Greenwich Park, take 2 – 29/09/12

Posted on September 29, 2012 by katese11

Hi Greenwich, we’ve met before. Last time, I got a *little* confused and entirely missed the playground. This time we had a native guide, so we found it. Woo-hoo! But let’s begin at the beginning.

We were there to see some wildlife, with Roo’s friend C. The Greenwich Park website promised an event where you could do crafts and “see whatever wildlife is passing by”. That’s good expectation-management. We might see some wildlife or we might not. Don’t get too excited.

But luckily, we spotted some wildlife straight away! Roo DID get excited. And here it is:

It’s not the wildest of wildlife, granted. But he was obsessed with it. As we went into the Wildlife Centre to hunt out the real animals, Roo kept a little whinge up: “wanna go see the froggy bin”. In a minute, darling. Let’s have a look around here first. He and C squeezed the toy birds that the nice ladies had put out for them. They even named some of them. For a moment, it looked like they might sit down and do some crafts but no, they wanted to join the nature walk.

And they did. Kinda. They ran round the group, under people’s legs and climbing over logs while the man was explaining to everyone the difference between a sweet chestnut and a horse chestnut. Needless to say, it wasn’t geared towards 3-year-olds. But we did find this pair of giant hands:

It’s sculpture. Not just a freak of nature.

So, we went back to the Wildlife Centre after one too many breaks-for-freedom, and the nice ladies there offered to take us all on our very own nature trail. One of them took us straight to the deer hide, bypassing the other group so we could see the animals up close. As soon as we got there, we spotted two stags milling around and checking us out. Roo and C were both excited again (let’s face it, they were excited all day). They may have made a little bit of noise, and the deer wandered off again. But at least we got to see them!

Can you see them? They were a bit far away and through glass, so I didn’t get a great photo. But I promise they were there.

We left the deer before we scared them all off completely. It was time to head to the swings. I won’t bore you with the tedious details of how you get two hyped-up boys across the length of a Royal Park, but we did it. We even had time to stop at the viewing point and take some photos that were slightly better than the ones I took last time. I’m particularly pleased with the panorama at the top, but here’s another nice one:

Ah. London-y

So, onto the playground. It was pretty big, with several climbing frames and sets of swings. C took charge of the roundabout and held court there, while Roo ran around and tried everything out. There was also a big sandpit, but I don’t think they noticed. Lucky, cause they had the same water-trough arrangement that they have in Corams. You probably know my feelings already on sand and water together.

Once again, I kinda sat back and let Nathan do the Roo-wrangling. I was having a nice chat with C’s Mum. We both had babies to feed, and that takes a while. Oh, and my boss was there with his nephews. So I had a nice chat with him too. In the meantime, Nathan ran round after both boys, played “helicopters” and rescued them when they got stuck. Don’t feel too bad for him -the exercise is good for him.

Talking of exercise. we had a hill to climb. Apparently what goes down must also go back up again. I made it halfway up, carrying Eva and pushing our very overladen buggy, before giving in and letting Nathan take the buggy. My friend made it all the way up, but she’s northern and therefore hardy. We, on the other hand, live in a river basin. I’m no good with hills. My sister lives in South Wales and up the side of a mountain and I still ache a little when I remember taking my niece and nephew out sans buggy (they were both preschool age), then having to carry them up the hill. They are now 18 and 20 and I still bear a grudge.

Anyhoo, we made it up. And we even made it to the end of an NCT Nearly-New sale, where I became the proud owner of a Peppa Pig rocket jigsaw and “That’s Not My Kitten”. A grand day out.

VERDICT: 3-year-olds aren’t the best nature walkers, but it’s fun to try and spot some deer. The playground is def worth a visit. View is stunning as ever.

More details here (official website)

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Clapham Common – 27/09/12

Posted on September 27, 2012 by katese11

With Roo at nursery every afternoon, our spontaneous-outing count is at an all-time low. So, when he did a morning shift instead for a day, I seized the opportunity and picked him up at 13:30 for a Spontaneous Outing.

I’ll cut to the chase. He’s asleep. I’m writing this post from under a shady tree in the playground at Clapham Common, and both children are asleep. Guess nursery really does tire him out. Doesn’t he look comfy with his head like that?

So why Clapham Common? Why not? It’s fairly close by, it’s big and unexplored. It seemed like a good place to fly his kite on a windy day. But instead, he is snoozing. So, I’ll report back on what I’ve seen.

