Escorts in Regent's Park, NW1: who is close, and how soon
Regent's Park lies on the northern edge of the West End, a wide oval of lawns, water and gardens held between the Marylebone Road to the south and the Regent's Canal along its northern side, with pale stucco terraces standing round the rim. It is a rare patch of central London where the calendar is plain to see from one week to the next, because so much of it is planted, mown, rowed on or left to grow according to the month.
For Regent's Park escorts the season changes the shape of the evening far more than the arrangements. The office works the same way in January as in July; what shifts is whether the hour before dinner is spent outside by the water or behind a window, looking at bare branches and lit terraces.
On the ground
Regent's Park in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameNW1 6JQ, NW1 6QN, NW1 3UP, W1B 1JA.
Nearest stations
Walking timeRegent's Park, 2 minutes. Great Portland Street, 3 minutes. Baker Street, 6 minutes.
Getting there
NW1Travel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Regent's Park
Who works here
On the board in Regent's Park
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for Regent's Park tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Spring, by the south-east gates
Spring shows first in the Avenue Gardens, the formal beds near Park Square laid out in the Victorian manner with stone urns, fountains and bedding that is changed through the year. The bulbs come up there before most of the park has turned green, early blossom lights the paths near the gates, and behind them the long avenue of trees on the Broad Walk, running north from the gardens, slowly comes into leaf.
On the lake, the year starts even earlier. Grey herons nest on the islands, and their untidy nests are easiest to pick out in the weeks before the willows fill out and hide them. It is the best season for a daylight walk before an evening: the light is lengthening, the air is cool enough for a coat, and the paths are far quieter than they will be by midsummer.
Note 03
Summer, and the long light
By midsummer the park is at full stretch. The open fields across its northern half fill with games after work, rowing boats are out on the lake, people from the offices of Marylebone and Fitzrovia spread across the southern lawns once the working day ends, and the light lasts so late that a stroll after dinner is still a stroll in daylight.
Summer is also when the park is at its busiest, so its quieter corners are worth knowing: the paths along the western arm of the lake, looking across towards the mosque, or St John's Lodge garden off the Inner Circle, a small enclosed garden that many visitors walk straight past. A warm evening here rewards a longer booking, with time to sit outside before a table and to walk back slowly afterwards.
Note 04
Autumn, along the Broad Walk and the canal
Autumn turns the Broad Walk into the park's finest avenue, the leaves going gold overhead and then underfoot. Mornings bring mist off the lake, and in the late afternoon the low sun from the west catches the terraces along the eastern side.
It is the right season for the Regent's Canal, which runs in a cutting along the northern edge of the park, past the zoo, with a towpath beside the water. In daylight it makes an unhurried walk, west towards Little Venice or east towards Camden, with the trees of the park leaning over the bank. Keep the canal for the afternoon; once the light goes, the lit terraces and the streets south of the park make the better walk.
Note 05
Winter, and the lake that was made shallow
Winter strips the park back to its bones. With the trees bare, the terraces stand out in full along the rim, and from the paths by the lake the golden dome of the London Central Mosque shows clearly on the western edge, catching whatever sun there is. On the coldest mornings the lake skins over at its edges and the waterbirds crowd onto the open water in the middle.
The lake has its own winter story. In January 1867 the ice gave way under a crowd of skaters and around forty people drowned; afterwards the lake was drained and made much shallower, so that it could never again swallow anyone. Nobody skates on it now. A winter evening near the park moves indoors early: a walk while there is still light, then the streets of Marylebone, a table and the warmth of the room.
Note 06
Whatever the month, the board
Nobody on the board calls NW1 home. The two nearest live in Marylebone, the district immediately south of the park, and the rest come in from Mayfair, Paddington, Soho and further afield, so escorts in Regent's Park draw on the whole board in every season. Plan on about an hour, occasionally more, from the office confirming to her arrival, and longer again in the evening rush along the Marylebone Road, with her time coming through the chat and the lengths laid out on the rates.
Say in the first message what the season suggests, a daylight walk first or straight indoors, so that the evening is described properly before it is confirmed; she comes dressed for a cold path or a warm lawn accordingly. For the streets beside the park, Marylebone lies to the south, Baker Street to the west and Great Portland Street at the south-east corner.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Regent's Park
Asked most often
Regent's Park, asked and answered
When are the formal gardens at their brightest?
Can anyone skate on the lake in a hard winter?
Is the canal path worth an autumn afternoon?
What does a winter evening near the park look like?
One zone either way
Next along from Regent's Park
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.