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)

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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)

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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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Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

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

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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

Oasis Leisure Centre – 01/09/12

Posted on September 2, 2012 by katese11

It’s nice to go for a swim in an open-air pool when you’re on holiday. Y’know, Costa del Sol, the Algarve, Holborn…. It was high time to take Eva on her first swim and I thought an open-air pool might have a nice kind of Mediterranean-y feel, so we headed to the Oasis Leisure Centre, just off New Oxford St.

It wasn’t quite warm enough to be the Med. And at 28c, the outdoor pool wasn’t quite warm enough for Eva to be in either. But she did just fine, considering. She was wearing the adorable little swimming cossie pictured above, but we also stuck Reuben’s old neoprene wetsuit on top, which didn’t flatter her hips but did keep her warm. Reuben, on the other hand, was in a moany mood and after trying to escape the changing room several times (“wanna go paddling pool!”), spent most of his time saying “I wanna go hooommmme”. Ungrateful wretch. But even he had moments of happily splishing about. Nathan leaving him clinging to the rail at the side and swimming off probably didn’t help.

So, how practical is al fresco swimming in Central London with two small children? Err, not very.  But it was kinda fun. Seeing as it was Eva’s first time, we only stayed in 15 minutes or so, and yes it did take longer to get ready than we were swimming for. As I may have mentioned before, I took Roo to baby swimming classes when he was the same age, and they were mostly a disaster. This time round, we don’t have the time or money to do the same and I’m not really that sad about it. Swimming with a baby is more fun when you don’t have to feel guilty about your child being the only one in the class screaming. And it’s easier to hug her tight  and reassure her when you aren’t being told to put them in the “swimming position” and sing “twinkle twinkle little star” to them. Maybe that’s where Roo’s phobia of singing groups comes from…

Anyhoo, it would be definitely be a nice thing to do on a sunny day (which it wasn’t). Eva’s arms and legs felt cold, but her tummy was nice and warm when we undressed her. Incidentally, the “family changing” is what appears to be a disabled loo, unless we got the wrong place. But there was space for all four of us and it meant we could shower and keep an eye on Roo at the same time. It would have been better if he hadn’t been able to open the door while we did so. Lockers were just outside, and our buggy fit quite neatly underneath them, so it was easy enough to store our (copious amounts of) stuff.

VERDICT: Not the most practical swimming experience but fun to do something different.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Token attempts at exercise (leisure centres) | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

That Place on the Corner – 30/08/12

Posted on August 31, 2012 by katese11

There you go, as soon as I’ve written a new post on toddler-friendly cafes, then I go to another one. Again without my toddler. But I had a 16 month-old on loan instead. And Eva, obviously.

Our destination this time was That Place On The Corner, at Newington Green. Roo was at the childminders for the last time ever (sob!), so it was easy enough for Eva and I to hop up there on the tube and the bus, even if the 73 kept stalling. On the way, I spotted that Kennington station had taken my moanings about the inaccessibility of the Northern Line seriously, so had updated their inclusion policy accordingly. No-one wants to be seen to discriminate against disabled people, so Kennington have banned disabled people, all men AND all women. That’s fair to everyone!

So, we got there eventually and it was pretty busy. Not surprising, as this may be the most toddler-friendly cafe in London. It is entirely designed with children in mind – dressing up, toys, stacks of highchairs and -of course- a kids menu. So far, so good. We ordered, and the 16 month-old had a little play on the floor. There wasn’t a huge amount of space for the less-confident walker to move around, but Roo would have been fine in there. I felt slightly guilty for going there without him, but hey it just worked out that way!

There was a downside. We were there at a busy time (lunchtime), so expected a bit of a wait, but it did take almost an hour for three toasties to arrive. And they had to check my smoothie order twice before letting me know that they didn’t have what I asked for. Everything was very nice once it arrived, but it did feel a little chaotic. Typically, Eva woke up just as my sandwich finally arrived and both demanded feeding and filled her nappy to overflowing point. That girl sure can multi-task!

And then a singing group started in the other side, so it was time to leave. My children don’t get on well with singing groups….On the way back, we stopped at Islington. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with that area, given that it’s lovely and has lots of nice shops and places to eat but I get nightmarish flashbacks to my first job in London, duty managing at the cinema there. 85-hour weeks, lifts that were prone to break down at the sight of a wheelchair and a boss who enjoyed playing power-games with exhausted 21 year-olds. It was the most stressful job I’ve ever had – it says something that floor-managing in Oxford St seemed peaceful by comparison. So, while I’d love to love the area I just can’t.