A big pond with lots of ducks and geese, flocking round a man with a bag of crumbs (mental note – next time, bring bag of crumbs), an empty paddling pool and most excitingly, this mosaic:


It may not look exciting to you, but I helped to make it, the first time we went to Ben and Jerrys festival. Back then it was only the central square – the outer bits got added on the year after. Good to see it’s still there. I do check every so often, to make sure no Clapham youngster has pinched my beautifully hand-crafted tile-leaves.

Clapham Common is not really a place you can entirely lose yourself. Although it’s big, it’s bordered by the As 3 and 24 and you never lose the feeling of being close to a main road. But I’m not much of a “lose yourself” type, so that’s OK by me. What’s the point of being in London if you wanna feel like you’re not in London?


I believe there are two playgrounds, and I’m sitting in the one near Clapham South and the Windmill pub. It’s nice. The playground, I mean, though the pub is good too. I remember it fondly from a birthday-party in our pre-child days. Ah, alcohol-y goodness.

But back to the playground. It has everything you need – two climbing frames (one tiny, one more challenging), a play train, baby swings and 2 sets of big-kid swings, and a roundabout of sorts. And childrens’ toilets. These are getting ever more important. Now, if only I had a child that could try it all out…

And then he woke up! I didn’t plan that, honestly. As you can tell, I am no longer live-blogging from the Windmill Drive Playground. My phone was running out of battery anyway. He woke up. Eva woke up. She wanted milk. He wanted to play. I wanted him to pee. You can see why the live-blogging went to pot. I fed Eva for a while, and then had to go and intervene in an altercation on the roundabout after a little girl made Reuben cry.

As you might expect, Clapham Common is Yummy Mummy Central. There are a few ways you can spot a Yummy Mummy hotspot  – the school uniforms that come with hats are a dead giveaway. Another giveaway is that when there’s a fight and your child’s crying, they try to pick him up and comfort him. That doesn’t happen on the estate playgrounds. When you eventually feel shamed enough to go and comfort him yourself (hey, I had a baby to feed!) they say things like “Sorry, I’m afraid she was quite horrid to him”. It’s all terribly civilised. I don’t have the money to fit in with them, but I have the accent, if I Winchester it up a bit. I also don’t have the clothes, but given that one mother was wearing denim harem pants with studs, I think I’m OK with that.

Then we found a sandpit.Not the cleanest or newest sandpit, but that’s all it takes to make him happy. He climbed up the little tower in the middle and managed to interact with some other children without any tears. Then he moved to the smaller climbing frame, took his coat and wellies off and stuffed them in the tunnel, telling all the other children that it was his tunnel now.

It was time to go. I’d already broken my own rule of not travelling in rush hour, and suffered for it as we squeezed onto a very full bus. Luckily, all the teenage college students were trustworthy enough to pass my Oyster card down to the beeper and -more crucially – pass it back. On the way there, I’d got off the 155 at Clapham Common tube and trekked all the way down to the playground (ducking under the A3 sign to do so). This may have been a mistake. So on the way back, I caught it from just outside the Windmill but that was also a mistake, given that the bus emptied at Clapham Common, You live, you learn….Oh, and we never did get round to flying his kite.

VERDICT: A nice enough playground, could do with some modernisation.

More details here (official website)

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Toilet training out and about

Posted on September 24, 2012 by katese11

I may have mentioned that Roo is currently toilet training. It’s been interesting. I’m not awfully good at the staying-at-home bit you’re meant to do while they’re training, so we’ve been dragging a lot of things around the city. I’m comforted by the thought that unless we have another child, this must be the peak of the “stuff” phase. There can’t be a worse time than with a newly-potty-trained child and a small baby that regularly poos out of her nappy, right? As well as the potty changing kit, we have Eva’s spare clothes and changing stuff, Roo’s snack box, Roo’s teddy bag filled with things to entertain him on long bus trips, suncream, raincoats, sunhats and wellies (darn British Summer) and quite often a bucket and spade. Oh, and the children themselves, occasionally. It can only get better. One day, Roo will be able to carry his own stuff. I can but dream.

But this post is specifically about the logistics of taking a trainer out around London. Sounds like madness? It is. But you try spending an entire day indoors with a small child and an even smaller baby, repeating over and over again “I just want you to TRY for a pee-pee. You can have a Gup A. You can have the entire Octonauts fleet. Just sit on the bloody potty”

No, that’s madness.

