Traveling to London with kids? Here's an insider guide for what to do and where to go, tested by us and proven to be kid-friendly and cool.
River Café
The River Café hardly needs an introduction. This well-known restaurant is both a celebrity hang-out and a favourite brunch locale for London families. The prices are high, but the food is so good it’s worth it. I once read somewhere that the best Italian food in Europe can be found at the River Café — meaning even better than Italy itself. I’m sure that made the Italians angry… and perhaps it was a generous compliment, but the food is really that good. The restaurant is located on the Thames and has a grassy courtyard separating it from the river. On a sunny day you can sit outside and let your kids run around while you finish your meal. Otherwise, they have paper and crayons to keep your kids entertained inside. Perfect for family brunch on the weekend. Just make sure to book well in advance.
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Battersea Park | The Polka Theatre | Bobo Kids |
The British Museum
The British Museum, founded in 1753, is dedicated to the history of the world’s different cultures. The collection includes a large and impressive section devoted to ancient Egypt, and it is here where you will find the famous Rosetta Stone, treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb, a piece of the Sphinx’s nose, impressive Eqyptian sculptures, and real mummies (which never cease to impress my kids!). We also love the Medieval Europe gallery and the section for Ancient Greece and Rome. The museum is absolutely stunning and certainly worth a visit. It’s also (rather surprisingly) very geared for families with a Children’s Multimedia guide, free activity backpacks and designated family trails. There’s also the Ford Centre for young visitors on the lower floor which has feeding and changing rooms for babies.
Check out the Family Visits section of the website, which lists all the different activities available for children, as well as the Young Explorers page which has online games and other interactive and educational activities. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Rossopomodoro Pizza | The Charlotte Street Hotel | Villandry |
Rossopomodoro Pizza
Sometimes you just feel like eating pizza. So easy, so tasty, so casual… and kids always love it! Rossopomodoro is a Naples-based pizza chain with three locations in London (Chelsea, Covent Garden and Notting Hill). All their ingredients come from the Napolitan region of Campania — even the water used in their pizza dough is rumoured to come from Naples! Pretty impressive for a Pizza chain. They also have highchairs and welcome children — they’re Italian after all.
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Brora | Hope for your feet… | Kinesis Pilates Studio |
Borough Market
The Borough Market is not for the crowd-fearing or for the buggy-pushing — its popularity is widespread and it gets crowded! But, if you’re a food lover (and who isn’t?), it is definitely worth visiting. It is London’s largest and most renowned food market with more than 130 food stalls and culinary experts. It has been around (in this very location) for more than 250 years and continues to get better with each passing year. This is where the chefs and well-known restaurateurs can be found on Saturday morning picking from the finest fish, meat, cheese, produce, etc. Kids will love trying all the samples, checking out all the displays (my kids love the fish stalls!), and taking in the buzz of foodie talk and knowledge. Just don’t take a buggy if you can avoid it — carry babies in a carrier. And if you can, go on a Thursday or a Friday — Saturdays are insane! Check their website for more info. (Image from Flickr) (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Konditor & Cook | Tate Modern | Brora |
Tricycle Theatre
The Tricycle Theatre, located in Kilburn (North London), is a publicly subsidized performing arts venue most well known its ground-breaking, politically charged performances. They specialise in presenting plays which reflect and promote the cultural diversity of its community. The venue includes both a large theatre and a 300-seat cinema as well as smaller studios for workshops and other small plays. They also have a Children’s Theatre Programme which puts on some of the sweetest little shows for kids, often with the use of puppets, live music, storytelling and singing…and with an added ecological or social message to their stories. We recently went to see The Three Billy Goats Gruff and it was great fun! (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Primrose Bakery — our favourite cupcakes in London | Belgo — for mussels and frites! | Hampstead Heath |
Konditor & Cook
I tease my husband that one of his requirements when picking a new place of employment is that there is a Konditor & Cook within walking distance. (There are 6 locations in London and my husband has worked near to 3 of them.) Their wonderful cakes and pastries are his (not so secret) indulgence and I can’t blame him — I am yet to taste something that K&C has to offer which doesn’t blow me away. Every cake, muffin, croissant is melt-in-the-mouth heaven.
