Taking tea on Vauxhall Walk

Posted on July 20, 2012 by katese11

London is a city of contrasts – you know that already. Beautiful Kensington is right next to the world’s most complicated gyratory TM (aka Hammersmith), the pound shops of Peckham are minutes away from the designer shops of Dulwich. And Strata, an “architectural icon” and high watermark in “contemporary urban living” is on the Elephant & Castle roundabout. Laugh out loud.  This post has been a while in the making, but what neater way to illustrate London’s contrasts than with the tea-taking opportunities afforded to you by Vauxhall Walk, a small backstreet in South London?

First up, we have Mick Darnalds. It’s a builders’ cafe and burger bar in a railway arch, just behind Peddlar’s Park. I’ve only been there once, on a freezing morning, while Roo was playing on the swings. I needed to warm up, and the pound coin in my pocket was more than enough to secure me a plastic cup of builder’s tea. I had to wait for a while for the kettle to boil, and I felt somewhat out of place, but they were friendly enough. The guy even gave me a free chocolate penguin for Roo (I don’t know why I felt the need to point out that it was chocolate – it’s not like he would have given me a real live penguin). Roo didn’t notice, so I seem to remember I ate it in the end. Anyway, there’s your working-class option – honest, earthy and friendly to kids. I liked the name so much that I wrote into Shortlist about it and got featured on Danny Wallace’s page. True story! Here it is:

Whizz a little way down the street and you’ll find the middle-to-upper-class option; the Tea House Theatre. I believe I first visited it the same week as I visited Mick’s, which is why the contrast was so sharp in my mind.

It’s a charmingly eccentric place. Some people would be put off by the sign near the front door – apologising for their lack of speed over lunchtimes and stating that people looking for a quick sandwich would be best to look elsewhere. “We are not a coffee shop”. Indeed. And when I went there this morning, the service was somewhat eccentric – the credit card machine didn’t work, my friend had to ask for her toast twice and we almost ended up paying for our cakes twice. But these are minor considerations. It’s welcoming to toddlers, the cakes are exciting, the decor is kooky and the people are friendly. And that’s what matters.

The first time I went there, I was alone with Roo and he was asleep in the buggy (these were the pre-Eva days). I ordered a pot of apple tea (there is no ordering by the cup) and sat there for half an hour, reading. I could have stayed longer if I wasn’t on my way somewhere and the selection of books and papers certainly suggests you might want to. I definitely got nowhere near the bottom of my teapot, which was a shame as its teacosy had done a great job of keeping it warm for me. I remember thinking at the time that the place was a little too nice to take my unruly toddler, as he was bound to upset the ambience and break the (deliberately) mismatched crockery.

The next time I went there was for a 3-year-old’s birthday parties, so I had no such qualms really. The photo above is from that same party and is illegally filched from the Tea House Theatre’s own facebook page. I had some beautiful ones of my own, to illustrate this post but they disappeared with the death of the laptop. You don’t need to hear about my laptop troubles, but suffice to say I have many troubles. Hence no photos. So, I pinched this one. That’s Roo’s BFF and future wife there on the right.

(Another update – I found them! So I have scattered them through this post. Enjoy 🙂  )

Faced with the challenge of a party-full of sugared up toddlers, the staff coped admirably. I found out today that the owners have a toddler and baby themselves, so it’s no wonder. There is an abundance of high chairs and baby changing facilities in both the disabled and ladies’ loos And the ladies’ loos are lovely….really lovely. No-one seems to mind the mess or the disruption. Even the group having a business meeting there this morning seemed unperturbed by Reuben shrieking “doggy!” and running round in circles. Oh yes, and Reuben found a doggy there. That also helps. There’s an open fire,which is both lovely and troublesome but it isn’t lit at the moment (this should be obvious, given that it’s July…but not obvious to anyone who’s stepped outside lately). And some slightly sharp broken teapots outside. But apart from that, it’s a nice place to enjoy some cake and tea. Oh, and it’s also a theatre. In case you were wondering….

VERDICT: Eccentric, but friendly. Don’t go if you’re in a hurry

More details here (official website)

Posted in Cake and the finest wines known to humanity (eating out) | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

The Discover Centre – 13/07/12

Posted on July 13, 2012 by katese11

Right, let’s get this straight before we get carried away – do not go to Stratford over the next month or so. It will be hell. The station was busy enough today and will be worse over The Olympics. You will never get out. Or in. Wherever you’re trying to go, you will not get there. And yes TFL, combining DLR, tube, Overground and bus station into one “hub” may seem like a good idea on paper but good grief, it’s confusing to those of us who just want to exit your station. Please!