Incidentally, you might be reading this and thinking “You’re training him at 3?! What’s wrong with you?”. You may even take the guilt-inducing line that I saw on one woman’s blog that training a 3 or 4-year-old is unnatural and undignified. Well, I don’t care. He wasn’t ready at 18 months or 2. He wasn’t ready at 3. He was ready 2 months and 2 weeks after his third birthday. Which was about 2 months after we first started trying to push potty training. Had we waited even longer, we may have saved ourselves some heartache.Had we started when outside parties were pressuring us to (around his second birthday) we would have had many months more of heartache. So we left it until his language skills caught up with some of his peers (there’s a whole other story there), and now he can say “Mummy, I’m going to do a pee-pee”. And he can take his trousers and pants down himself, and wash his own hands. So it was worth waiting. But as you may have discerned, he is still training. We’re not there yet. My internet-friend/stalkee Beth explains it better in this post.

In case you’re wondering what that picture is, it’s a she-wee. More accurately, it’s a fake she-wee on a necklace that I made. So now you know.

I’m digressing again. After a few false starts (kind of like this post), Roo’s first nappy-free expedition was to Vauxhall City Farm. An easy one, I thought. It was local, and any smells he made could be blamed on the animals. I had my potty training kit all packed up, ever since a previous false start but didn’t need to use it. He went to the farm and back without an accident, peed in the toilet at home and then went to Pizza Express without an accident.

It was at this point I thought we were starting to turn a corner. The next day, he went to his childminders for a day and did a massive pee in her bed. Never mind. The day after that, I was ill with a weird virus thing that made the room spin when I bent down to change Eva’s nappy. A planned trip to Crystal Palace was cancelled, and Roo’s Godmother came over to take him to Peddlar’s Park instead. No accidents. The enforced home-day had given him plenty of time to practise his loo-pees.

Over the next few days, I slowly recovered and we went to various places including Oasis Leisure Centre, Coram’s Fields, Kennington Park, St James’ Churchyard and Ruskin Park. I won’t lie to you – there were accidents. Some of these trips went better than others (*cough* Ruskin Park *cough*). But we weren’t indoors screaming at each other. And by the end of those few days, we had broken the back of potty training. 6 days after Vauxhall City Farm. Since then, he’s only had a couple of wee accidents and they were in extenuating circumstances. Poos are a whole different story. That’s still ongoing. But even that is getting better.

I guess what I’m trying to say here if that it can be done out and about. Choosing places like Corams and Kennington Park that have child-sized toilets helps. Going anywhere where you can wash your hands helps. And having a good potty-training kit always packed REALLY helps. Here’s what I think should be in a potty training kit:

Trousers (x several, 3 at least) – I always like dressing Roo in cool little jeans and stuff with belts, but for potty training you can’t beat supermarket joggers.

Pants (x several)

Wet wipes. Don’t ever run out. *cough* Ruskin Park *cough*

A packet of nappy sacks – for disposing of used wet wipes and poos (in the dogpoo bin…desperate times!) and for bagging up..ahem..used clothes to take home. Or throw away. Either way, bag ’em.

Bribes –  if you want to. I have reached new depths of parenting when it’s come to potty training. Small, wrapped presents, Gups, Dashis, chocolate buttons…there’s nothing we haven’t bribed this boy with.

A bottle of water – for sluicing down slides, when the boy’s decided to create his own waterslide, for keeping the boy’s fluid levels high when he needs to…perform…

Spare socks – you can never be too sure

Antiseptic hand gel – useful for those Lady MacBeth moments

Potty – some people have those fancy folding ones. I just have a cheapo, bulky one tied to the handles of our buggy in a carrier bag. This is not a time to worry about how classy you look.

And aside from that, a complete lack of shame (“Look Roo, there’s some people eating their lunch. Why don’t you show them how well you can pee in the potty?” Serves ’em right for invading the kids’ playground) and a disposable changing mat on the buggy just in case you get caught short on the bus (they’re both absorbent and plastic-backed). It’s not happened to us yet, but there’s still time….

Good luck to you.

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National Army Museum Kids’ Zone – 23/09/12

Posted on September 23, 2012 by katese11

I’ve been hurt here before. Last November, we trekked from Victoria to check out the newly-revamped Kids’ Zone, but there were no tickets left. Understandable on a Saturday afternoon, I guess. In April, about to pop with Eva, I went again on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. Booked out again. Bah! My sources tell me that Chelsea Mothers used to pop down in the morning and bulk-buy tickets for them and their friends. Not any more! Now, you can book online in advance. Huzzah! So, this time we had tickets and we were going to go.

