Princess Diana Playground: Everything You Need To Know About The Best Playground In London

With lockdown easing and new government guidelines in place, many public places and gardens are reopening with new measures being put into place, including the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground.

This playground is a lovely place to take your children and family for a few hours before exploring the rest of Kensington Gardens or just heading home. With the many things that the park has to offer, this is the perfect opportunity for your kids to reignite their imagination whilst enjoying fresh air.

The park opened on 17 July with opening times between 10am and 8pm. But, of course, there have been new measures put into place to increase safety. This is everything you need to know so that you can play and relax safely.

Built next to the grounds of Kensington Palace, this playground is the perfect way to honour Diana Princess of Wales, someone who loved youth and childhood.

The sensory trail is a great place for kids who love to interact with different things, and the teepees and different sculptures are perfect ways for children to explore and use their imagination. But the focal point of the entire playground is the huge wooden pirate ship located in the middle of the beach. Built to replicate the Jolly Roger this wooden pirate ship is the part of the playground that draws the most visitors. Children can run around the ship, explore below deck as well as climb to the top of the turret. The sand surrounding the ship also makes for great sensory play with buckets and toys for children to play with.

There are many places for adults and families to sit while their children play, many with good viewpoints to keep an eye on your child, although we still suggest that someone responsible stays with the child while they play.

If arriving by public transport there are many tube stations that surround the gardens, as well as many bus stops if you prefer to travel via bus to the Princess Diana Memorial Park.

The closest tube stations to Kensington Gardens are as follows.

Central Line: Lancaster Gate & Queensway.

District Line: Bayswater.

Circle and District Line: High Street Kensington.

Parking is available for visitors who are disabled or need more accessibility. These parking bays are located at Queens Gate or West Carriage Drive.

There is a cafe (Broad Walk Cafe) next to the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground that offers a whole load of hot food items including vegetarian, kids and healthy options. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, you are no longer permitted to bring food inside of the memorial playground so this is your best bet. There are also toilets, accessible toilets and baby changing areas inside the playground.

However, if the Broad Walk Cafe doesn't spark your or your children's interest there are plenty of other cafes and kiosk located throughout Kensington Gardens where you and your family can safely find food and refreshments with social distancing measures in place and takeaway options.

Because of restrictions due to COVID-19, there will be a capacity of 250 visitors allowed in the memorial playground at one time. As usual, all children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

The playground now operates on a 'one in, one out' rule to minimise risk and all visitors must leave as a group instead of at staggered times.

To maintain social distancing measures, a queue system has been put into place for both entry to the playground and the toilets.

Food and drink will no longer be permitted into the playground.

You are advised to bring your own hand sanitiser and encouraged to use it after using any of the equipment or playing on any of the surfaces.

Please also adhere to social distancing, as well as other government guidelines and advice.