“Hyde Park. What a world of memories is suggested by the name,” wrote Mrs Alec-Tweedie in Hyde Park, Its History and Romance.

If you are familiar with London’s popularity as a holiday destination, you’ll know it is busiest during the summer months, with many events and activities to draw the crowds. Things used to be quite different however – in the Georgian and Regency periods, the nobility left the city in the summer for their country estates, or other travels, and stayed in London to attend parliament between October and June. Given how difficult travel could become in the wintery weather, the upper classes were essentially confined to the city.  What was there to do for the bored aristocrat? The answer was love and enlightenment, as the winter ‘season’ revolved around match-making for marriages and interesting political debate. The capital buzzed with all manner of events and performances to ensure the elite remained well entertained. Christmas celebrations started on 6 December, St. Nicholas’s Day, marked by the sharing of presents, and concluded on 6  January, Twelfth Night. This period was dedicated to gatherings, feasts, and social gatherings among relatives and companions, along with a focus on philanthropy towards the less fortunate.

Thanks to the colder temperatures endured by London in Britain’s Little Ice Age, wintertime in Hyde Park was transformed into an Alpine scene. In the nineteenth century, frosts and snowfall would last for months. Horse-drawn sleighs would glide around Hyde Park and the frozen Serpentine would be used for skating, fairs and sports. 

“In severe winters, when the Serpentine River is frozen over, the ice is almost covered with people,” explains The Picture of London, for 1807, a contemporary guidebook. “In one winter there were counted more than 6,000 people on the ice. A number of booths were pitched for the refreshment of the populace.” Though not everyone skated. One particular account from The Morning Post on Saturday 20 January 1810 recalls a young lady, dressed as a swan and attended by a servant, who “appeared to take particular delight in sliding”. 

Despite the freezing temperatures, there was always a risk to playing on the ice. People fell through into the icy waters with such frequency that the King gave the Royal Humane Society a spot on the Serpentine’s banks to build a “receiving-house”, providing emergency treatment to the hyperthermic unfortunates. 

Yet despite the excitement of the season, winters in the city were brutal for all but the upper classes. Before central heating, access to modern medicine and readily available food, the colder months were a feat of endurance. As Alec-Tweedie puts it: “Then come autumn tints, winter fogs, and utter desolation.” Today, thankfully, we can assure visitors to the park that they can set their sights higher than utter desolation. With a warm jacket, ample refreshments, and our suggestions to hand, there’s plenty to commend wintertime in Hyde Park.