It was pretty good. Again, I had Nathan playing Roo-wrangler,so I spent most of my time in the baby area with my friend and her 10-month-old. And Eva, obviously. The 10-month-old liked clambering over the soft blocks and pulling himself up on the low walls. He also liked the sensory patches on top of the walls. Eva liked being somewhere her brother wasn’t allowed into. And drooling. Incidentally, there was no sign anywhere saying what the cutoff for the baby area was, but the lady patrolling it wasn’t hesistant about chucking preschoolers out.

Don’t feel sorry for the preschoolers. There were lots of things for them to do. Roo spent a long time playing with the landscape above, which was meant to be a logistical exercise in getting supplies to soldiers over different terrains. Roo just liked playing with the helicopters and moving all the green things into the green area. Ditto the yellow and white areas.  Did someone say obsessional?!

For his more *cough* active moments, there was a soft play frame running all around the top of the room (with slopes to clamber up and slides to get down at various places). It was a good use of space, as there were lots of activities tucked underneath the tunnels and bridges of the soft play. There were two slides that I noticed – a twisty yellow one and an insanely fast blue one. There were also some rocking horses and a play kitchen, as well as other bits and pieces around the place. In case you’re wondering what’s happening in the picture above, he’s shivering in front of some snowy mountains. Good drama skills, hey?

I think our allotted timeslot was an hour, but it went fast. We could have spent longer in there, and only dragged him out by vaguely agreeing to his shouts of “I want new lego!”. The “lego” in the shop was all a bit complicated for him so he didn’t get any. But by then, he was out and with his shoes on. Game, set and match.

People occasionally ask me about practical stuff, so I guess I ought to mention that. There’s a slope down from the main reception to the Kids’ Zone. There’s buggy parking inside, with shelves for shoes and hangers for coats. There are toilets inside the playroom. Parents are allowed to take coffee in from the cafe and there’s a fair bit of seating. The cafe itself is nice, but doesn’t have a whole lot of choice. My friend Holly and her Mum lunched quite happily there on beef stew, but not sure there’s anything Roo would eat. He’s not convinced on those snack box things that always have a cheese roll in. Having said that, he was more than happy to have a cookie with smarties in…

VERDICT: A well-thought out play area. Having to buy tickets in advance (and swap e-mail printouts for real tickets at the desk) is a faff, but preferable to turning up and not being allowed in.

More details here (official website)

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The Stow Festival and Lloyd Park Playground – 22/09/12

Posted on September 23, 2012 by katese11

I know I’ve  covered Walthamstow once or twice already, but here we go, back up the Victoria Line.  It was a glorious sunny day, so perfect for an open-air ukulele/banjo/violin/vocal gig. Particularly when the lovely Miss T is playing her ukulele, as part of the Stow Festival. For all our previous jaunts to East 17, we have rarely ventured into Walthamstow proper. My hazy recollections of the Walthamstow Mall when Roo was around six months were that it was a bit scary but it all looked so much friendlier in the sunshine. Roo ran off to play in the playground with Nathan, and Eva and I went to Costa to buy toasties and coffee. A text from my cousin to tell Roo to watch out for needles didn’t deter him too much. I think she might have been exaggerating slightly (exaggeration may run in our family). It doesn’t look too bad, does it?

In fact, it looks huge here. It’s not that big, but it is a perfectly clean and servicable playground, handily located near the shops. So, we ate our toasties and then it was time for me and Roo to go to the toilet. Oh yes, Reuben is toilet training. There’ll be more on that another day.

Found the loos and there was a massive queue. Not ideal with a train-er and someone who gave birth just 20 weeks ago. So, we went to the Mother and Baby Room , which had changing tables and a feeding chair, and also a pushchair-accessible loo. Woohooo! We had left the buggy in Costa but I figured our need was great enough to skip the queue. So I opened the door and…my eyes! An old woman on the loo, pants down. I’ve seen some darkside stuff recently (anyone who’s completed toilet training will know what I mean) but that image will stay with me.

