This was because I fell in love with St James Park. The oldest and most ornamental of Central London’s royal parks, St James Park had been created during the reign of Henry VIII (1491-1547) by draining the marshland adjoining a leper hospital (which was replaced by St James Palace). This side of the park was immortalised in explicit verse by John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, as A Ramble in St. James Park (1672). But St James Park, with its quiet charms, quickly became the nucleus around which my week in London formed. I’d spend every morning at a gallery or a museum, then head to St James Park at lunchtime, having picked up a sandwich along the way.

Source: Indian Express February 14, 2020 08:15 UTC