Assuming you’ve taken my advice and visited Stratford after All This Nonsense has calmed down, you will eventually exit Stratford station and catch sight of the famous Stratford Rhubarb, just past the not-so-famous Stratford Centre. Walk towards the Rhubarb, for behind it lies a thing of wonder. The Discover Centre. And therein lies the point of this post.And it must be a thing of wonder to lure anyone to Stratford that isn’t in possession of a rare and overpriced piece of paper. I last went to central Stratford on New Year’s Day 2007 – a sorry tale involving having to hand some shop keys over to someone on our way back from Hampshire, with no car. Nathan didn’t thank me, even after I took him to Nandos.  I may have also visited a friend round there later that year, but that was only to move her the hell out of the place.  Tammy – as ever – bested me on this front, but her story of why she hasn’t visited Stratford for 20 years isn’t mine to tell.

So, the Discover Centre! It’s two floors of interactive-y goodness, loosely linked by a “story” theme. Activities for older children involve listening to and making up their own stories (there are booths for both listening and recording), and the whole place is meant to spark their imaginations. There are fake rivers, with crocodiles, there are monsters and dragons and a secret cave. Obviously, Roo isn’t at the story-writing stage yet, so breezed past the writing and the suggested activities. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t appreciate the monsters, crocodiles and secret caves. He played for four hours and still didn’t want to leave at the end. A recommendation if there ever was one.

The first section (after the cafe/foyer) was the Story Trail, home of the aforementioned secret cave. Roo could have spent hours on that alone – a simple mixture of a cave with climbable sides and roof. Scramble up one side, play with the blocks on top, wave to Mummy through the portholes and netting, scramble down the other side. Repeat. It was great fun, except when he had a tussle with a small girl and she gouged a hole in his face. Ah, East London. Roo came out crying that “little girl hurt me” and I did the “there there, not so bad” routine till I saw she’d actually drawn blood. Ouch! To be fair, it was dark in there and I’m sure it was an accident but still, it’s an impressive battlescar for a day out. And will do nothing for his phobia of little girls (thus far, it’s only one specific little girl at playgroup that he’s scared of…and she is a bit spooky looking)

So, what else was there to do on the Story Trail? An indoor slide, overlooked by a dragon, a helicopter with steering wheel, a puppet booth, dressing up clothes, a craft table, floor lights that make noises when you step on them…and a lot more. Everything was so tactile and interactive, and kookily designed. It was great.

I love this photo. Roo and I are wearing “knight hats” (his description..could be “night hats” for all I know), Eva is looking unimpressed and Tammy is just giggling at us in the background. And – like 95% of photos on my phone – it features my new wrap. I dyed and batiked that myself, with only a little help from a friend. I bet you didn’t know I was crunchy, hey? I never used to be…

So, onto the Story Garden. I love an imaginative outdoor space and this was really well designed. There was a huge pirate ship, which always goes down well with Roo (though he was not welcoming to stowaways), a wooden taxi, which Jake drove to “Number One Shop” at Roo’s request, outdoor musical instruments, a treehouse and a monster slide. Too much to take in, just reading that? Try being there. I loved the monster slide especially, though again Roo wasn’t happy about sharing it. The musical instruments were great too, and had their beaters attached to them, unlike at The Horniman Museum, so kids couldn’t run off with them and leave others musically frustrated.

So, the garden was a big hit. Lots of scope for imaginative play or -like Roo and Jake – just running around going “aaahhhhhhh”….like boys do. There’s also a lot of space for picnicking (tables and chairs on the patio and benches under a wooden gazebo), which I would recommend you do. Neither Tammy nor I brought lunch for ourselves and both ended up choosing between the world’s most uninspiring sandwiches in the cafe (cheese salad or ham  salad). The staff there admitted that the cafe is kinda peripheral to the whole operation and you could really tell. It was equipped well for a drink or snack, but not for lunch. Literally two choices of sandwich and that was it – nothing else vaguely lunch-like. A missed opportunity, I think. So…bring a picnic.

