[1] Start with the main entrance of the Imperial War Museum behind you and head right past the fragment of the Berlin Wall covered in graffiti. Turn right into the park.
(A) The Imperial War Museum (entrance free to permanent exhibits, toilets and cafe both inside and just outside) houses an impressive collection of artefacts. It is housed in the beautiful central portion of the old Bethlem Hospital.
[2] Follow the obvious path diagonally across the grass towards the sports courts (there is a tarmac path straight ahead which may be more suitable in wet weather) and walk between the tennis courts and floodlit five-a-side pitches to exit the park onto Geraldine Street. Turn right along Geraldine Street, following it as it turns left to West Square. Keep straight ahead and enter the gardens in the middle of the square. Walk through the gardens. West Square is surrounded by elegant Georgian town houses. There is a history of the square on the noticeboard as you exit the gardens.
[3] Turn left when you leave the gardens and then right into Orient Street in the corner of the square. Take the first turning on the left (looks like a dead end) and follow the footpath which goes left between high garden walls at the end of the alley. Follow the path until it comes out on Hayles Street. Cross the street and turn right and then first left along Lamlash Street, with allotments on either side. At the end, turn right into Elliott’s Row.
[4] When you reach the end, cross Brook Drive and turn left and then almost immediately right down Churchyard Row. The church of St Mary’s has now gone, but the churchyard is the open space on your left, note the gravestones in the ground on your right. Turn into the park and follow the path that takes you parallel to Churchyard Row and then round left to the exit on the main road, Newington Butts. Before exiting notice information board on the left.
[5] Turn right and cross the main road by the pedestrian lights and continue straight ahead down Hampton Street. Continue ahead along a footpath with the basketball court on your right, then a small green, and come out onto a quiet street, Crampton Street, with tenement blocks on your right. Continue along Crampton Street. When you have crossed Iliffe Street and Amelia Street, look for the footpath (Thrush Street) on your right at the end of the park, which will take you along the back of the buildings with the park on your right with benches and a small children’s play area.
[6] When the path leads out onto Penton Place, cross the road and turn left. Follow Penton Place across the roundabout (Manor Place), until it meets Penrose Street. Turn right down Penrose Street, keep straight ahead the road changes to Sturgeon Road and enter Pasley Park.
(B) Around 1831, Pasley Park housed some of the first wild animals seen in London, including rhinos and giraffes.
[7] In the park, at the fork, bear right and follow the path straight ahead, passing the play area on the left. Exit the park on Manor Place. Cross the road using the crossing point to your right and then turn left. Follow the pavement round to the right into Braganza Street. On your right is Walworth Garden Farm, a charity which has transformed a former derelict site into a well stocked urban garden farm and training centre.
[8] Cross Braganza Street at the crossing point, turn right and then immediately left into Doddington Grove, past Arnold House. Follow this road dog leg right and left round the green into Doddington Place and out onto Kennington Park Place. Cross the road, turn right and then left down St Agnes Place. Cross over to Kennington Park on your right and enter the park. Kennington Park has a long history and has been the site of both public executions and mass demonstrations. It is much quieter today! In the park follow the path round to the right and then right again to come out through the exit at the corner near the War Memorial.
[9] Use the lights to cross Kennington Park Road and then turn right to walk along the main road. Pass the White Bear pub and take the next left into Cleaver Square. Cleaver Square is quiet tear-shaped ‘square’ of elegant Georgian townhouses. Walk through the square, keeping to the left, note history board on the left before leaving the square, and continue ahead along Cleaver Street and past the Lambeth County Court. When you reach the main road, turn right and keep to the pavement along busy Kennington Lane.
[10] Cross Kennington Lane when it is safe to do so. (There are a couple of traffic islands along the road or a pelican crossing just after the Little Apple pub, if the traffic is busy.) Turn left into Chester Way by the Little Apple pub. Continue to the end of Chester Way, turn right and walk past the gardens of the Archbishop Sumner School. At the end of a small row of shops turn right into Bishop’s Terrace.
[11] Cross Oakden Street and follow Bishop’s Terrace, the road curves right into St Mary’s Gardens, keep the grassy triangle on your right. At the end, turn left into St Mary’s Walk and then left again into Walcot Square. Walcot Square was set out in 1837 and its pretty Victorian cottages are now popular homes for MPs. Both it and St Mary’s Garden are surprising oases of calm in a very busy area of London.
[12] Continue along Walcot Square back to the main road directly ahead of you and turn right. Cross Brook Drive and enter Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park. Follow the path that runs diagonally back to the front of the Imperial War Museum.