The youngest of London's great parks, Regent's Park was laid out in 1812 by John Nash, who worked for his patron, the Prince Regent (hence the name), who was crowned George IV in 1820. The idea was to re-create the feel of a grand country residence close to the center of town, with all those magnificent white-stucco terraces facing in on the park. As you walk the Outer Circle, you'll see how successfully Nash's plans were carried out, although the focus of it all -- a palace for the prince -- was never actually built (George was too busy fiddling with the one he already had, Buckingham Palace). The most famous and impressive of Nash's terraces would have been in the prince's line of vision from the planned palace. Cumberland Terrace has a central block of Ionic columns surmounted by a triangular Wedgwood-blue pediment that's like a giant cameo. Snow-white statuary personifying Britannia and her empire (the work of the on-site architect, James Thomson) single it out from the pack. The noted architectural historian Sir John Summerson described it thus: "the backcloth as it were to Act III, and easily the most breathtaking architectural panorama in London."

As in all London parks, planting here is planned with the aim of having something in bloom in all seasons, but if you hit the park in May, June, or July, head first to the Inner Circle. Your nostrils should lead you to Queen Mary's Gardens, a fragrant 17-acre circle that riots with roses in summer and heather, azaleas, and evergreens in other seasons. The Broad Walk is a good vantage point from which to glimpse the minaret and golden dome of the London Central Mosque on the far west side of the park. If it's a summer evening or a Sunday afternoon, witness a remarkable phenomenon. Wherever you look, the sport being enthusiastically played is not cricket but softball, now Britain's fastest-growing participant sport (bring your mitt). You're likely to see cricket, too, plus a lot of dog walkers -- not for nothing did Dodie Smith set her novel A Hundred and One Dalmatians in an Outer Circle house. Tube: Baker St. or Regent's Park.