Lastly, onto the special exhibit in the basement – “Superheroes”. I didn’t quite follow the plot (something to do with missing vowels), but that’s what happens when you’re chasing a 3-year-old around. I think Jake may have been disappointed that the superheroes weren’t ones he knew (he was wearing his Spiderman t-shirt for the occasion), but Roo seemed to have fun.  It was set up in the form of a town, with different shops to duck into and do activities in.  There were buttons to press, a super car to drive, a supermarket to raid and a pulley with foam bricks that fitted into a wall (similar to the pulley system at The Science Museum). Oh, and a toddler-sized basketball court. Roo, as you can guess, loved it. Eva, as you can guess, was largely oblivious.

I’ll leave you with this image, cause you can really see his face-gash here (and attractive sweaty head). Remember kids, play can be dangerous….

VERDICT: A gem in the heart of Stratford – great for a full day of play. Could do with more of a selection at the cafe and more than one baby-changing point.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Dinosaur Adventure – An LWAT field trip

Posted on June 23, 2012 by katese11

Norfolk. Very flat. But there are dinosaurs there.

We went on holiday! To Norfolk! It wasn’t actually flat at all, especially not the Neanderthal walk at Dinosaur Adventure. But we’ll get there later. Let’s begin at the beginning.

Dinosaur Adventure is – as you’d expect – a theme park based around dinosaurs. What else does Roo need? It was £9.95 per adult to get in, £12.95 for children over 3 and free for under-3s. Being both honest and tight, we took Roo on the day before his third birthday. So, he was 2 years and 365 days old but it’s a leap year so that makes him not yet 3. Talk about cheating the system!

The whole place has a (quite deliberate) Jurassic Park vibe. When we got there, Roo and Nathan ran off to play while Eva and I perused the gift shop and cafe for some breakfast. The lack of any other human beings in the gift shop added to that slightly creepy vibe. Luckily, a school trip showed up and shattered the peace pretty quickly.

Breakfast obtained, we caught up with the boys in the vast and very exciting outdoor play area. There was an under 5s bit, with a trampoline and small climbing frames as well as dinosaur models. Then there was “arachnophobia”, a large rope frame, and a treetop walk to a high slide. But all this paled in comparison with the MASSIVE dinosaur climbing frame. It was the size of a bus! Or a dinosaur! It was entirely enclosed in fibreglass (see top photo), so once Roo disappeared up the ladder in the dino’s leg, he could be missing for ten minutes before whoosing down the slide at either mouth or tail end. Nathan had gone around the frame with him a few times and assured me “he’s fine in there”, so I trusted him. He always made his way out in the end. I’d start to worry and then bleurgh! Dino would vomit or poo out an overexcited toddler


Eventually, we peeled him away to go on the Dinosaur trail through the woods. It’s as it sounds, except I was expecting the dinosaurs to be lame but they were actually pretty cool. The one above is huuuugggge – Nathan is in for scale (by his left leg). See? Huge! The dino trail kept us all entertained for half an hour or so, and there were a couple of abandoned jeeps and “field stations” on the way, to add to that spooky vibe. There was also a T-Rex spotting trail to follow, and stamps to collect around the park.

Emerging from the woods into the sunlight, we found another play area and a petting zoo, which included iguanas and snakes. Roo was a bit freaked out by the snakes, which is a far cry from the days when he thought “snakes on your brain” was a fun game. There was also a litter of tiny piglets, who looked a little like Eva. Sadly, we didn’t join the Deer Safari excursion (via jeep, extra £1.95 for adults), as it was overrun by schoolchildren. Also, after the dinosaurs I thought Roo may be a little underwhelmed by the deer.

So, it was back up to the main bit of the park, via the Neanderthal Walk. The picture above cracks me up, for some reason. Now, they do say in all the promo material that the dino trail and the Neanderthal Walk are unsuitable for wheelchairs, so we were a bit uncertain about taking the buggy. Especially as neither child went in the buggy all day (Eva was in the sling, Roo was walking). But a buggy is ever so handy for carrying all our stuff, so essentially we just pushed a shopping trolley around all day. Like hobos do.

Anyway, the dino trail was fine with the buggy cause it was all downhill (though I did forget the brakes once and nearly lost it to the clutches of an Ankylosaurus) but going back up the Neanderthal Walk was pretty hard work, and would have been even harder with a child in it. Consider yourselves warned.