Let’s talk ukeleles. The gig we were there to see was the “Walthamstow Acoustic Massive”, a collective of several different acoustic groups. They were performing together for (I think) the first time, in the Town Square, as part of the Festival. One of my favourite bits was the Natural Voices Choir singing a medley of various adverts and TV themes. Then Agadoo, and a Bob the Builder/Teletubbies mashup. Roo was restless at first (obviously – he’s Reuben) but sat for a long time on the steps in front of the choir with all the other small children. There were a LOT of small children. Turns out Walthamstow is more yummy mummy than you’d think. And for a time Roo decided to stand up and conduct:

And do some dancing. It was kinda cute. Then he ran around in circles, chasing Jake and Jake’s friend. And then a baglady touched Eva’s face. It was all fun. As each group joined in, to make an ever greater noise we were invited to join in with our own instruments. Yknow, for anyone who’d brought a ukelele along. Which we had.

Me and Nathan had both learnt a few ukulele chords for the occasion, but as you can see Reuben decided that it was his ukulele and he wanted to play. To be fair, it was his, so he had a point. I was relegated to his homemade shaker. It was so hot in the sun that the uke had gone out of tune anyway, but that didn’t matter too much. With a whole host of banjos, ukuleles, violins, audience members and singers all joining in on “I wanna be like you”, you could do anything you felt like. It was fun.

It was time to move on. Having been disappointed by a-playground-under-construction last time we went to Lloyd Park, we wanted to give it another chance. We stopped for ice-cream at what may have been an Islamic Fundamentalist ice-cream parlour (but they did good ice-cream), and then Roo and his cousin walked hand-in-hand through the park. Awwwwww!

Apparently, the playground has caused quite some controversy, due to its lack of gate and low wall (“to enable play without boundaries” goes the official line…or maybe they just ran out of money). Either way, it’s easily escapable by a bored toddler. Luckily, there is lots and lots to do to stop the toddler getting bored. Sand and water play, with a water spray controlled by a stand-on seesaw thing. Slides, swings, assault courses and lots to climb on. Heaving with kids, obviously.

Roo enjoyed himself. At least I think he did. Nathan was chasing him while I sat in the shade, feeding Eva and chatting to my cousin and uncle.  There were lots of benches in the shade, which was another plus point. I only intervened, when the already sandy and wet boy asked to change into his wetsuit:

I didn’t have a wetsuit, so he had a massive meltdown. Home time. We didn’t have a chance to check out the cafe, but apparently the coffee is not up to yummy mummy standards. The automatic door didn’t work, and the loos were out of order but I’m sure it’s lovely otherwise.

VERDICT: A nicely designed new playground and a fun day out at the festival.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out), Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Techniquest, Cardiff – yup, it’s another field trip!

Posted on September 18, 2012 by katese11

It’s quite likely you’ll recognise Cardiff Bay from somewhere. If you’re a saddo like me, it’ll be from camp-but-educational Beebies show “Rhyme Rocket”. If you’re a different kind of saddo, like Nathan, it’ll be from Doctor Who.  And the boy lucked out, by spotting Rory and Amy’s house as soon as we got there:

It’s the blue one. He was excited, anyway.

So, onto Techniquest. I’ve been debating whether or not to blog about this because it’s not exactly London-y. But hey, a bunch of you enjoyed my posts on Gütersloh and Norfolk, so I figured what the heck. Plus I got a bunch of nice photos, so it’s a good excuse. Like this one:

Wooooo! Is that hurting your eyes yet? Anyhoo, I realise I haven’t yet explained to you what Techniquest is. It’s essentially a Welsh version of Launchpad at the Science Museum. Lots and lots of hands-on things to do, with a scientific explanation if you want it. Roo – as you may guess – just likes things that light up and make noises. There’s almost too much to describe here (or remember, let’s be honest), but here are some of my favourites.

Like any kid of the 80s, I’ve always wanted to dance on a giant piano. It’s harder than Tom Hanks makes it look, but then he didn’t have a baby wrapped onto him. I got a credible “In The Night Garden” theme tune out of it, but amazingly no-one applauded. The Welsh are clearly tone-deaf. Or musical. One of the two. Roo also enjoyed it, but I was better at it. Yes, I won this round.

Near the giant piano, there was also a wall-mounted, circular xylophone and a board with headphones on, where you could listen to snippets of music from different eras. The headphones were wireless, with a kind of stethoscope-y bit that you held against the pictures to hear the clips. All very clever.

Downstairs, there was water-play, including this ton of granite that you could roll using the power of water. Naturally, we weren’t prepared for water play. Equally naturally, Roo got stuck in. There was also a shadow camera, in the darkened area, and some cool lightboxes and things. Roo also loved launching the hot air balloon, although again he needed Mummy’s help. Score 2 to Mummy.

