Leisure Parks

Public leisure parks began appearing in British towns in the Georgian period to give people: clean, green spaces to relax in, away from the: noisy, crowded, smoke-filled streets they lived in. Some parks were designed just for the aristocracy - Regent's Park in London had no footpaths when it first opened as visitors were expected to view their park from their carriage and Vauxhall Pleasure Grounds, again in London, charged visitors to enter and be entertained with music shows. Heaton Park in Manchester, now the largest public park in Europe, contains a magnificent country house completed in 1789 alongside its own: observatory, pleasure grounds and stables.