Still, we had a nice visit to H&M to buy some long socks for Eva’s poor chilly legs (she had written off her entire outfit at the cafe, and was dressed in some ill-fitting changing bag clothes). This is a tip I’ll give you for absolutely nothing. You can get 3 pairs of Hello Kitty snuggly socks for £7.99 (in the Ladies’ section) and they make brilliant impromptu baby-legs. Handy for days like yesterday when it’s colder than you think it will be, and you don’t want to get your baby out of the sling.

I didn’t manage to get a decent photo, but you can get the general idea. And some close-ups of these cutesome grey ones:

Awww! Sorry, a bit off-topic there but I just had to share…

VERDICT: A nice, and very baby-friendly cafe. Be prepared to wait a while.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Cake and the finest wines known to humanity (eating out) | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

A few more places to eat with a toddler….

Posted on August 29, 2012 by katese11

Running around playing is all well and good when you’re a little soul. But eventually, that little ball of energy has to refuel. They may not like it. They may insist “I NOT hungry. I wanna plaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!” but  they usually are hungry. Mummy Knows Best. So, sooner or later you’re gonna have to sit down with the little beggar to eat.

Did I really just say “Mummy Knows Best”? Which Mummy am I referring to here? I certainly don’t know best. If I did, I wouldn’t get screwed over by a 3-year-old all the time.

I digress. So, where is good for a quick break with your bundle o’ joy? I know I’ve already covered this in quite some detail and then went back for another stab at the same subject, but this is different. Those posts looked at Central London eateries and were mostly chains. This time I thought I’d tell you about some smaller, more eccentric, not-quite-so-Central London places. Incidentally, please excuse the rambling, ranty nature of those original posts. I wrote them on my due date, when Eva was still firmly snugged up inside, and I’d just had the most farcical day to ever exist outside a 1970s sitcom. They are not my most succinct work.

And neither is this. Get on with it!

OK, first up is the cafe at the Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace. We retreated there on Bank Holiday Monday when – as with all Bank Holidays – the rain washed out our park plans. And it was lovely. You don’t have to pay the museum entrance fee for the cafe, and it’s a really nice historical setting that’s been sympathetically modernised inside. So, big stained glass windows (see top photo) and lots of space to run around. There are a few old dears that give you curious looks, but the lady on the desk had nothing but compliments for my beautiful baby, peering out of a sling on her Daddy’s chest.

In the interests of fair blogging, I should point out that Roo was asleep at the time. We don’t always get warm receptions in quiet places when the shouty one’s on form.

But I haven’t got to the best bit yet! The cart of wonder! It was packed with children’s books, explorer hats and craft materials. There was also a table laid out with colouring stuff. So, when somewhere has so obviously gone out of its way to court the toddler market, you don’t feel bad about bringing a live ‘un in there. For Roo may have been asleep, but his friends Luke and Rufus weren’t, and they enjoyed a good rummage and a play with the hats. Rufus’ Mum, Louise made this beautiful play landscape for them from stuff in the cart:

Which they mostly ignored, but I liked it. Eva also gave us a good chance to test out the baby changing facilities, as well as plumb the depths of the changing bag for new tights. We were there too early for lunch, but it was all vegetarian/vegan and grown in their garden. I think vegetarian tart and stuffed aubergine were on the menu, neither of which either of my boys would eat anyway. Never mind. The cakes looked lovely but sadly, they didn’t take cards so I could only get a coffee for Nathan and an apple juice for me, with the coinage in my purse. Note to reader: take cash. None of us had any, so they was an eventual way round it but I don’t think they do it on a regular basis, so I won’t spill here. Gosh, that sounds mysterious. A nice cafe then, but I could have done with sampling a few more of the wares. And maybe roadtesting with my own, lively boy (though a 2.5-year-old, a 3.5-year-old and two babies were probably worthy test subjects)

All of which brings me speedily on to Beanies, Croydon. I’m going to go one step worse and admit that I didn’t even have my toddler with me when I visited there. Just a tiny dot of an Eva. And some other Mums with babies, some of whom had also abandoned their firstborns and come to sit  and eat cake without the constant “Mummmaaaaayyyy”. Between us, we could muster 2xnearly 1-year-olds, who were tottering or crawling about causing general mayhem. So again, worthy test subjects.

