When visitors attend Frieze London and Frieze Masters in Regent’s Park this month, they may find the surroundings just as stimulating as the art fairs themselves.
The park, with its peaceful boating lake, shady wooded walks and varied species of birds and other wildlife, has long been a favorite among London’s much-prized green spaces. It also has the benefit of being right in the center of some of the city’s most pleasant areas for a stroll, or a pint.
Regent’s Park has served as an inspiration for writers, poets and artists, and has been the setting for films as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” and John Landis’s “An American Werewolf in London.”
“There is no doubt that the greatest happiness in the world is walking through Regent’s Park on a green, but wet” evening, Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary in 1935.
Here are some sites — and pubs — within and around the park to check out during Frieze, which runs Oct. 10-13.
Regent’s Canal
Just north of Frieze Masters runs the Regent’s Canal, an 8.6 mile-waterway dating back to 1820 that snakes through parts of North London. In the park, the footpaths along the canal are flanked by a thicket of greenery, and houseboats are parked on the water, making for a serene spot for people- and duck-watching. Stop for lunch at Feng Shang Princess, a Chinese restaurant overlooking the water.
The London Zoo, the world’s oldest scientific zoo, is nearby. It was established in 1828 and opened to the public in 1847. It certainly struck the imagination of the writer H.G. Wells, whose narrator in “The War of the Worlds” spots a Martian standing motionless “in the park towards the Zoological Gardens, and silent.”
Head inside the zoo to check out earthly creatures like zebras and monkeys, or stay on the path of the park’s Outer Circle, a paved road along the edge of the park, to try to catch a glimpse of the giraffes, Molly and Nuru, whose heads sometimes peak out over the fence.
Head back toward Frieze Masters and out of the park for a pint at the Edinboro Castle, a pub with a beer garden that’s a few streets away. Or follow the canal northeast to Camden Town, known for its live music and a sprawling market with over a thousand stalls selling clothing, food and trinkets.
Primrose Hill
North of Frieze Masters is Primrose Hill, a park where a short hike up a slope leads to one of the city’s best views, which is a perpetual subject for writers and artists. Sylvia Plath wrote adoringly about it in the 1960s, Camille Pissarro painted it in 1892 and the Rolling Stones shot the album cover for “Between the Buttons” there.
After taking in the views, walk east to Chalcot Square and Chalcot Crescent, known for their brightly painted houses and celebrity residents. Plath lived on the square with the poet Ted Hughes, and other locals have included Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and actors like Jude Law. (You’ll also spot the home for Paddington Bear in the movie “Paddington.”) Head away from the glamour to browse at Primrose Hill Books, or, if it’s time to hit the pub, the Princess of Wales is a short walk away.
Walk west from Primrose Hill instead and you’ll reach St. John’s Wood, a quiet neighborhood that’s nonetheless an eternal draw for Beatles fans: It’s the site of Abbey Road Studios and the crosswalk where the group took its photo for the “Abbey Road” album.
Regency Architecture
When the architect John Nash designed Regent’s Park in the early 1800s, he intended it to be the reserve of the upper crust. The plans included dozens of expansive villas, plus a summer palace for the Prince Regent himself. But only eight villas were ever built, the summer palace was not constructed and the park began opening to the public in 1835.
Around the park now are what are known as the Nash Terraces, elaborately designed in the classical architectural style. To get the idea of what Nash was going for, walk along the east side of the Outer Circle, where Chester Terrace, Cumberland Terrace and a few of the other mansions lie in a row alongside the park.
Inside the park, not far from the Frieze London site, is the Inner Circle road, which hosts some of the park’s original villas, including the Holme, built in 1818, and St. John’s Lodge, built in 1819. Though St. John’s Lodge is now privately owned, its “secret” gardens are open to the public, and contain somewhat secluded enclosures with elegant statues like “Hylas and the Nymph” and “Goatherd’s Daughter,” which both date to the early 1930s.
For more greenery, the Inner Circle loops around Queen Mary’s Gardens. Named for the wife of King George V and grandmother of Elizabeth II, the gardens have about 12,000 roses on display, plus thousands of other flowers. Even James Bond, despondent over his wife’s death, was not completely immune to the effect in Ian Fleming’s “You Only Live Twice”: “It was all right here, really. Lovely roses to look at.”
In the Neighborhood
Head to one of the park’s southern exits from the Frieze London site and end up just a short walk from 221B Baker Street, site of the Sherlock Holmes Museum, at the detective’s famous address. From there hit up the Globe pub on Marylebone Road, not far from the Baker Street tube stop.
For another dose of art, head to the Wallace Collection, held in a Georgian townhouse that’s a design destination in its own right, just a 20-minute walk south of the park. The collection includes works by Titian, Rubens and Fragonard, plus sculptures and a selection of swords and armor.
Or skip the extra sightseeing and head to the Fitzrovia neighborhood and end the day at the George, a wood-paneled Victorian pub on Great Portland Street, or the Newman Arms on Rathbone Street, both of which claim to have hosted George Orwell and Dylan Thomas.
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