Burdett-Coutts Fountain

What keeps me coming back? My dogs! Hah :) They love to splash about in the pools. The surrounding flowerbeds are always kept beautiful, too (I make sure my dogs don’t go in there!).
The building itself is beautiful and so lovely that it has been given a new lease of life. There are plenty of benches around, or one can sit on the edge of the pools. It’s not really a fountain as such but delightful nonetheless.

This is marked in my A-​Z as the Victoria Fountain, but never mind Actually a drinking fountain, it’s a huge and elaborate monument.
Baroness Angela Burdett-​Coutts became the wealthiest woman in England when she inherited her father’s fortune in 1837. Though she did, apparently, throw great parties, she spent much of the money on more philanthropic causes, supporting children, animals, the poor and indigenous peoples. She donated the drinking fountain to the park in 1862. More information on her can be found on Wikipedia (
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The fountain is in a rather sad state. There’s a bush growing from the roof, and even the railings have partly gone. It’s no longer in use and fenced off from the public.
Even so it’s a striking building, with nymphs riding fish/​dolphins and holding water vessels, and elaborate patterning and stone carving. There seems to be a Middle Eastern influence to some of the decoration. Definitely worth a look.