Konditor & Cook was started by German-born Gerhard Jenne, who studied to be a ‘Konditor’ (pastry chef) in Germany before coming here and learning to be a ‘cook’ in London. Other than tasting good, Gerhard’s cakes look the part too and can be customised for any occasion (I love these mini-wedding cakes pictured). He has even written a book on how to decorate Wacky Cakes & Kooky Cookies. Everything the team bakes or cooks uses organic free-range eggs and natural butter, and if you need your whistle wetting further you can see their menu here. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Borough Market | Tate Modern | Carluccio’s |
Hanover Gate Playground in Regents Park
The Hanover Gate playground, located on the west side of Regents Park, has just recently been renovated and now includes two different play areas: a traditional playground for younger children and a new timber tree-house section for older, more adventurous kids. It’s also a great little spot to spend a sunny afternoon because it’s right next to the boating lakes and boat house where you can rent pedal boats (both family-sized and single) and float around, taking in the beauty of the park. (The children’s boating pond is only open on the weekends and is meant for kids aged 5 and up — they have to be able to reach the pedals.) There’s also a little restaurant in the Boat House with outdoor seating facing the lake. It’s a beautiful setting, especially when the weather is cooperating. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| The London Duck Tours | The London High Street | Blossom Mother and Child |
The London Duck Tours
It’s not until friends or family visit that you think to go to some of the more obvious places the Capital has to offer. I love those weekends when I become a tourist in my own home – I’m constantly surprised by how much fun some of our ‘tourist’ attractions are. Over the years we’ve built up a list of some of our favourite things to do with visitors, but since we now have kids (and so do many of our guests) we have a sure-fired winner: the London Duck Tours. A vehicle that not only travels on land but also on water – the splashdown (when you enter the water) is worth the ticket price alone!
The tour takes in some key London highlights (Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and The London Eye) but it’s the tour guides who make it (ours got the whole ‘duck’ quacking when it saw another duck – the kids were in hysterics and couldn’t stop talking about it for days)! It is cheesy but brilliant — but you have to be the sort to throw yourself into these things — not for those who embarrass easily. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Konditor & Cook | The British Museum | Blossom Mother and Child |
Paddington Street Gardens and Playground
The playground in Paddington Street Gardens is one of my favourite in Central London. I love that it’s tucked away off the beaten path in Marylebone, slightly hidden unless you know it’s there. It means that it never usually gets too crowded, and you get the sense that all the kids there are from the neighbourhood. The playground has been recently renovated so all the equipment is new and the grounds are well looked after. In redesigning the playground they did a good job of catering to both babies and bigger kids as they have a variety of toys to play on. Plus, I love when playgrounds are covered in that rubbery flooring — it’s nice for babies to crawl around on, and means safer falling for the older ones. Not to mention… it’s located just off my favourite street in London — Marylebone High Street. So it’s a great spot to take a break/have lunch/let the kids run around whilst visiting the many great shops on the high street. Just turn off Marylebone High Street onto Moxon street and walk to the end (or you can access the gardens from Paddington Street.) For more details, click here.
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Konditor & Cook | Orangery Restaurant | Blossom Mother and Child |
The Charlotte Street Hotel
My experience with hotels in London is actually quite limited, as we’ve never actually ‘vacationed’ here. But the Charlotte Street Hotel is one hotel we’ve become very familiar with over the years as its located literally next door to my husband’s office. It has become a go-to spot for breakfast/lunch/coffee/tea/drinks, etc., and is where many of our friends and colleagues have stayed when visiting.
The hotel is small but charming, the staff always friendly and the location could not be better — Charlotte Street is lined with one good restaurant after the other, and is located just north of Oxford Street and Soho and within walking distance to many of London’s tourist attractions. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Konditor & Cook | Brunch at The Wolseley | Coram’s Fields |
Kew Gardens
When the girls asked me to write for Babyccino one of my first ideas for a post was Kew Gardens. We got to know the Royal Botanical Gardens when we moved down South and immediately became members. We now go every couple of weeks and still love it just as much — it is such a great place for kids.
Apart from being a huge space to run around with fascinating trees, flowers and plants, there is also a dedicated indoor children’s area called Climbers and Creepers. All the zones have an educational element relating to plants and their habitat and have been so cleverly thought out to cater for a really wide age group (quoted as age 3 – 9 but there are great touchy-feely bits too which are good for babies).