So, what else was there to do? Well, there was lunch in Dippy’s Diner (pretty standard kinda fare for this sort of place), excavating bones in Xtinction, a sandpit, dino-themed miniature golf and go-karts. But in case this wasn’t enough, there’s also an indoor soft play area with massive slides. Needless to say, Roo fell asleep the minute we got back into the car!

VERDICT: A great day out and good value, especially if you aren’t paying for the toddler.

More details here (official website)

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Festival of the World (Southbank Centre) – 22/06/12

Posted on June 22, 2012 by katese11

It’s been a rather blustery day. Walking along the river, I thought Roo’s buggy might just be whipped away over the edge. Luckily, I had Roo to use as a counterweight, so once I put him in it the problem was solved. Or maybe I was setting him up to get whipped over the edge. Who knows?

We were at the Southbank Centre to a) meet our good friends Tammy and Jake and b) check out the “Festival of the World”. My friend over at Adventures with Gravel highly recommended it and I was waiting for a nice sunny day to have a look around the outside bits. Then I gave up on the sunny day and we just took cover in the Royal Festival Hall whenever it tipped it down. Which led us to our first discovery – the Festival Museum, located on the ground floor (i.e. under the ballroom). I went through it a bit quickly to really gauge what it was all about, but visually, it was great for toddlers. Every section had a different theme – starting with a fake outdoors (grass, sky, caves) and culminating in a passport office where you could use a computer to print your own “citizen of the world” passport. I didn’t quite have time to figure out how to do that, thanks to Roo charging off again so seems I’m not a citizen of the world. Bah.The photobooth was also out of order, which didn’t help.  On, the upside the “passport office” was decorated with brightly coloured toys, which Roo loved, and some pots and pans on strings, which made a tremendous noise when you banged them. Which Roo did, obviously.  As ever, I would have liked to have looked round the exhibits and read all the displays but that is not the way of the (now) 3-year-old. So, instead here are some grainy photos. I hate my blackberry. Oh, and happy birthday Reuben.

Wow, whatta lotta photos. And yes, that is a tiny Batman in the last one.

By now, the sun was peeking tentatively through the clouds, so we went outside equally tentatively, to have a play at “Rainbow Park”, the multi-coloured sand installation next to Waterloo Bridge. It was ace. The idea is very simple – dye some sand and arrange it in roughly rainbow colour – but it mesmerised Reuben for ages. And me too. There was a mix of textures, so it felt good underfoot and there were lots of things for Roo to climb on and jump off. Again, pictures will explain this better….

And as an added bonus, here’s a rare photo of Eva enjoying the sandpit. She loves it!

Be warned, you and your toddler will both come home with multi-coloured sand in your shoes. Be warned #2, there’s a Wahaca van serving burritos next to the sandpit and you will be unable to resist its mexican-y charm. Cash only, burritos are £6.00. Mmmmmm….!

But wait…there’s more. After a quick stop for a change (Roo), a feed (Eva) and some hula-hoops (Roo again), we went to have a look at “London Earth Creature” outside the Hayward Gallery. This was a play area designed by school children (among others), out of “earth forms”. There was a giant earth hut, which Roo and Jake enjoyed running in and out of, and some little earth caves to sit in. A couple looked like they were napping in there. As you do. More fake grass and, by now, a gale force wind blowing the boys and buggies around. As you can guess, they loved it. They was another street food van there too (Beirut this time)

It was almost time to go home, but there was one more treat for the boys on the way, in the form of giant letters dangling from the sky on Festival Terrace. I persuaded Roo to pose under an “R” but you can’t really tell it’s him. Jake was initially disappointed, until the last cube turned out to have a huge “J” on it. Eva refused to pose at all. Apparently, they spell out messages if you look at them from certain angles but I couldn’t really see it. Ah well, Roo can’t read yet so we could tell him it said anything.

If only I had a shot of Roo and Eva dangling off either side of that R/E cube, life would be perfect. Oh yes. But it’s not, so instead I got conned into buying Roo a ridiculously expensive croissant from Le Pain Quotidien. Everything on the South Bank may be free, but with all the yummy food available it could end up bankrupting you.

VERDICT: Go go go. Even if you’re only passing through, stop for a play

More details here (official website)

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Diana Memorial Fountain – 26/05/12

Posted on June 5, 2012 by katese11

So let me start by saying, I have no particular affiliation with Princess Diana. I think she had a hard life but I was no sadder when she died than when any other celebrity dies (except Freddie Mercury). I was mainly sad that my Uncle Phil couldn’t take me up in a glider like we’d planned because the airfield was closed. I was 16. And maybe self-centred.

