In 1894, Charles Blondin crossed Roundhay Park’s Upper Lake on a tightrope 60 feet up. He did it once in a full suit of armour and once stopping halfway to cook and eat an omelette. He was 72. Most visitors settle for a walk.

The park began as a Norman deer hunting ground. Its name is thought to come from the Old English for a circular enclosure. In 1803 it was bought by Thomas Nicholson, a Quaker clothier’s son who made his fortune as a London actuary. He paid soldiers returning from Waterloo to dig out a quarry, which became Waterloo Lake. It opened to the public in 1872.

VoiceMap’s self-guided audio tours trace the park’s military threads. They run from those Waterloo veterans to First World War soldiers drilling on a field that doubled as an aerodrome, with flights to Amsterdam. The tours also introduce Rowland Ding, whose aerobatics gave Leeds the verb “dinging.”