Get outside! London’s top 5 winter walks

London’s grand boulevard: Regent’s Park to Trafalgar Square

A Royal Route Regent’s Park to Trafalgar Square along London’s grand boulevard. At the south end are the headquarters of the BBC and Nash’s church of All Souls Langham Place, which marks a curve to the north end of Regent Street. From Piccadilly Circus the route runs down Haymarket and into Trafalgar Square.

Start: Regent’s Park Underground Station (Bakerloo line), nearest postcode NW1 5HA

Finish: Charing Cross Underground Station (Bakerloo and Northern lines)

Distance: 2 miles / 3.1 km time 1 hour

Terrain: Surfaced roads and paths; no steep hills

Lunch/pub: The Harp, 47 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HS, or lunch at the crypt cafe in St Martins

1. From Regent’s Park Station, head for Portland Place, then pass the massive Italianate Langham hotel. Follow the road to Oxford Circus, and onto Regent Street towards Piccadilly Circus.

2. Cross diagonally to the Criterion restaurant and theatre, then turn down Haymarket, which was once a market for hay and straw. It became notorious in the 1800s as ‘the great parade ground of abandoned women’. One exquisite 18th-century shop remains at number 34. Nowadays, Haymarket is best known for its theatres and cinema.

3. At the foot of Haymarket, take Pall Mall East into Trafalgar Square, where you can pop into the national Gallery or the the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Buckingham Palace lies in its parish, it displays the royal arms above its entrance, and Charles