What I do have a strong affiliation with are nice play areas (as you may have already gathered). I haven’t yet visited the memorial playground but I will do in the near future. And I also have an affiliation with being able to paddle on a hot day. This last one clearly isn’t shared by Lambeth Council, who ignored the heatwave last week and stuck to their plans to switch water play areas on this bank holiday weekend. Which, in case you didn’t notice, was a bit of a washout. Sigh.

So, no paddling pools in Lambeth or Causton Street. What’s a girl to do? Go for some long-overdue princess mourning, naturally…

This was not my first visit to the Diana Memorial Fountain. Oh no. The first time I hung out there was on my friend’s hen do. As Best Woman, I had organised the whole thing to suit me and my then-not-quite-a-toddler (he took some of his first steps during the scouting visit). All-night clubbing was out, picnics in Hyde Park were in. It’s OK – if you knew her, you’d understand this was what she wanted… I choose the fountain as a handy place to picnic as it was close to the boating (part 1 of the hen do) and also the Serpentine Lido (an essential part of part 3, when she completed a “henathalon”. Honestly, if you knew her, this would all make sense….). Only two problems, Firstly, you can’t drink within the bounds of the fountain, and we had a bucketful of Pimms. This was brought to our attention by the fairly zealous FountainGuardPeople. Secondly, it was tipping it down. In August. So, the hen’s resourceful male friends erected a gazebo. Again, the FountainGuardPeople took exception to this. I maintain, there is no mention of gazebos on the “Rules of the Fountain” board. And the “no alcohol” symbol was a wine glass. Any sane person would take that as “no glass”, right?! A sensible suggestion around a fountain! Hence the plastic beakers and the bucket…..anyhoo, the net result was that we moved just outside the fence surrounding the fountain, to the part where the FountainGuardPeople had no jurisdiction. All involved were happy with the result, Incidentally, inviting male hens (aka “mens”) is a great idea. They bring gazebos and stuff!

Needless to say, this latest visit was less rowdy. In a way. The website implied that walking around the fountain was not allowed, so I was terrified of falling foul of the FountainGuardPeople again, and having to tell the toddler that he could look but not paddle. All through the veeeery long walk through the park, I was steeling myself for it, but my fears were unfounded. Every other family in London had the same idea (maybe cause all the paddling pools were empty?) and when we got there, there were hundreds of children splashing about happily.

Of course, experienced readers will guess what happened next. Roo had been napping in his buggy during the epic journey there and woke up next to the fountain. When asked if he wanted to play, what did he say? “No fanks”.

After a walk, a bus and another half hour’s walk? Ah, sod ya then! Luckily it was a Saturday and Nathan was with us, so I left sleepy boy with him and I took Eva in the sling, to dip our feet. Well, just my feet really. She was asleep too.

But there’s a happy ending. Somehow, Nathan persuaded Roo to first take his shoes off and paddle, and then change into his  wetsuit for full-on water play. By then, Eva had woken up yowling for a feed, so I fed her in the shade of the tree and watched them play. Oh, how the tables have turned Mr Bond….

Eventually, baby was fed and asleep again and toddler was not yet bored. So I got an hour or so of splashing about with Roo and Nathan (Eva way out of the action in the sling) and it was grand. Really lovely. The fountain is huge and is a loop of granite, with two currents running down from the top. Along the way, the depth changes to provide shallower and deeper parts, textured and smooth bits, faster and slower flowing bits. The whole loop took around ten minutes to walk, so we could have wasted hours there. You can climb in and out at any point, and there were three bridges to cross onto the grassy island in the middle. The only time the FountainGuardPeople tried to stop us doing anything was on one circuit, where one guy stopped anyone climbed up a little, ridged waterfall. Every other time round, Nathan and Roo clambered up it freely. I climbed out at that point cause I didn’t fancy doing it with a baby. Just in case…

The whole thing was very safe for paddling, on the whole. The ridged granite made it hard to slip and the current was never too fast or too deep for a toddler. Hence me being very happy paddling round with Roo AND a 3-week old. The ridges do make your feet hurt for a bit though.

So, overall a big hit. Roo was distraught to have to leave, but his Godmother was cooking us a BBQ, so we had to go. Naturally, we resorted to bribing him with an ice-cream from the stand outside the Lido. Naturally, on the hottest day of the year, in London’s most famous park there was only one person serving. Sigh. Eva and I queued for half an hour, while Roo and Nathan studied the duckies of the Serpentine, but the raspberry yoghurt ice-cream was worth it.