We also took in a show while we were there, on athletic bodies (yes, this was during the Olympics). Roo was a bit restless, as it involved…yknow…sitting still for more than ten seconds, and Nathan had to take him out before it got interesting. By interesting, I mean there was a lot of setting fire to stuff, which I always enjoy, but may have made Roo jump up and down yelling “call Fireman Sam!”. He does that for a small candle, so who knows what he’d make of a bunsen burner. Luckily, we can’t have been far from Sam’s firestation, given that Roo thinks the entirety of South Wales “yooks yike Pontypandy!”

Squirming toddlers aside, the show was good. My nieces and nephews (now 7, 9 and 10) thoroughly enjoyed it and my youngest nephew got up on stage at least twice. It was free, so worth a look if your child isn’t as ADD as mine.

We left Techniquest because Roo was getting tired and heading for naptime, but we could have spent a lot longer in there. Lots and lots for toddlers to do, and the kind of accessibility/baby changing etc that you’d expect from a new(ish) building. Lovely natural light too.

VERDICT: Don’t rely on my limited knowledge of Cardiff, but probably one of the best things to do with a toddler that end of the M4

More details here (official website)

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Diana Memorial Playground – 09/09/12

Posted on September 10, 2012 by katese11

The Diana Memorial Playground was like my Everest. My great white whale. Every time I mentioned that I write a blog on London for Toddlers (cause it comes up ALL the time in real life…), someone would say “Ooh, so you must have been to the Diana Memorial Playground?”. And I would be forced to admit that I hadn’t, and for no better reason than it was a bit awkward to get to. And over time, I had developed a bit of a mental block over it. My Everest, you see.

I tried explaining this to Nathan and he was confused. He thought I meant the Diana Memorial Fountain, which we visited in May. “Why would that be an Everest?” he pondered. Nathan, it wouldn’t be. This is something else. Now, go and put the dishwasher on.

So, after saying it was tricky to get to, it really wasn’t. There’s only one bus route from our neck of the South London woods (the 148), but it was pretty quick, even on diversion. I had entirely forgotten to check where we were getting off, and my phone was being unobliging, so I hazarded a guess at Lancaster Gate. Good guess but wrong! That dropped us off near the other playground in Kensington Gardens. Having had the Diana playground hyped up as “the best playground in London”, we were initially disappointed to find a perfectly serviceable but unexciting little playground. Roo, obviously wanted to go into it. We steered him away, down the hill and he caught sight of this:

None of us knew quite what it was but it looked exciting! Turned out to be the Italian Gardens – a beautiful and entirely un-toddler-proofed set of ponds, leading onto the Long Water. Roo spent a happy few minutes running around (not near the edge of the ponds, don’t worry) and posing for photos for his Daddy.

See, perfectly safe! While “researching” this piece (i.e. trying to remember what the heck that first playground was called), I came across this gem on youtube, It’s basically an American slagging off British safety standards, based on one of the playgrounds in Hyde Park. Made me feel a little odd, writing about my 3-year-old running loose round some open water, hence all the disclaimers in the last paragraph.

Lucky that FlawlessBoy is so sensible when it comes to danger.

Hold up, I’m getting confused. Anyway, let’s move on…without whispering the words litigation culture. Turns out that the Diana Memorial Playground is not near Lancaster Gate tube. It’s nearer Queensway. We had another 15-min walk or so before we got there. Ah well, it was nice to see the Italian Gardens, anyway.

Finally, we got there and I was relieved to be able to walk straight in. I had heard tales of long waits and one-in-one-out policies. But no, we arrived at 11 and were fine. By the time we left, at 13:30 it was a different matter. Get there early!

We parked the buggy with a load of other buggies in the shade, and Roo jumped out and headed straight for the pirate ship. I had heard a lot about this ship and it truly was a thing of wonder. Nets, rope bridges and ladders to get into and then you could climb down into the lower deck and play in the sand inside it. Or climb the rigging, abseil down the ropes or jump off the side. It was pretty awesome. I had to start to admit that this might just be London’s best playground. Not just for toddlers either – plenty of school-age kids were having a great time too.

