Things to Do in Fulham: Free Palace, 26 Green Flag Parks

The useful thing to know about things to do in Fulham, and across Hammersmith and Fulham generally, is how much of the good stuff costs nothing. A Tudor palace with a botanic garden, twenty-six parks with Green Flag awards, two free outdoor water features running all summer, and two parkruns. The paid attractions here are theatres and football grounds, and they price per show or per tour rather than per visit.

Everything below was checked against the operator’s own site or the council’s own page on 16 August 2026.

Fulham Palace, and it is free

Fulham Palace on Bishop’s Avenue, SW6 6EA, is the historic home of the Bishops of London, and it is now a free museum. The house and historic rooms open 10.30am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm. You can book a free timeslot online or simply turn up.

The gardens are the part people underrate. The botanic garden, 13 acres of it, is open 7am to 6pm, and the walled garden 10.15am to 4.15pm. There is a café from 9.30am. One thing to plan around: the palace has confirmed the museum and shop are closed on Monday 17 August, though the gardens are unaffected.

Walk out of the garden gate and you are in Bishop’s Park, which runs along the Thames to Putney Bridge. It is Grade II listed on the national register of parks and gardens of special historic interest, one of only two in the borough, and it holds an ornamental lake, a skate bowl, bookable tennis courts, bowls, an outdoor gym and two playgrounds.

Free water, until 31 August

Two council water features are open and free, and both close for the season at the end of the month.

The splash pad in Bishop’s Park runs daily to 31 August, 10am to 6pm, between the lake and the skate bowl. The paddling pool in Ravenscourt Park runs daily to 31 August, 10am to 5pm. The council has dropped the Eventbrite booking it used in previous years, so you no longer need to reserve a ticket for Ravenscourt, just turn up. It asks that people do not stay all day on the busiest afternoons so more residents get a turn.

Twenty-six parks with a Green Flag

The borough holds Green Flag awards for 26 parks and open spaces, which is a lot for one of the smallest boroughs in London. The ones worth a journey rather than a walk:

• Ravenscourt Park, W6 0UA, two minutes from Ravenscourt Park station. Four play areas, a sand play area, the paddling pool, a walled garden, a wildlife garden and bookable tennis, all-weather pitches and netball.
• Hurlingham Park, SW6 3RH, where polo was played from 1874 and still is once a year. Play areas for under and over eights, a multi-use games area, bowls, a rose garden and a chargeable car park, which is unusual here.
• Eelbrook Common, SW6 4PT, three minutes from Fulham Broadway. Its multi-use games area has just reopened after resurfacing. It also has a Tiny Forest.
• Wormwood Scrubs, W12 0DF, the borough’s largest open space and the only place here that feels like countryside. Its western half holds about 18 hectares of tree cover and 22 hectares of meadow, designated Local Nature Reserves, with over 90 bird species and 240 species of wildflower recorded. East Acton station is a ten minute walk.
• Furnivall Gardens on the Hammersmith riverside, and St Peter’s Square Gardens, both small and both worth the detour if you are walking the Thames Path.

Most parks here are locked at night, with the locking times published on the council’s site. Eelbrook Common is the exception and is accessible at all hours.

Two parkruns, both free

Fulham Palace parkrun is 5k in Bishop’s Park, run entirely on paved paths, which makes it one of the more accessible courses in west London. Wormwood Scrubs parkrun is 5k on grass and woodland tracks, and gets muddy after rain. Both are free, both are Saturday mornings, and you register once with parkrun and use the same barcode anywhere in the world.

Theatre, music and the arts

• Bush Theatre, Shepherd’s Bush. A new-writing theatre with a deliberately cheap ticket policy: Band C seats are £15 and preview performances start at £10. Two of its three memberships are free, one for under-30s and one for anyone who lives or works locally, and a season ticket takes 20% off two shows, 30% off three and 40% off four.
• Lyric Hammersmith, on Lyric Square by the Broadway. A 19th-century auditorium rebuilt inside a modern building, with a main house and a studio, both step-free.
• Riverside Studios, on the Hammersmith riverside. A mainstage season, cinema and television studios in one building, with food and drink on the river. It sells a Riverside Pass at £60 a year for regulars.
• Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. The borough’s big music venue, and the room most people mean when they say they are seeing a band in west London.

