Heaven, Hounds and a Hint of History

Heaven, Hounds and a Hint of History
An early morning in Dulwich Park, an £80 ticket, and why London’s green heart still beats strong

Another glorious early morning in Dulwich Park — #bestsummersince1976 — began perfectly with my five-month-old whippet bounding about, until an unexpected £80 parking ticket slightly spoiled the mood. I’d parked in College Road, inadvertently on the wrong side of some innocent-looking white line markings.

Still, summer mornings here are close to heaven. Joggers, walkers and dogs get a lift from the shimmering ponds, the trees, the flowers, and the wildlife, all bathed in golden sunlight. My puppy — almost as fast as a greyhound — can cover 100m in under six seconds, which is Olympic gold medal speed. I’m told whippets, once grown, settle into a blissful daily routine: one hour of activity, followed by 23 hours of lounging. An excellent retirement plan. I recently read some succinct sleep advice for later life: “Find comfy chair… sit down.”

As we reach retirement age inevitably we think about moving out of the City.  London may be more crowded and expensive than in living memory, but there’s one thing we can still be grateful for — it’s one of the greenest major cities in the world. Southwark alone has 78 green spaces listed by the Campaign for Rural England, which works to protect and enhance parks, waterways and other open land. Across London, more than 3,000 parks cover nearly 18% of the city — more than the area taken up by all the railways and roads combined.

Beyond all these green spaces lies the London Green Belt, a great ring of fields, woods and villages wrapped all around the city and surprisingly little changed in the past 25 years.  It was created in the mid-20th century to stop London sprawling endlessly.  Here and there, bits have been nibbled away for homes or schools, but it has largely held firm.

This green abundance has deep roots. Many of the Royal Parks, like Hyde Park and St James’s Park, were once private royal hunting grounds before being opened to the public in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Victorian era brought a burst of park-building, as reformers championed green spaces for public health, leisure, and social mixing. Dulwich Park itself opened in 1890, transforming farmland and meadows into a public haven “for the enjoyment of all.”

These places have endured wars, industrialisation, and relentless growth — a living reminder that London’s heart has always had room for grass, trees, and the happy chaos of a dog chasing pigeons on a summer morning. And if that means the occasional parking ticket, well, it’s a small price to pay for a piece of heaven.