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Day Out In Greenwich Park

Greenwich Park

If you are planning to visit London, then you just wouldn’t want to miss spending a day at Greenwich park. It is one of the main tourist destinations in London. This park is located in Greenwich, South East London. The park is surrounded by famous and major tourist attractions in London such as the National Maritime Museum, Queen’s house, the Royal Naval College and the world famous River Thames.

Covering 180 acres, the park itself is split on different levels of the hill that slopes down in the direction of the Thames. There are a lot of small, but beautiful attractions within the park’s grounds, such as the herb and rose garden, orchards, deer park and lakes.  At the centre of Greenwich Park is the historical landmark and scientific hub of the Royal Observatory which is best known as the origin of the prime meridian (the GMT time zone).  Below are some great reasons to spend the day in Greenwich and the Royal Park.

Roman Remains
The remains found at this Park are believed to be from a Roman-Celtic temple. These remains were discovered by the Park Superintendent in the year 1902. The things that were founded during excavations include painted wall plaster, a near life-size statue, large quantities of pottery, more than 300 coins (dated 1st to 5th centuries) and a lot more.  The other artefacts that were discovered during the excavations were sent to Borough Museum.

The Queen’s Orchard
The Queen’s orchard is open to the public on Sundays from 1:00pm – 3:00pm. You will find a variety of heritage fruit trees, growing apples, cherries, plums, nectarines, medlar, etc… dating back to the 17th century. There are two historical ponds in the orchard. One is located at the centre of the vegetable region and the other one can be seen by the fruit tree area. Also, there have been many new additions in the Orchard such as new gates and pathways to enhance the beauty of this historical site.

Flora and Fauna
Apart from having historical and cultural significance, Greenwich Park is an outstanding place to explore the fauna and flora of the country. You will find some of the most interesting and beautiful landscapes with a huge variety of flora and fauna. The site has been declared a World Heritage Site for the variety of flora and fauna it has to offer. In simple words, this park is considered to be a real haven for wildlife.

Deer Park
The Wilderness Deer Park is one of the main highlights of this park.  Many herds of fallow and red deer can be seen alongside foxes, bars and ancient trees. This place is the best place to be for any nature lover.

The Pavilion Tea House
The Pavilion Tea House is situated quite close to the Royal Observatory. It becomes a prime spot for those who want to relax and have a quiet time. The front and rear of the Pavilion Tea House has large gardens. It serves a range of food and beverages.   The Pavilion Tea House can be hired for kids parties and other facilities include , high chairs, payphone, baby change and car park.

Sports
The park is great if you are interested in sports and recreational activities, particularly during the summer months. It offers a wide range of sports including rugby and cricket.  It’s also open to all so you can bring along a football or frisbee to have some fun with your friends and family members. This park also includes a cycle path, where you can spend your time cycling. Grass areas are used for jogging, walking and running.  If you are a fitness freak, this will be the place for you while you spend your time in Greenwich.

Tennis Centre
This is one of the best places to play tennis in Greenwich. The Tennis Centre offers 6 hard courts, which are available for hire by adults and children. They are also used for coaching and local tennis tournaments.

There are many other areas of interests in and around Greenwich Park.   Some of these include the herb garden, rose garden, Flower Garden lake and a 19th century pagoda designed bandstand. Greenwich Park is also quite popular for the location of Meridian line and the GMT time zone. The park was also a major venue for the 2012 London Olympics.  Many equestrian events and pentathlon events were held in Greenwich.   Whether you are visiting or looking to live in a great part of London the area in and around Greenwich is a fantastic location.

What Is GMT?

Greenwich Observatory

What is Greenwich Meantime (GMT) and how does it Relate to World Time?

GMT or Greenwich Mean Time is usually used for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It does not take into account the precise accuracy on the basis of fractions of a second. Usually, most people refer to GMT as a term which can be interchanged with UTC. However, there are some differences between these two concepts. In this article, we will tell you everything about Greenwich Mean Time and its relation to other world time zones.Greenwich Park ObservatoryGMT – An Overview

In 1884, Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the world’s standard time. This happened during the Washington Meridian Conference. During this conference, Universal Time was also established. Universal Time gave rise to the international 24-hour time zone system. As a result, every time zone refers back to GMT on the prime meridian. Since the 19th century, prime meridian at Greenwich, England has served as the line of reference for GMT. The time of time of this city is taken as a reference for the whole world. The time of other cities of the world only calculated related to the time of this city.

At first, Greenwich Mean Time was calculated as per the 24-hour clock, beginning at noon. However, the scenario changed in 1925, when the day of GMT was considered to start at midnight. After a while, GMT Greenwich Time zone was renamed to Universal Time (UT). Sometimes, it is also referred as UT0. On the other hand, t is called UT1 when irregular movements of terrestrial poles are taken into account. Also known as Chandler Wobble, this happens because Earth’s poles never spin in a straight line.

Development of Different Time Systems

UT1 was followed by the formulation of a new concept. This one was known as UT2. It aimed to correct certain seasonal variations to give precise and accurate time. With the development of mechanical clocks, Atomic Time came into existence.

There are many different time services around the world. Their combined mean version is used as International Atomic Time (TAI). This one is the international atomic time scale. It is based on many different atomic clocks. However, unlike UT1, developed from GMT, it does not take into account the Earth’s rotation. As a result, one more standard for civil time is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Development of UTC

The difference between UTC and TAI are important seconds.  If you add or subtract seconds from TAI, it results in UTC. This difference is also known as a leap second.  A leap second is measured by an atomic clock, and added to or subtracted from UTC, to make it similar to astronomical time within 0.9 second.  All the timing centres in the world like to keep their timescales synchronised with UTC. Therefore, all these scales are known as Coordinated Universal Time.

Usually, GMT is often called UTC.  However, this reference means UT1.  Since 1972, UTC has been the universal time broadcast by radio stations around the globe.  Popularly, it is known as GMT Greenwich Mean Time zone.  UTC is unofficially known as Zulu Time.   It is also used in aviation to avoid any confusion between time zones and daylight saving time.

Some Other Time Systems

Astronomers also used other time systems to measure time. Some popular examples include:

Terrestrial Dynamical Time
Ephemeris Time
Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT) is 32.184 seconds ahead of TAI. Terrestrial Dynamical Time is also called Terrestrial Time (TT). It has a unit of duration 86400 SI seconds. Astronomers use TDT to calculate planetary positions with respect to the Earth’s center. The difference between UT1 and TDT is known as Delta T. TDT was first used in 1984. Prior to TDT, astronomers used Ephemeris Time (ET) to gather information about planetary positions. Ephemeris Time was the closest approximation before atomic clocks. It helped astronomers keep a track of planetary positions and motions.

Other important time systems in the world include :

Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB)
Barycentric Coordinate Time (TCB)
Sidereal Time
Geocentric Coordinate Time (TCG)

GMT Greenwich Time zone is recognized by people all across the globe. Over time, people have come to adopt this system as a standard for civil time. However, other time zones mentioned in the article are also equally important for different purposes. Understanding how different time zones work will give you a better idea about their purpose and functioning. The standard Greenwich clock is located at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.