Stretching from Greenwich to Blackheath, Greenwich Park offers panoramic views of the Naval College and Docklands from One Tree Hill and the Royal Observatory.
Just be prepared for some climbing, the hills are not insubstantial. You can cycle through some of the park so watch out for people descending rapidly on the main road.
Right next door to Notting Hill, Holland Park is more wooded and natural feeling than many of the royal parks in the centre of the city, and features a famous Japanese Garden - the Kyoto Garden - to explore.
Hyde Park is enormous and seems to be mostly populated by well-to-do looking dog walkers and runners. The park actually consists of two areas, Hyde Park itself and Kensington Gardens, which is more formal.
My favourite Hyde Park memory is watching some tourists try to hand feed a crow. I wouldn’t advise trying that.
If it didn’t make me sound like a property developer I’d be tempted to describe Lincoln’s Inn Fields as an oasis of calm in the city.
It is a popular spot with tennis players, dog walkers and hordes of somewhat tame crows.
On weekdays it is also a hit with people in suits who do laps while having intense business discussions on their phones.
Southwark Park was a pleasant surprise for me - I’d never heard of it but it is huge and there’s a boating lake where during the summer you can hire a pedalo and be threatened by geese.
Other facilities include a café, tennis courts and even a bowling green, which seemed exactly as popular as I’d imagined it would be.
St James’s Park is the smallest of the parks in the area but I think the prettiest, featuring a large ornamental lake and lots of flower borders.
As well as the usual ducks and geese it is famously home to a small population of pelicans, a gift from the Russian Ambassador in 1664.
The Green Park (aren’t all parks green? - Ed) connects Buckingham Palace to Piccadilly. It doesn’t feature the ornamental borders of Hyde Park or the lakes of St James’s Park but with large areas of grass is a good place for a picnic.
Small but flower-filled (at least in the Spring) park next to Charing Cross, sandwiched between the Strand and the Embankment.
If you’re into statues of Victorian men you’re going to love it - there’s Henry Fawcett, Sir Wilfred Lawson, Arthur Sullivan and more! Truly a cornucopia.
