Exploring The ‘East Side’ Of London’s Richmond Park

Richmond Park is a mammoth space. Three times the size of New York’s Central Park and the biggest of London’s Royal Parks, it’s no wonder that I have barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer during my six years living in the area.

Located southwest of central London, touching the edges of Richmond, Kingston, Putney and Ham, the 2,500 acre park was created in the 17th Century by Charles I who occupied it as a space to hunt deer. Today, the deer remain but there’s much more to explore. I have written before about the brilliant Isabella Plantation, hidden away in the depths of the park but there is also a horse riding school, the Georgian mansion Pembroke Lodge and even a ballet school where parts of Billy Elliot were filmed. But, I recently discovered a new area on the east side of the park.

It was my friend who suggested we meet there with her daughter and my two girls. Parking at the carpark near Roehampton Gate (which on a weekday afternoon had a number of spare spaces), we headed to the cafe there.

A fairly new space, it does decent coffee, cakes and a selection of lunch options such as baked potatoes, pasta, salads and sandwiches as well as an ice-cream booth. It has highchairs and there’s the option to sit outside but looking up at the grey, cloudy sky we opted to sit inside.

As we hadn’t seen each other for ages, we ended up spending quite a bit of time catching up so there was less of the walking and more talking (and some cuddles for my new little girl).

We eventually got on our way down a nearby path, my daughter speeding away on her scooter, my friend’s daughter on her bike, her on foot and me with the pram.

Richmond park is a haven for cyclists with designated paths and trails which can be navigated safely – making it a perfect space for families. The roads through the park also get busy with cyclists on their road bikes (particularly at weekends). If you wanted to go cycling in Richmond Park, there is a cycle centre in the Roehampton Gate carpark where you can hire trail and road bikes as well as baby seats as part of the ParkCycle experience.

We enjoyed wandering along one of the nearby trails, spotting signs warning about the deer, passing elderly walkers taking a leisurely stroll and armed with food to feed ducks. We soon came to a nearby stream but, alas, no sign of the ducks although there was a good bridge to partake in a game of pooh sticks.

It was soon time to go. Mrs T needed the toilet and, unfortunately, Roehampton cafe does not have facilities attached. They are located in a building at the back of the carpark and were perfectly useable with soap and toilet paper but even my daughter pointed out that they were “smelly”. I didn’t see any baby change in them either (although didn’t hang around long enough to investigate).

Loading up the car with scooter and pram, we were soon on our way having had a taste of nature and our eyes filled with green colours. As we drove back towards Richmond Gate, there was a build up of cars and as we came nearer it became clear why. A dozen or so fallow deer were standing at the side of the road, unperturbed by the spectators slowing down to take a look. We may not have seen any ducks on our walk but we saw a lot of deer in Richmond Park, my daughter gazing out of the window to spot them as we drove home, ending a rather successful afternoon out.

Need to Know

– The Roehampton side of the park has a carpark but if travelling on public transport, the number 72 and 493 buses stop nearby.
– The park is open from 7am in the summer, 7.30am in winter. Vehicle gates close at dusk all year round.
– The Roehampton cafe is open daily 9am-5pm
– For more information on ParkCycle visit the website