Battersea Park is the half-kilometre of river you can see from Chelsea, crossed twice, around the nicest lap-loop in central London. Four kilometres in total, and you end up at a walled botanical garden from 1673.
Start at Sloane Square and walk west along Chelsea Embankment. The plane trees here are the old ones — the ones that survived the blitz — and they look it. At Chelsea Bridge you cross south.
The Peace Pagoda is the landmark most people don't realise is in London; it's a genuine Buddhist monument, built in the eighties and maintained by resident monks. Circle it once, go quietly. Then anticlockwise around the boating lake, stopping at the east-side cafe if the cake looks right.
Back north over Albert Bridge — the wedding-cake one — and you finish at the Physic Garden, which is four acres of the most carefully tended plants in the city. Admission is about fifteen pounds and includes tea. Two hours. Perfect.