VERDICT:A great place to go on a hot day (and even on a rainy day), as long as they don’t try and enforce the “no paddling” rule

More details here (official website)

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Still here……

Posted on May 31, 2012 by katese11

And brand new shiny anecdotes to come, honest guvnor. This newborn baby thing seems to take up a lot of my time and occupies my hands. But watch this space, loyal viewers. In the meantime, here’s Reuben’s take on the Jubilee. Roobilee, anyone?!

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St James’ Park playground – 22/05/12

Posted on May 22, 2012 by katese11

Sorry for the radio silence lately. It’s almost like we haven’t been anywhere of note since the end of April. Oh that’s right, we haven’t. Meet the reason why:

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It’s Eva! She isn’t a toddler but she does live in London and she’ll be accompanying me and Roo on some of our travels. I doubt she’ll do much of note for a while but she’ll be there, wrapped in her Moby on my front…just like she was today.

Ah yes, today! Today was take two of St James’ Park, after the playgroundless fiasco of last time. Fiasco is a strong term. Let’s call it a mini-fiasco. A fiascoette, if you will…Anyhoo, they’ve finished cleaning up the playground and it was a lovely sunny day, so it was time to try again.

Luckily, it was open. And contained, which is always a bonus. We had a relatively successful picnic with Tammy and Jake, where Roo only wandered off a handful of times (it’s harder to chase him with a newborn hanging on to your boob. But not impossible). He has two new tricks that he was practising today. One is called “Help, Mummy! Stuck!”, which I believe is self-explanatory. He is never actually stuck. Almost never. But it’s a good excuse to get aforementioned Mummy to heave you out of places with her boob out. Joy. The other game is based on all those “Are you my Mummy?” books (see “hug” etc)…he walks just far enough that casual passers-by can’t see me waving. Then plaintively wails “Mummmy! Mummy! Where Mummy gone?” until someone takes pity on him. That someone is never me. Almost never.

So, after a few of these high-jinks we decided to take the boys somewhere more distracting. Playground! And it was open. Huzzah!

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Was it worth the return visit? Yes, I think so. It wasn’t huge (unlike these photos…I don’t understand what wordpress is doing today) but it had a slide, swings (3 sets), a seesaw and a sandpit. All the “s”s. All made of natural materials (which made for an extremely heavy log seesaw) and kinda sculpted to look like part of the park. I particularly liked the slide cut into some steps, also reachable by a little wooden bridge.

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There were also a few quirky touches – wooden things that looked like snails or possibly trains (with chains. Why chains?!), and a tiny wooden rocking-horse. There were also toilets, which I once again used my non-toilet-trained toddler as a passport to get into. Beware – the boys’ toilet is mainly urinals, which might blow your cover somewhat.


And now the baby’s crying (actually she started crying near the start of this post), so that’s it for now.Short by my standards, hey?!

VERDICT: A nice play area, not overly crowded and a calm kind of vibe.

More details here (official website)

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

Magners Pasture – 30/04/11

Posted on May 1, 2012 by katese11

Good day Sunshine! I may have mentioned that it’s been a bit rainy in London lately so it was amazing to wake up yesterday morning and see a bit of yellow sunshine (as Roo calls it) poking through the clouds.

We were meeting Tammy and Jake at the Royal Festival Hall, assuming that it would be yet another rainy day. But it wasn’t! So we had lunch and left in search of somewhere sunny to hang out. The park opposite the London Eye is currently a giant building site (thanks to the Jubilympics), but Tammy spotted the Magners Pasture (part of the Udderbelly festival but not ticketed) and we thought that’d be worth a go.

And indeed it was! It was basically just a big beer garden (there was a bar and a food stall too), so I felt obliged to spend an outrageous £1.80 on a can of lemonade. But as “hanging out” tax goes, it was acceptable. We managed an hour’s hanging out before Jake wanted to go and explore other places, and Roo’s constant screaming at the pigeons was starting to annoy the grown-ups.

