While residing at Regent's College, students should enjoy the natural treasures of their environmental backdrop, Regent's Park. The largest park in central London, Regent's Park was designed by John Nash during the Regency, thus lending the park its namesake. Revolutionary in design, Nash's original plan set "grand villas in the centre; semi-dettached and smaller terraced houses around the perimeter; shops, markets and housing for tradesmen to the east of Albany Street; and various attractions such as the Zoological and Botanical Gardens to amuse the residents--all arranged in a semi-rural setting providing country air and pastoral views within easy reach of the metropolis." Though the current Regent's Park does not boast the various aforementioned housing, the landscape architect's vision for a park based on the "Picturesque principle of rus in urbe--contrasting the majesty of nature with the achievements of man--is achieved. Everything within the park is functional; Nash's main purpose for the lake, or 'ornamental lake' as he was apt to call it, "was to set off the buildings when seen from a distance." "Similarly, the appreciation of the Park's resident flora and fauna belongs to a later age: the combination of water, trees and open spaces was ideal for the evolution of a natural oasis in the surrounding urban landscape." Indeed Regent's Park has become an escape for its many visitors. Housing Queen Mary's rose gardens, an open-air amphitheatre, a bandstand playing tunes every Sunday afternoon, the world famous London Zoo, various playing grounds and courts, the Serpentine Canal, and Primrose Hill, which bears a breath-taking view of London's cityscape at its summit, Regent's Park can easily be identified as a little Eden.