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Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park is one of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it was a former deer-park and covers 183 acres.
The National Maritime Museum and Queen's House lie just to the north, and the Royal Greenwich Observatory lies right in the heart of the park. On the western edge of the park is the Ranger's House, looking out on to the adjacent heath of Blackheath.
The park stretches along a hillside and is best imagined as being on two levels. The lower level (closest to the Museum, Queen's House and, beyond them, the River Thames) lies to the north; after a stiff walk uphill, there is a flat expanse that is an enclosed extension of the plateau of Blackheath.
The Observatory is on the top of the hill from which there are majestic views across the former Greenwich Hospital (later the Royal Naval College) and the river towards the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, the City of London to the northwest and the Millennium Dome to the north.
On the lower level of the park there is a popular children's playground and an adjacent boating lake. On the upper level, there is a vast flower garden complete with large duck pond, a rose garden, a cricket pitch, tennis courts, a bandstand, Roman remains, an ancient oak tree and an enclosure housing some wild deer.
Nestling just behind the Observatory is a 'secret garden', a peaceful secluded space good for picnics and sometimes used by theatre groups (Midsummer Night's Dream, etc), and on the opposite side is the Park Cafe.
When London hosts the Summer Olympics in 2012 Greenwich Park will be the venue for the equestrian events and for the showjumping and cross country disciplines of the modern pentathlon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Park)
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