Free things to do in London: Enjoy a view of St Paul's Cathedral from Richmond Park
After living in the capital for years, we had never heard of this famous view spot. There are plenty of free things to do in London and the city is always full of surprises.
Richmond Park is vast. At 955 hectares, it's one of London's biggest parks.
Whether you pack a picnic, plan on riding your bike through the park, or simply just want to enjoy the views of the city at King Henry's Mound, Richmond Park is a great day out.
We headed over to the popular London park to enjoy a stroll in the sun and attempt to photograph the local deer residents.
Did you know there are over 650 deer mooching around the park.
Before heading off, we jumped onto trusty Time Out London to see if there were any other photo spots we could hunt out.
Enter, The Way Gate viewpoint.
About The Way Gate in Richmond Park.
The gates were designed by artist blacksmith Joshua De Lisle.
They mark the tercentenary of St Paul’s Cathedral in 2011 when they were added to the park.
The gate is made up of branches and features a bark-like texture. This was created to promote algae and lichen growth towards the bottom of the gates to echo the park landscape.
You'll also see birds and leaves decorate the gates, a very fitting theme for its woodland surroundings.
The inscription of 'The Way' is an epitaph to Edward Goldsmith, an author of the book by the same name.
Where is The Way Gate?
Enter the park from the RSPCA Monument on Queen's Road.
You walk through the large gates and make a right turn to head up to King Henry's Mound.
Continue to walk towards Pembroke Lodge and on your right you'll notice a row of trees that lead down to the gate.
You'll need to enter King Henry's Mound into Google maps.
Why can you see a view of St Pauls from Richmond park?
Views of St Paul's Cathedral are protected, so by law no buildings can be built to obscure it.
All the trees must also be cut back so they don't block view of St Paul's in the distance.
The view from The Way Gate is 10 miles long and other than peering through The Way Gate as we did, St Paul's Cathedral can be also seen through a telescope in the gardens of Pembroke Lodge.
We'd recommend you go on a sunny day, get there early and enjoy lengthy strolls around this beautiful park.
It might be 10 miles away and very small to the eye, but the view of St Pauls from Richmond Park is totally worth seeing.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this and if you do visit The Way Gate, let us know what you thought if it in the comments!