Don’t be put off by the fact it’s in Croydon. It’s really nice. I’m as anti-Croydon as they come, thanks to my Bridezilla friend and our two trips to Croydon to choose her wedding dress. IN ONE DAY! But I still liked it. There’s a cafe downstairs, then the play floor, then another level where they do classes and things. We hung out on the play floor, where there are lots of toys but also comfy sofas and tables. There are menus dotted around and you can order, pay and eat on that floor. It’s not soft play, but it is a room full of toys – dressing up, imaginative play etc. I did feel guilty about not bringing Roo, but he was at the childminders and it was a chance for 3-week-old Eva and I to bond. She mainly screamed at me.

So onto a place I have actually sampled with an actual wakey Reuben – the Living Water Satisfies cafe in Crystal Palace.  Again, don’t be put off by the name – it is a social enterprise, but you’re never overwhelmed by the do-gooding. It essentially is just a big, spacious cafe that has a nice kids menu, lots of toys, nice cakes and a mean soy milk hot chocolate.


I’ve been there twice – once when I was heavily pregnant and convinced my waters (living or otherwise) were going to break on the bus. The other time was when Eva was 12 days old. Both times, Reuben found enough to occupy himself while I ate and chatted to my friend. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

There you have it – three toddler friendly places to eat you may never have heard of/thought of before. More to come soon, I’m sure….

Posted in Cake and the finest wines known to humanity (eating out) | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Pasley Park -25/08/12…My First Guest Post

Posted on August 26, 2012 by katese11

This is a Guest Post from Mr katese11, aka Nathan. Londonwithatoddler accepts no responsibility for the contents of this post, and views expressed represent the author’s own. 😉

So if, like me this morning, you find yourself with a small bored child on the Walworth Road and you are attempting to keep him from public meltdown while queuing for the photo-printy-out machine in Boots, which has just run out of photo-paper & the security guy is trying to fix it (“not really my responsibility, this” but bless him he was kind & patient to the lady in front who was ranting at him about the quality of her prints), then hopefully you will have also just come from the sorting office and thus have a couple of Mr Men books in a package from said child’s Nana to help keep him entertained (one of which was Mr Slow, and as the photo-machine was rebooting for the second time the irony wasn’t lost on me). I accept it’s unlikely that your day will be exactly like mine in this respect, but regardless of if you have books on you or not, which titles they are, or how you came to be in possession of them, you will have by this point promised the child a trip to the park as soon as this is over.

And so we’re in luck, you & I, for a quick internet map search from my Android Com-link suggested nearby green space in the form of Pasley Park. Swiftly passing the football pitch and the quirky peacock statutes on the way in, we made a beeline for the climbing frame/slide.  There’s also the standard swings/baby swings & see-saw that one would expect in a park (although I did nervously wonder if I’d assumed too much as we approached the park – a green splodge on a map doesn’t definitely guarantee a slide) but the icing on this particular park’s metaphorical cupcake was the brightly colored assault course that’s neatly hidden over the brow of the hill – we would’ve missed it had we stayed with the slide and not gone on the swings. Enough fun to keep the boy occupied for a half hour or so.

VERDICT: Better than hanging out on Walworth Rd.

More details here (official website)

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

Richmond Park – 21/08/12

Posted on August 23, 2012 by katese11

A couple of things distinguish Richmond Park from other parks. 1) It’s big. It is, in fact the biggest enclosed space in London. 2) It is the only place so far where someone has actually vocalized what I’m sure many are thinking :”What’s wrong with that poor lady?”. They were, of course, referring to the strange, hairy growth on my chest, otherwise known as Eva’s head. Apparently babywearing is quite rare down Surrey-way. Admittedly, I was wearing a purple top and purple wrap, so she was quite camouflaged but really…wouldn’t “baby’s head” spring to mind before “hideous deformity”? If you look closer, I also have a pair of legs coming out of my torso…

We were in Richmond Park to meet my brother and sister-in-law, being as it is a handy halfway point between London and our ancestral home in Winchester. The train goes straight to Richmond from Vauxhall and – I thought – they’ve recently installed lifts at Vauxhall, which should make travelling with a buggy so much easier.

Wrong! That fancy new concourse they’ve been building for ages is just that …a fancy new concourse. No lifts. Essentially just a corridor. A poster proclaimed that Vauxhall was now more accessible to disabled people, because there was more space in the concourse. Err, how is that going to help? Never mind,  the same posters promised that lifts would be installed “Summer 2012”, so when Summer finally arrives the lifts will come with it. What dya mean we’ve had it already??

And yes, I know I should have checked this before I left home. But the only info I could find online was last updated in 2008, and there was no phone number. So there.