The whole playground had a Peter Pan theme to it, as does the rest of Kensington Gardens, and this lent itself nicely to boats in the sand, crocodiles and wigwams as well as an elevated walkway/slide. Even the drain covers were fashioned to look like treasure chests (much to the frustration of Roo, who tried to open them). When it came to lunch, there was a nice shady, grassy area to sit in. Again, this was to Roo’s frustration, as he could see all the fun things he’d rather be doing, instead of eating lunch. The pirate ship was almost entirely unshady, except for a bit at the back (and we did choose an insanely hot day to try it out on) but there was quite a lot of shade in other parts.

When it got too crazily hot, I visited the park cafe (which serves both inside and outside the playground gates) for ice-cream. They also did classy-looking baguettes, which I doubt Roo would eat, and both kids’ and adults’ pizzas. Adults were around £7.00. Naturally, we had brought our own picnic, consisting of stuff I found in the fridge. No wonder Roo wasn’t too keen. We ate our ice-creams in the under-3s play area, despite Roo not being under 3. I thought no-one would notice, Nathan pointed out he was wearing an “I am 3” t-shirt. I pointed out that he wasn’t, he was wearing a wetsuit. Game, set and match to me. The under-3s area wasn’t overly exciting, and seemed to be mainly little huts a la Victoria Park. Plus a seesaw and a wooden car with steering wheel.

If you were thinking the wetsuit meant that there was water play, you’d be half right. There was a wet area (above) but the only water came from some fountain tap things, which were kinda self-draining. Accounts differed when I asked friends whether there was water play there, but the general consensus was yes there was. General consensus, you’re wrong. There’s a puddle or two. On such a hot day, I would have gladly welcomed a sprinkler or two.

Apart from that, it was a grand day out. Roo was exhausted  and asking to go home by 13:30, so we did, and there was a queue of 20 or so when we left. Us leaving meant 4 more could go in (yes. they counted Eva), so we felt good about that.

VERDICT: Yes, it probably is London’s Best Playground. Still, could do with more water play.

More details here (official website)

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A new map, for your convenience

Posted on September 7, 2012 by katese11

Another sunny weekend, another shameless cash-in! Here it is – the LWAT guide to paddling pools and sandpits. Yes, those are volcanoes. Sand volcanoes. Enjoy!


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Ruskin Park – 04/09/12

Posted on September 6, 2012 by katese11

The Ruskins are coming! The Ruskins are coming! So said Roo’s Godmother, waking from a Camberwell-induced nightmare. If, unlike Auntie Savage you have no fear of the word “Ruskin”, why not head to Ruskin Park in Denmark Hill to take in the delights of the paddling pool on a hot day?

Well, one reason might be that you have an overtired 3-year-old and you’ve already been out for lunch in a Farringdon hotspot. Or you may be getting over a virus and really should go home and rest up. But I don’t listen to reason, and on the way back from Farringdon, with two sleeping children, in Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre…I made a decision. We would not go home. It was hot. We would go and discover the delights of Ruskin Park. Just get me out of this damn shopping centre.

So, we went. When Roo woke up, still tired, disorientated and grouchy there was a certain amount of tension. There was a lack of enthusiasm. There was shouting. But I’m going to skip over the nasty bits – the flooded toilets, the only-fit-for-the-bin pants, the empty packet of wet wipes – and instead we’re going to imagine that I went there on a calm day, feeling on top of the world. With a similarly calm baby and a perfectly behaved toddler.We can dream.

What then would my perfectly behaved child think of this park? Well, it’s far bigger than you’d think from the road. I lived in Camberwell for 5 years and always thought it was a tiny scrap of park (this was before Google Maps), so never bothered going there. But it’s huge! It’s narrow on the road side, and not well signposted, but it goes a long way back. Looking at the aforementioned Google Maps, it’s probably about the same size as St James’ Park (now there’s an arbitrary pingback if ever I saw one) Big then. There are ponds and formal gardens, and a bandstand. Obviously my perfect child (let’s just call him FlawlessBoy) would be trusted in both formal gardens and near ponds. This child would never harass the ducks or pick the rare orchids. I’m liking him more and more.

Onto the main attraction – the paddling pool. It may be a bit grimy for FlawlessBoy’s tastes, but that’s OK cause he never complains about anything. It’s not sinister dirt, if that helps. Just that slightly algae-y stuff you get around water. The paddling pool is a good size, has fountains at the corners and lots of seating around, including some on a grassy area. The only criticism I would have is that the grassy bit is quite hard to get to because you have to negotiate the thin concrete bits between the fence and the pool to get there. Not easy with a hugely overladen buggy.  The huge boon as far as boys are concerned is the proximity to the train line. It’s right next to the paddling pool. Really. A thin wire fence separates your soggy toddler from the mainline into Victoria.