Ah yes, grown-ups. I think they see a beer garden on the South Bank as their “zone” and I’m not sure how all of them felt about the invasion of the preschoolers. But that’s their problem. It was a Monday afternoon – why weren’t they all at work? For the most part, the boys were pretty well-behaved and just spent ages playing with the giant Connect 4 set. Not sure they really understood the rules but never mind. Roo also liked the purple cows and the deckchair. Mummy also liked the deckchair but kept getting kicked out of it by Roo…

VERDICT: A nice place to spend a sunny hour or so. Just be prepared to leave when the grown-ups start giving you evils…

More details here (official website)

Posted in Just wandering.... | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A Rainy Day Special

Posted on April 29, 2012 by katese11

I can’t believe it was only a month ago that I wrote A Sandpit Special. Back then, I was freshly Mat-leaved, the sun was shining and I was optimistic that this baby was going to be with us really soon. Now, it’s been torrentially raining for weeks, I can’t remember the last time we visited a park….and still no baby. Spring sprang and then it sprang away again, it seems. But no-one can sit around watching Tree Fu Tom on iPlayer all day long so Roo and I have ventured out every day in our wellies and waterproofs (Roo only). We have got very wet and occasionally miserable but it’s better than climbing the walls at home. In the same spirit,  I’m going to stop moping about the weather, check out my google search terms (e.g. “what to do with a toddler in the rain in London”) and compile a roundup for you of the Best Rainy Day Places in London. Fact.*

5) Imperial War Museum

This might be very specific to us because it’s nearby and is often an emergency back-up when the neighbouring one o’clock club is shut. But they serve coffee and have big aeroplanes to look at, so I’ve found you can kill many a rainy afternoon there.

4) Museum of Childhood

Not at all local to us but easy to get to by public transport (important to avoid long walks in the rain) and full of things to divert a small child. Beware – everyone else in East London may have the same idea as you, including several school trips. The indoor sandpit can get vicious at times.

3) London Transport Museum

In my opinion, rainy day places should be free. It’s in the nature of them that you wanna just dash in when the clouds turn a bit threatening. But if you have already paid your £13.50 and therefore have unlimited access for year, it’s as if it is free. Many a dull day has been redeemed by a drive on the buses here.

2) Royal Festival Hall

I have been to the Royal Festival Hall in the rain more times than I can count. In fact, whenever I hear the words “Royal Festival Hall” I’m instantly  reminded of the sound and feel of wet denim on shiny floor. I went there just yesterday with wet shoes and a wetter toddler. I attempted to go there on Friday but was denied access due to Barclays’ AGM (there were protesters outside, who were presumably fellow mothers) and had to go to its child-unfriendly sister the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Not the same at all! But every other day of the year, it’s a warm, inviting, comfortable place to dry off and wait for all this rain to blow over.

1) Science Museum

Where better to go on a rainy day than London’s most exciting museum? There is so much to do there that you won’t even be able to fit it all into one rainy day. It’s easy to get to and there are rarely long queues. I like to keep it as a treat for Roo so we don’t go too often, but it would definitely be my rainy day venue of choice.

Honourable mentions to The National Army Museum, Museum of London and The Horniman Museum. All worthy rainy-day places but each in their way a little random for us to get to, and what’s the point of a rainy day place if you get soaked on the way? Let’s ignore for now the 20 minute walk home from Royal Festival Hall, where my dried-out shoes get resaturated. I never said this was objective, OK? Or in any way rational….

*By this, you can read “opinion”

Posted in What I suppose you'd call "tips"....? | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Eating out in Central London with a toddler part 2

Posted on April 28, 2012 by katese11

OK, I admit that last post was a little rambling. This time I’m going be more succinct and bada-bing-bada-boom. Honestly.

More places to eat in Central London – go! Firstly, the yummy-mummy eaterie of choice, Giraffe. Another place we used to go to pre-children and never noticed it was packed with toddlers. I have no idea how. Anyway, my way of saying that the food is good enough for adults to eat as well as having a good kids’ menu and free balloons. On my 25th birthday, 7 of us spent around £450.00 there because the waiter was so good. and just kept offering us more nummy cocktails. Nowadays, our visits there are more sedate (in a way) but still enjoyable. Our local-est branch, which is also one of the biggest, is the South Bank branch. To be honest, I find it a little soulless and over-crowded (and you can’t book at weekends) but it’s close and you never need to feel bad taking a toddler there because everyone else has too. High St Kensington has a more intimate feel – not sure how it’d cope with a buggy – and Islington is smaller as well, but we fitted in there OK. The only Central London branch we’ve been to is the Brunswick Centre (and that was on his first birthday – look how little he is in the photo!) but there’s at least one in Soho I intend to try sometime. We went to the sister-restaurant Guerilla Burgers in St Christopher’s Place (behind Oxford St), which is now a Giraffe and it was nice but a bit of a tight squeeze.