Check each venue’s own listings before travelling; all of them price by show, and a theatre being open does not mean there is something on that night.

Two Premier League grounds in one borough

Fulham FC play at Craven Cottage, on the river next to Bishop’s Park, and it is the prettiest ground in the league by common consent. Chelsea play at Stamford Bridge, which despite the name is in SW6 and firmly in this borough, not in Kensington and Chelsea.

Both run stadium tours and museums. Both sell them through their own sites and change the price and the schedule regularly, so book direct rather than believing a third-party listing. On match days, Fulham Broadway station operates crowd control for Stamford Bridge and Putney Bridge for Craven Cottage, and both are exit-only for a period after the final whistle.

Shopping, markets and the riverside

Westfield London at White City is the borough’s shopping destination, served by Shepherd’s Bush on the Central line, Wood Lane on the Circle and Hammersmith & City, White City on the Central and Shepherd’s Bush Overground, which is four stations for one shopping centre.

North End Road market in Fulham is the older, cheaper and more interesting one. The council’s own account is that it has run six days a week since the 1880s, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm, selling fruit, vegetables and groceries at prices that have nothing to do with the postcode it sits in.

The Thames Path runs the whole southern edge of the borough, from Wandsworth Bridge past Craven Cottage and Bishop’s Park to Putney Bridge, then on the north bank from Hammersmith Bridge west past Furnivall Gardens. Since Hammersmith Bridge is open to walkers, you can still make a loop of it, which is the single best free afternoon in the borough.

Getting there

Everything on this page is inside Zone 2, so any journey from central London costs £3.60 at peak and £3.10 off-peak, whichever station you use. See our tube times and fares page for journey times, and the roadworks page if you are driving, because Wandsworth Bridge closes completely from 21 September.

Until 31 August there is a Weekend Hopper fare: unlimited bus and tram journeys all day on a Saturday or Sunday for a single £1.75 fare. For a day of park-hopping across the borough, that is the cheapest way to do it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fulham Palace free to enter?

Yes. The house, historic rooms and museum are free, as are the botanic garden and walled garden. You can book a free timeslot online or turn up without one. The museum and shop are closed on Monday 17 August 2026.

When do the splash pads close for the year?

Both close on 31 August 2026. Bishop’s Park splash pad runs 10am to 6pm and Ravenscourt Park paddling pool 10am to 5pm, daily until then. Neither needs a booking.

What is there to do in Fulham for free?

Fulham Palace and its 13 acres of botanic garden, Bishop’s Park and its splash pad, Ravenscourt Park’s paddling pool, 26 Green Flag parks, two Saturday parkruns and the Thames Path along the whole southern edge of the borough.

How many parks are there in Hammersmith and Fulham?

The council lists 26 parks and open spaces holding Green Flag awards, from Wormwood Scrubs down to small garden squares like Gwendwr Gardens and St Peter’s Square Gardens.

Can you visit Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage?

Both grounds run stadium tours and museums, and both are inside this borough despite Stamford Bridge carrying Chelsea’s name. Prices and schedules change, so book through each club’s own site.

What is the cheapest theatre in the borough?

Bush Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush. Band C seats are £15, preview performances start at £10, and membership is free if you are under 30 or live or work locally.

Sources

• Fulham Palace visitor information for the free admission, opening hours and the 17 August museum closure.
• H&F Bishops Park page for the splash pad dates and hours, the Grade II listing and the park’s facilities.
• H&F Ravenscourt Park page for the paddling pool dates, hours and the dropped booking requirement.
• H&F parks and open spaces for the list of 26 Green Flag sites.
• Fulham Palace parkrun and Wormwood Scrubs parkrun for the two courses.
• Bush Theatre ways to save for the £15 and £10 tickets, the free memberships and the season ticket discounts.
• H&F Wormwood Scrubs page for the nature reserve areas and the bird and wildflower counts.
• H&F North End Road Market for the market’s days, hours and history.
• TfL bus and tram fares for the Weekend Hopper dates and price.

Opening hours and prices change, and the seasonal water features close on 31 August. Check the operator before you set out.