Lucky that FlawlessBoy is so sensible when it comes to danger.

If however, your toddler is not so sensible, you may feel a wave of paranoia coming over as he clings to the fence, looking for a way through to REALLY see the trains. This being sleepy South London, you can rest assured that no teenager will have vandalised the fence. No no. So, something to look out for. All boys will find it exhilarating. Let’s hope no boys ever find a way through.

Moving on to the play park, FlawlessBoy dropped his trousers and performed on the potty when requested, so we had a lovely and stress-free time there (hey, dreaming here). The play park was pretty good – a climbing frame in the shape of a boat, lots of swings and a rope bridge that Roo managed to cross, despite two identically-dressed sisters trying to push him off. He was very brave about it, and polite. In fact, he handled it way better than that smug git FlawlessBoy.

Oh yeah, I’ve dumped FlawlessBoy and reverted to talking about my own child (henceforth known as “FlawedBoy”). FlawlessBoy was getting on my nerves, so shortly after he did his virtuoso performance on the potty, I lashed him to the climbing frame using the strawberry laces I’d packed for bribes, but hadn’t needed. He may still be there. Turns out that FlawedBoy aint so bad once he’s had some attention from a loving  and cheerful mother. It wasn’t his mother, obviously – it was my heavily-pregnant friend Louise. But she cheered him up and bought him an ice-cream and all was well in his world. We’re not mentioning the Incident that decimated our wet wipe supply.

Talking of ice-cream, there were two options here – a van parked just outside the paddling pool area, and the Ruskin Park cafe, which sold yummy-looking cornish ice-cream. By popular request, we went for the ice-cream van. The cafe also does hot food, I believe. There are giant straw parasols to eat under as well, which feels a bit like being on holiday.

It was getting very late, by our standards (5pm!!), so we hopped on the 185 and headed home. Roo didn’t wet himself on the bus and – as promised- held off until we got home. Take that, FlawlessBoy.

VERDICT: A nice one for a hot day. Remember to take swimmers and a towel (you just don’t have these things handy on spontaneous trips) and don’t count on being able to change anyone on the floor of the loos.

More details here (official website)

 
3ChildrenandIt

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St James’ Churchyard – 04/09/12

Posted on September 5, 2012 by katese11

If you Google “parks in Clerkenwell”, you won’t get a lot of hits. It’s not the greenest part of London. If you Google “St James’ Churchyard”, well we’ll get to that. For now, let’s not spoil the innocence of a nice lunch in the sun.

We were heading to Clerkenwell on a sunny day, to meet a friend for lunch. I wasn’t optimistic about finding anywhere grassy to sit. When Nathan worked near there, back in the year 2000AD, he used to sit out in a dusty and dismal strip of grass just off Benjamin Street (Google maps tells me it’s called St John’s Gardens) to eat his Benjy’s sandwich. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see a gate next to a church that advertised some kind of play park. We went through the narrow gates, bumped up a few steps and found a massive churchyard, with a play area in it. Perfect for a catch up with a friend, while Roo ran round like a mad thing. There were some bouncers, a slide with playhouse underneath and a roundabout.

Now, I was dubious as to what this sign could mean. All kinds of thoughts flashed through my head, but I assumed I had the answer when the whole place flooded with office workers on the lunch break. For the hour or two we were there, Roo and Eva remained the only children in the place. Even the benches inside the play area were occupied by young professionals, looking cynically on as Roo attempted to pee into his potty on the grass. But it would be a hard person indeed who didn’t crack a smile when he escaped the play area and went running off around the back of the church, shouting at the pigeons while only wearing a t-shirt, pants, socks and shoes (on his hands).

In case anyone needed any extra entertainment, there was also a couple of tree surgeons trimming a tree at the edge of the play area. The chainsaws made conversation difficult, but Roo loved it. He thought it was like the bit where Tom and Moose get stuck up the tree in Fireman Sam. Sadly, he was asked to step back when he went in for an extreme close-up. He also loved following a little path around the back of the bushes and playing hide and seek.

I slightly regret letting him do that now. When googling this place to check the name, it came up on a list of “hot cruising spots”. The bushes got rave reviews. Ho hum. Turns out I was right about the dubious origins of that sign….

VERDICT: A nice green spot in the middle of office-land. The office workers may put your potty-training toddler off his pee-pee. And the contents of the bushes may put you off your lunch.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments