 5 2011 -
If you want a more relaxing bank holiday weekend in London, follow our guide to the best green spaces, wildlife, historic places to visit and more. Check individual opening hours as some venues only open one or two days over the weekend
Wildlife watch
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London Wetland Centre
Queen Elizabeth's Walk, London, SW13 9WT
A 105-acre city wildlife area landscaped into lagoons, islets and pastures. Along the serene walkways are hides where you can perch on a bench, push open a small window and gaze at all manner of birds through your binoculars. There are also lots of places to picnic. Read more
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Mudchute Park and Farm
Pier St, E14 3HP
London's largest city farm is set in parkland and houses 200 animals including llamas, calves, pigs, turkeys and a Pets' Corner housing rabbits, ferrets and a whole lot more. There's plenty of space for kids to run about in the adjoining park if they tire of the animal enclosures. Read more
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Camley Street Natural Park
12 Camley St, London, NW1 0PW
A small but thriving green space on the site of a former coal yard, Camley Street is a lovely oasis at the heart of the renovated King's Cross. It hosts pond-dipping and nature-watching sessons for children and its wood-cabin visitor centre is used by the Wldlife Watch Club. Read more
AdvertisementCalming green spaces
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Morden Hall Park
Morden Hall Rd, Morden, Surrey, SM4 5JD
Morden Hall Park, a beautiful former deer park and ancient hay meadow with an extensive network of waterways and impressive avenues of trees, is perfect for family picnics. Read more
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Holland Park
Ilchester Place, London, W8 6LU
The park surrounds Holland House, named after the Earl of Holland, whose wife was the first person in England to successfully grow dahlias. Dahlias are still grown within the 55 acres of Holland Park, which also houses the Japanese-style Kyoto Gardens with its koi carp and waterfall. Read more
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Chelsea Physic Garden
66 Royal Hospital Rd, London, SW3 4HS
The garden contains the country's oldest rock garden, made from stones from the Tower of London and Icelandic lava brought up the Thames by ship in 1772. The garden's proximity to the Thames ensured a microclimate that made it possible to grow non-native plants. Read more
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Hampstead Heath
Highgate Road, NW3 7JR
Wild and undulating, the grassy sprawl of Hampstead Heath is a wonderfully untamed expanse of the capital. The heath stretches across 791 acres of woodland, playing fields, swimming ponds and meadows in north London from Hampstead to Highgate. Read more
Languid waterways
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Jason's Canal Boat Trip
opposite 60 Blomfield Rd, Little Venice, London, W9 2PD
Jason's Trip navigates the picturesque route along Regent's Canal from Little Venice, through Regent's Park, on to Camden Lock and back again. The trip includes a live historical commentary and lasts for 45min each way. Read more
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Jenny Wren
Camden Lock, 250 Camden High St, London, NW1 8QS
Hop aboard for an hour and a half's cruise from Camden Lock, past London Zoo in Regent's Park, through the tunnel to Robert Browning's Island at Little Venice and back to Walker's Quay. Read more
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London Waterbus Company
58 Camden Lock Place, London, NW1 8AF
Service along Regent's Canal linking Little Venice, Regent's Park, London Zoo and Camden Lock. Warwick Ave is the closest tube if you are catching the boat from Little Venice. Read more
Tranquil tours
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Highgate Cemetery
Swains Lane, London, N6 6PJ
The final resting place of some very famous Londoners, Highgate Cemetery is a wonderfully overgrown maze of ivy-cloaked Victorian tombs and time-shattered urns. Visitors are free to wander through the East Cemetery, with its memorials to Karl Marx and Douglas Adams. Read more
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Olympic Walks
Until Tue Oct 30
Daily walks led by Blue Badge tourist guides around developing Olympic sites. Get an update on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, their legacy and the athletes,with views of the Stadium and Aquatics Centre. Read more
Rainy-day options
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Dennis Severs' House
18 Folgate St, Spitalfields, London, E1 6BX
Dennis Severs' House is a time capsule attraction in which visitors are immersed in a unique form of theatre. The ten rooms of this original Hugeuenot house have been decked out to recreate snapshots of life in Spitalfields between 1724 and 1914. Read more
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Sir John Soane's Museum
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP
Designed by architect Sir John Soane to house his own collection of paintings and architectural salvage, the museum is a tranquil place full of unexpected treasures. Read more
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18 Stafford Terrace
18 Stafford Terrace, W8 7BH
Formerly known as Linley Sambourne House, the Kensington address where from 1875 Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne lived with his wife and two children provides a chance to see a late-Victorian, middle-class home that has survived largely unchanged. Read more
Historic houses
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Syon House and Park
Brentford , Middx, TW8 8JF
Syon House's landscaped park is by Capability Brown and among the additional attractions in the 200-acre grounds are an excellent garden centre, a trout fishery, the London Aquatic Experience, an indoor adventure playground and a miniature steam train. Read more
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Chiswick House
Burlington Lane, London, W4 2RP
Richard Boyle, the third Earl of Burlington, designed Chiswick House, a romantic 18th-century villa and gardens, to evoke classical Italian themes. The house was a show piece, used for entertaining and to display the Earl's collection of paintings, many of which remain. Read more
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Valentines Mansion and Gardens
Valentines Park, Emerson Rd, Essex, IG1 4XA
A Grade II*-listed country house featuring a recreated Victorian kitchen and Georgian room. It's set in picturesque grounds with a herb garden, rose garden, dovecote and canal. Read more
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Museum of Fulham Palace
Bishops Avenue, London, SW6 6EA
Fulham Palace was the episcopal retreat of the Bishops of London. The grounds offer some lovely spots to take a picnic. There's also access to a glorious stretch of riverside walks. Best of all, the delights of Fulham Palace still seem largely uncovered by the majority of Londoners. Read more
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