Regency Romance Walk

I only had a limited time to visit London with DH. He was willing to see whatever I wanted to see on our sightseeing day. I searched the web, took recommendations from my sisters and fretted over the tube stations and our possible routes into the city. What to see? You cannot see it all in a single day, so what were the primary sights I wanted to see?

I started to think it over and I realized that my idea of London is really based on the fiction I've read about the city. When I narrowed it down to that, I ended up thinking only of Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper and Regency Romances. After a quick look at the map, I decided on the Regency Romance Walking tour of London.

We took the subway down to Green Park. In most Regencies, the hero and heroine walk in Green Park and ride in Hyde Park. A quick look at the map showed that in addition to those two parks being close, St. James Park and Buckingham Palace were all in the same area. So, that's where we started. We skirted St. James Park and walked through Green Park. There are tree shaded walks, gentle hills and on a rainy February, very little traffic.

Green Park is the smallest of the three parks and Buckingham Palace sits right on one of the corners of the park.
I didn't see the queen. I didn't stand around and wait for the changing of the guards. There didn't seem to be a point to it... it was raining. It was cold. We kept moving.

I had to explain to DH why I wanted to walk through these parks and a little about the books I'd read that featured these parks as settings. As I chatted about them, I looked around the paths and imagined the characters strolling, flying kites or witnessing balloon ascensions.

When we got to Hyde Park, it was a completely different feeling. Where Green Park is shaded walks with narrow trails for strolling, Hyde Park is big open green spaces. You can imagine horses galloping in the early morning and carriages filled with ladies and gentlemen parading around during the fashionable hours of the afternoon.

After touring the parks, I dragged DH along the roads in town, looking for street names I recognized. I found Oxford, Brook, Bond, and Germyn Streets; Berkeley Square and Grosvenor Square.

I painted a verbal picture of the dandies shopping along Bond Street. It didn't surprise me that Bond Street is still a big shopping district. Oxford Street still has plenty of traffic and is lined by high end businesses and glamorous store front shops.

While I walked through all these streets, trying to imagine what they looked like during Regency times, it was fun to see what they were like to today's society. These are vital parts of the London landscape filled with commerce and trade.

Walking down one street, I happened upon a jewelry store that advertised that they'd been in continuous business since Regency times. The windows were filled with jewelry that could very possibly have dated from that time. It was stunning. Stones of all colors, fitted into elaborate settings that included necklaces, bracelets, earrings and broaches. There were hair combs, hat pins and tiaras. All of them had that weight and presence that you don't get in today's mass produced stuff.

I was charmed by my Regency Romance walking tour of London. Even chilled, damp and tired, I'm still glad we were able to do so much in one day's visit. And I can only thank DH for being patient with me, and being such a good sport. Of course, now he thinks he knows the plot of every Regency Romance ever written. It will take a little while for me to live this down--but it was worth it.

--Sandee Wagner