Next (see, I said we were moving quickly) is Pizza Express. The photo at the top is Roo at his friend Jacob’s pizza-making birthday party. He put his hand through his dough, covered it with olives which he doesn’t like and refused to wear his apron. But he ate his pizza and -more importantly – enjoyed himself. We’ve been to the Kennington branch loads of times for just regular eating-purposes and they’re always friendly and bring him crayons etc. The kids’ menu is £6.95ish for 4 courses but you can just order the main course (pizza or pasta) for around £3.50. We’ve been to the Strand branch with him before as well and it’s another place that’s bigger on the inside (i.e. extra seating downstairs). As far as I can remember, no lift but you can leave buggies at the top of the stairs.

Where else? One of our more successful post-church eating places (see my last post) is Vapiano on Great Portland St (Oxford St end). It’s huge for a Central London place, and has more seating upstairs (again no lift). The tables are quite high but there are lots of sturdy wooden highchairs. Each person is given a card on arrival, which you use when you order your food (from different food stations downstairs) and then you settle up individually on exit. Again, handy for hasty exits! It’s Italian, so pizza, pasta and salads essentially but no kids menu as far as I can see. They also have a small basil garden upstairs, which Roo likes to play in. Space, easy payment and quick food. Basically everything we need. Pity not all our friends like it, otherwise we’d have a winner.

Talking of places not all our friends like, Wagamama has also been a hit with us in the past. Sadly our friend Slinky refuses to eat there. But it has a kids’ menu (which seems like wayyy too much food for Roo), the usual activity packs and quick service. I took him to the Victoria branch just before Christmas and he didn’t touch his kids meal but happily ate all my gyozas in cherry sauce. Then he ran off and refused to sit anywhere but a very small windowsill, but that’s another matter. They have those cool, clip-on highchairs for babies but Roo prefers to sit on the bench. Or a very small windowsill.We’ve also been to the Covent Garden and South Bank branches a few times and both are accessible for buggies (Covent Garden via lift) and the staff are friendly. Like Giraffe, South Bank gets very busy at weekends and there are always toddlers in there.

Hold onto your chopsticks, we’re almost there! Next up is Wahaca, also in Covent Garden. It’s another place that seems small from the outside but has a lot of room downstairs (via another clanky lift) and the service is quick and friendly. No kids menu as such, but the portions are all tapas-size, so you can order one of them for a toddler portion. Roo likes the enchiladas. Or he did last time we went. He’s probably changed his mind by now….

Talking of tapas, that brings us to La Tasca. Out of this whole post, this is probably the only one I wouldn’t whole-heartedly recommend, just because the service was a little….Spanish in flavour. In other words, we had our menus for ten minutes before we were asked for our drinks orders (which is when I requested the kids menu). Another ten minutes before we could then order our food, which took an age to arrive. You can imagine how restless the boy was by then and yes, we did lose him behind the bar once or twice. On the other hand, the food is always good, they often have bargainous deals on and Roo ate something, at least. There are a number of choices for the kids tapas and a fiverish will get you three tapas and some crunchy vegetables, plus crayons and an activity sheet. On the day we went, they had no chips and Roo refused to accept patatas bravas as a substitute but he did clear his albondigas (meatballs) and fish fingers (fish fingers). If you ask for apple juice, you get appletizer which I don’t believe to be the same thing..and thinking back, I’m sure the kids meal was supposed to come with its own drink, which never materialised. So, slightly hit and miss service but very nice food. We visited the Regent St branch, which had most of the tables downstairs and no lift, so again some buggy-carrying. Worth a try but only when the boy’s in a good mood.

Phew! I think that’s it. In the words of David Bowie in Flight of the Conchords, I’ve given you all my good advice. I haven’t included anywhere that’s been a total disaster (and there have been a few of those) cause that feels a bit like slagging people off and hey, this blog’s all about the love.

So, to summarise – this is what you want. Good food for you, quick service, fuss-free payment, kids menu or small portions. And in Central London, natch. Hope you’ve found what you’re looking for.

Posted in Cake and the finest wines known to humanity (eating out) | Tagged , , | 2 Comments