On the other side of the gardens is the Treetop walkway (designed by the architects of The London Eye) which is 18 metres up in the air and 200 metres around — giving you an opportunity to see the tops of the trees and those who inhabit them. At ground level there is a tunnel with an exhibit giving insight to what happens under the trees (good for any bug and creepy-crawly enthusiasts!). (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Kidsen | Carluccio’s | Petersham Nurseries |
Melrose & Morgan
Two years ago our Christmas got canceled on Christmas Eve — well the trip we had planned to Switzerland did anyway. It was our first Christmas with a child and you know how important they are! We were devastated. I think the only thing that saved us was Melrose & Morgan, our local deli in Primrose Hill (where we lived at the time). We turned up at 12pm to a packed store of everyone collecting their orders and they thankfully managed to make us up one of their ‘Christmas’s in a box’. It honestly saved the day.
But Melrose & Morgan is not just for Christmas, their fantastic home-cooked meals are perfect to take home, heat up and make you look like a domestic goddess. Sadly my better-half isn’t easily fooled – Melrose & Morgan’s food is just that bit too delicious for him to believe it was made by me whilst I had 2 children hanging off my arms. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Elias & Grace | Primrose Bakery — our favourite cupcakes in London | Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre |
The London High Street
Following on from Emilie’s recent post about places in Paris to find chic clothes at less-than-chic prices I thought I’d let you know about some of my favourite spots on a typical London High Street. Now most Mums in London will know of these national treasures but if you are visiting London they are worth checking out.
I’m a huge fan of Swedish kids clothes shop P.OP (Polarn O Pyret) which sells playful and colourful kids clothes and a small selection of maternity wear. Think lots of stripes and lots of colour. They have 4 shops in and around London (Brent Cross, Westfield, House of Fraser (Oxford Street) and Kingston) but a further 10 or so stores around the rest of the UK.
Next up: Zara Home (no, not Zara Kids): A very small selection but I love their quilts and blankets for kids and they always have a tiny rail with really sweet sleep-wear/snuggly-wear. I have had some great finds there. (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Paddington Street Gardens and Playground | Carluccio’s | Daunt Books |
Battersea Park
Weekends are always for adventures and when we stumbled from our cosy little burrow last summer into Battersea Park we hit upon treasure. The Park is situated just south of the river between the Albert and the Chelsea Bridge. We drove and parked up at one of the many car-parks around the park. We got all of our paraphernalia out of the car: buggy, 2 children, nappy-bag … (you know the drill) and hoped that the trip was worthwhile. We were aiming for the children’s zoo that we had heard about, but before even getting there we saw a boy driving around the park lanes in a cross between a bike and a go-kart. Then we saw 5 or 6 more children come flashing past in similar vehicles — there was no way that coincidence could have situated 6 recumbent bike owners on this one park path? It turns out Battersea Park is one of only two parks in London (Dulwich being the other) where London Recumbents hires bikes, trikes, tandems and various other bike-like contraptions (hiring starts at Easter and goes through until the end of Summer). It looks like so much fun, and in fact Time Out called it “the best family biking this side of Amsterdam” — it must be good, hey Esther? (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Caramel Baby | Richmond Park | Natural History Museum |
Hope & Greenwood
I used to keep a picture in the front of my diary of an old-fashioned sweet shop. You know the kind: shelves stacked with glass jars brimming with brightly-coloured sweets. The Juliette Binoche in me always quite fancied being a ‘purveyor of splendid confectionery’. However these days there would be little point in me following this dream as Hope & Greenwood do it so perfectly.
They have stores in Dulwich & Covent Garden (which would be perfect if you happen to be taking a trip to Benjamin Pollocks as per my last post), but they are also sold in some pretty lovely other places: Liberty, Selfridges, Fortum & Mason (to name but a few) and of course you can buy them online from their site. I find the Miss Hope’s Jolly Mixture a very exciting treat and the Sugar free Gummy Bears a good one to ensure the children don’t bounce off the ceiling with too much sugar! (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Princess Diana Memorial Playground | Bugs, Frogs and Fish at the London Zoo… | Carluccio’s |
