Mystery trail through London park in search of Diana fountain

By SUSAN BUCKLAND

On a spring morning in London's Kensington Gardens the story crossed my mind about the wily French who were supposed to have hampered the progress of the occupying World War II German troops by changing the direction of signposts.

For about half an hour I had been striking out purposefully in the direction of signs pointing to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain when I began to experience signpost confusion. There were ponds, playgrounds, fields of flowers and people embracing the sun on deck chairs. But where was the promised fountain?

I had first spotted a sign to the Memorial Fountain near the gates of Kensington Palace, where tourists were photographing each other against the former home of the Princess of Wales and Princess Margaret. It was one of those brown signs that indicated something special once you got there.

A well-meaning Londoner called Desiree said that she had not seen the memorial fountain but she could tell me where I could find the penthouse apartment of the late Dodi Fayed.

Declining this exciting opportunity I continued to follow fountain signs, of which there were plenty more, all the while imagining misting arches of water spraying from the mouths of nymphs.

Time is easily absorbed in Kensington Gardens and neighbouring Hyde Park. Together these magnificent grounds spread over 253ha of central London. Step off thrumming city streets into their green and a delicious other-world feeling takes over.

From a table in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground Cafe I watched family picnickers, audacious squirrels hoping for titbits, mothers pushing babies in strollers and cyclists and joggers dodging walkers. Arrive early enough in the day and you can see horses being exercised.

In the cafe I asked a mother if the Memorial Fountain was close at hand. "Don't know, I'm sorry," she said with an eye on her toddler who was lunging at an alert duck.

It was one of 178 bird species living in the gardens - including green woodpeckers, a rare sight in the heart of London. Good old William III for instigating this London oasis in 1689 and commissioning Sir Christopher Wren to design Kensington Palace.

I can vouch for the sign to one of the best-loved features of the gardens, the bronze statue of Peter Pan. Peter has a fine view of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground and the seven-mile (11.3km) Memorial Walk, which also goes through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park. Both opened in 2000.

I had no trouble finding the remarkably extravagant memorial statue to Queen Victoria's beloved Albert. Or the Serpentine Gallery, built as a tea pavilion in the gardens in 1934 and a popular art gallery since 1970.

Tai chi fans were going through their slow-motion stretches near the gallery and in the distance the tenor voice of a would-be Pavarotti echoed across the park. Funny to compares this with a time almost 500 years ago when King Henry VIII and his court thundered across Hyde Park in pursuit of deer and wild boar.

After two hours of these pleasant diversions a man bearing a startling resemblance to his dog helped solve the missing fountain mystery. "The Princess Di's fountain is still under wraps."

What about the signs? "Yes, a bit premature. But don't be beaten, love. All is definitely about to be revealed - £3 million ($8 million) worth of fountain. And they say it won't frighten the dogs.

"Come back soon and see for yourself." Right-ho!

* The Queen opened the Princess Diana Fountain last Tuesday. By then the cost had risen to over $10 million.