The Diana Memorial Playground

Published 28 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

The Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens is free, permanently staffed, and open to adults only when they are supervising a child of 12 or under. An adult on their own may look round between 9.30 and 10.00 and at no other time. It reopened on 5 August 2026 after a £3 million rebuild, with a 17-metre wooden galleon on a sand beach as its new centrepiece. The water play is switched off because of the Thames Water hosepipe ban.

It is the most-visited playground in London, with over a million people a year through the gate, and that is the source of almost every problem you might have with it. On a warm day there is a queue from opening until last admission, staff cap the numbers inside, and the rules about leaving and coming back are enforced rather than suggested.

Our round-up of city farms and the best playgrounds in London puts it beside the alternatives, and our guide to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens covers the park it sits in. This page is about getting in, and what your children will actually find.

The rule about adults, and why it exists

This is the detail that surprises visitors, and it is worth being precise about it. The Royal Parks admit only adults who are supervising children up to the age of 12. If you are a couple without children, or an adult who wants to see the Peter Pan playground because you have read about it, your window is half an hour: 9.30 to 10.00, before the playground opens properly.

The stated reason is the safety and security of the children inside, and it is applied in both directions: children are not allowed to enter or leave without an adult carer. It also rules out one thing families sometimes try. The playground does not admit children's birthday parties, or any large group where the adults outnumber the children. There are tables outside the gate and plenty of space in the surrounding park if that is what you had planned.

What is actually in there after the rebuild

The playground opened in 2000 and was rebuilt in 2025 and 2026 by The Royal Parks charity at a cost of £3 million. It reopened on Wednesday 5 August 2026. Four things are new or reworked.

• The Galleon. A wooden ship 17 metres long and 12 metres wide, moored on a sandy beach, with two crow's nests to climb, a large tunnel slide, a working play telescope and, below deck, a play kitchen and a warren of places to hide.
• The Treehouse. Three towers to climb and a four-metre tunnel slide, with an accessible walkway built into it carrying talk tubes, musical instruments and interactive games.
• The water play. A new area built round an oversized crocodile sculpture, where children open and close dams to control where the water goes. This is the part that is currently off.
• The area for younger children. Redesigned, with timber houses, play ships and a large sandpit.

The Royal Parks say the rebuild was designed to be more inclusive, which in practice means the accessible walkway, ground-level play elements and sensory features rather than a separate area. Our guide to accessible London covers how to ask about specifics before you travel.

The water play, and what to do instead

The new crocodile water feature is switched off because of the Thames Water hosepipe ban. That matters more than it sounds: for a lot of families the water was the reason to come on a hot day, and a sandpit in 30 degrees is not the same proposition.

If water is the point of your afternoon, two things nearby still work. The Serpentine Lido in Hyde Park is a supervised open-air swimming area with a season and an admission charge, and the paddling areas and fountains listed in our guide to swimming ponds and lidos in London are the wider answer. Our page on London in a heatwave lists free water play across the city and is the page to read before you promise anything to a five-year-old.

Check the Royal Parks' own alerts before you set out. In September 2026 the playground's page also carried a notice that plumbing problems had left the toilets without hot water, and another saying group bookings were suspended until further notice. These notices change weekly.

When to go, and the queue

The Royal Parks are unusually frank about this. The playground is extremely popular; when it reaches capacity there is a queue; and on warm, sunny days the queue can start as early as 10am and last until last admission.

So the timing advice is simple and it is the opposite of what most families do.

Remember the last-entry rule: 15 minutes before closing, which in November means being there by 15.30 rather than 15.45.

Getting there, and the walk with a pushchair

The playground is in the north-west corner of Kensington Gardens, next to Kensington Palace. Queensway, on the Central line, is the nearest station and the shortest walk. Lancaster Gate and Bayswater are alternatives from the north side of the park, and High Street Kensington from the south, which is a much longer walk with small children.

The park paths are hard-surfaced and flat, so a pushchair is straightforward once you are inside the gates, but Queensway station's step-free status is worth checking before you commit to it; our guide to getting around London with a pushchair explains how. There is no car park, and this corner of Kensington is not a place to drive to.

Public toilets are on site, and the surrounding area of Notting Hill and Bayswater has the nearest cafes. Our page on public toilets in London covers the wider park.

What to put around it

The playground is an hour and a half to two hours for most families, which leaves the rest of Kensington Gardens. Three things are within a short walk and all of them are free.

The Peter Pan statue stands beside the Long Water, and it is the right thing to see after the playground rather than before, because the playground's whole design comes from the same story. The Italian Gardens, at the north end of the Long Water, have fountains and a good deal of stone to sit on. The Albert Memorial is at the southern edge, facing the Royal Albert Hall.

If the queue defeats you, walk east instead. The park is 5,000 acres of Royal Parks land with the Round Pond, meadows and long tree avenues, and a picnic on the grass with the galleon postponed to a weekday morning is a better afternoon than two hours in a line.

How it compares with the other free playgrounds

Two places do a similar job with different rules. Coram's Fields in Bloomsbury is free, seven acres, and admits no adult without a child at all, with an age ceiling of 16 rather than 12. Tumbling Bay in the Olympic Park is bigger, wilder and far less crowded, with a cafe beside it.

The honest comparison: the Diana Memorial Playground has the best single piece of play equipment in London and the worst queue. If you are staying in west London it is an obvious morning; if you are staying in the east or the north it is not worth a cross-city journey with a toddler when a nearer playground will do. Our guides to London with kids and London with a toddler cover that trade-off, and where to stay with kids explains which areas put a good playground on your doorstep.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Diana Memorial Playground free?

Yes, completely free, with no ticket and no booking. It is run by The Royal Parks charity and is staffed whenever it is open. The only cost is getting there, and there is nothing to buy inside except at the cafes outside the gate.

Can adults go into the Diana Memorial Playground without a child?

Only between 9.30 and 10.00. Outside that half hour, the Royal Parks admit adults only when they are supervising a child aged 12 or under, for the safety of the children inside. The rule is applied at the gate.

Is the water play at the Diana Memorial Playground working?

Not at present. The rebuilt playground has a new water area with a large crocodile sculpture and dams that children can operate, but it is switched off because of the Thames Water hosepipe ban. Check the Royal Parks' alerts before travelling on a hot day.

How long is the queue at the Diana Memorial Playground?

On warm, sunny days the Royal Parks say the queue can start as early as 10am and continue until last admission, because staff cap the numbers inside. Arrive at opening time on a weekday in term time and you will normally walk straight in. Note that last entry is 15 minutes before closing.

Can you hold a birthday party at the Diana Memorial Playground?

No. The playground does not admit children's birthday parties, or any group where the adults outnumber the children, and group bookings were suspended until further notice when we checked in September 2026. There are tables immediately outside the playground and plenty of open parkland if you want to hold a party nearby.

Sources

• The Royal Parks - Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground (checked September 2026)
• The Royal Parks - Kensington Gardens (checked September 2026)
• The Royal Parks - Swimming at the Serpentine Lido, Hyde Park (checked September 2026)