The Long Water

The Long Water is a narrow, scenic stretch of lake that forms the western half of the famous Serpentine in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. While many locals view the entire body of water as one single lake, the Long Water specifically occupies the Kensington Gardens side, separated from the eastern Serpentine by the Serpentine Bridge. It was created in seventeen thirty by Queen Caroline, who ordered the damming of the River Westbourne to transform a series of natural ponds into a grand, singular ornamental lake.