We certainly made the most of the weather this weekend, and enjoyed a little bit of everything: a bit of gardening, a bit of outside-eating, a bit of lazing in the garden, and the highlight for the whole family - a bit of cycling in Richmond Park.
The largest of the Royal Parks, Richmond Park is a perfect place for safe cycling, especially for children. With safe roadways and some designated cycle routes throughout the park, we were able to worry less about their surroundings and focus more on having fun.
As Middle Child is getting used to Life Without Stabilisers, it was also great for him to be able to concentrate on balancing and steering rather than any cars coming within a 100 metres. He hates cycling near proper roads until he gets the hang of it - can't blame him really, certainly makes things less stressful for us too.
Cycling in the Royal Parks is linked to the Thames Cycle Route, although makes for very good self contained routes within each park. The Tamsin Trail is a 12km 'leisure path' around the perimeter of Richmond Park, and is very popular with both walkers, runners and cyclists. Just remember that pedestrians take priority on all paths and roads within the parks, even ones designated for other uses.
Maps are available from the Park Office, or more information can be found on www.royalparks.org.uk
Bike hire facilities are available in Richmond Park, from the car park near Roehampton Gate between April and September and from Moore's Cycles.
All in all, despite living in one of the busiest cities in the multiverse (to coin a phrase from my childhood), there's plenty of healthy, safe outside space to be had, and as the London Borough of Richmond we're blessed with some of the best of it.
Article by Silas Van Der Bas