Anyhoo, I tackled the stairs on my own. After last week’s discovery about carrying buggies while babywearing, I decided not to risk that and took Eva out of the sling and into the buggy (seat reclined to flat, straps shortened) and made Roo walk, while I carried the buggy. About halfway up, a nice lady offered to help, so we got Eva+buggy to the top, and then I had to back down to chivvy Roo along. Faffety doo-dah!

I also had to get help getting the buggy on and off the train because good grief, those gaps are big! Especially when I’d been feeding Eva for a bit too long and so had had to hastily  re-wrap her as the train arrived. I think fellow travellers took pity on the mad-looking woman with a baby dangling out of a very bad wrap job,overloaded buggy AND toddler on the loose. It was only when we were on and settled that I realised that we were in the quiet coach. Against all the odds, I kept Roo quiet for the 20-minute journey (big biscuit) only to disgrace myself with the cardinal sin of answering my phone. That got me more dirty looks than the dangly baby. But it was a friend’s husband, saying his wife’s waters had broken. That’s the kinda phonecall you’re allowed to take, right?

Anyway, getting off at Richmond was simple enough (they did have new lifts there!), as was getting the bus to the park. So shall I tell you a bit about the park itself? Well, I may have mentioned this before, but it’s BIG, and we only covered the tiniest part of it. I mean, it’s really big. Looking to your left as you enter, it seems to stretch for miles. And it does. That’s London in the far distance there. Roo seemed genuinely confused by this state of affairs:

“We inna countryside?”

“Yes darling. I suppose we are”

“What dya do inna countryside?”

“Good question, darling. Good question.”

Luckily, this countryside had a playground. And loos next to the car park. And an information point, where you could buy maps and have your deformities pointed out. Luckily it seemed quite easy to get from the car park to the playground.

Unluckily, it wasn’t easy.

I’d like some affirmation here that I am not going entirely mad. This is the online map of Richmond Park. The paper version we bought looked similar. It seems to show a fairly easy route from the car park at Pembroke Lodge to the playground at Petersham Gate. There are baby changing facilities and disabled loos in the car park, so you’d assume they expect people with buggies and wheelchairs to use this park. And specifically, people with buggies to want to get to the playground.  But no. More on that in a minute.  And for the pedants who want to point out yet another flaw in this post, yes, I could have just caught the bus to Petersham Gate, but Bro and Sis-in-law were driving. So, once again, there.

We didn’t help ourselves by going entirely the wrong way at first, but I put this down to the infamous family sense of direction (Bro was map-reading). Still, we got to see Poets’ Corner, with Ian Dury’s bench, and climb up King Henry’s Mound, to look over leafy Surrey. Roo was mildly interested in these things, but chiefly interested in the playground he could see from the top. And therein lay the problem.

What the map doesn’t show you is the massive gradient between the mound and the playground. We doubled back as far as Pembroke Lodge in search of a path down that could handle a buggy and Sis-in-law’s disability scooter. We didn’t find one, so we stopped for a picnic at a bench rather meanly labelled “no picnics”. We ate there anyway. It would be more bad publicity than they could handle if they had to forcibly remove a disabled, pregnant woman, a nursing mother and two small children. Then back in search of the elusive path.

We eventually found one that seemed to go downwards without steps, even though the scooter and the buggy both struggled on the soft mud. We got down the hill, only to find our way blocked by a gate which neither buggy nor scooter could fit through. We stood around for a bit, before enlisting the help of some wardens, who took us back up the hill to a gate we’d previously dismissed on account of a couple of rough steps on the other side. We went through it anyway, carrying the scooter and Sis-in-law having to walk, while I bumped the buggy down. We both misjudged the height of the last step and almost had a pile-up, but thankfully didn’t.

From there, it was a clear downhill run to….the PLAYGROUND! And was it worth it? Nah, not really. It was OK – sandpit with a water pump and wooden animals (I think this was newly refurbished), swings, slides, an outdoor xylophone – but nothing extraordinary. Roo played happily for a bit, stripped right off (even though it wasn’t that warm), then we headed back. The kids and I got the bus from outside Petersham Gate and Bro and Sis-in-law walked back up via the road. Going home, we stayed on till Waterloo so I didn’t have to deal with the steps at Vauxhall.

Days like this make me regret taking a buggy, especially as Roo can walk so well and Eva’s in the sling. But the long walk from the bus stop to Pembroke Lodge made me grateful for it, and the sleep Roo had all the way home made me doubly grateful.

VERDICT: A spectacular park, but not buggy-friendly. Go by car, forget the playground and just let your toddler run free at the top of the hill with a ball or something.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments