Cookie Policy

A 'cookie' is a small text file that is placed on a user's computer hard drive by a website. There are several types of cookie and the most common are often referred to as 'session' cookies. These are used to keep track of information needed by a user as they travel from page to page within a website. These cookies have a short lifetime and expire within a few minutes of the user leaving the site. 

Other types of cookies can be used to track internet activity after the user has left a website. These are either sponsored by organisations external to the website being visited (known as 'third party' cookies) or can originate from the website organisation itself ('first party' cookies). These usually have a long lifetime with several months being quite common. They are 'harvested' and 'refreshed' whenever the user visits a page where the same or a similar cookie is being used. 

This website uses benign, short lived 'session' cookies and 'first party' cookies to tell whether a website user has logged-in, where to find details that can be used to pre-fill parts of on-line forms and to personalise the user's visit to the website. They are also used to track anonymously which areas of the site are popular and which are not used; this allows us to target carefully our website resources. 

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., which uses cookies to help a website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website (including your IP address) will be used by Google for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website on our behalf. When your personal data is processed by Google Analytics, it will be processed under Google’s privacy notice, which can be found here

The Royal Parks also uses cookies in its email communications to personalise the email and track whether the mail has been opened or read and whether the recipient has used any website links contained in the email communication. This allows us to monitor and improve our email communications and website. 

Internet browsers normally accept cookies by default but you may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. The website www.allaboutcookies.org (run by the Interactive Marketing Bureau, provided here for information only and not connected to or recommended by The Royal Parks) contains step-by-step guidance on how cookies can be switched off by users. However, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.