Help me discover my city! (London edition)

[cubesofjelly]

I’ve lived in London most of my life and DH moved here over 10 years ago. Before we had DCs our favourite type of holiday was a European city break. For a wide variety of reasons that I won’t go into (because it’s long and boring, not sensitive!), we haven’t been able to do that since we had children and it will be a while before we can.

Now I’m aware it is highly romanticised in my head, but regardless this is how our holidays felt - going down cobbled streets, exploring interesting shops, checking out lovely cafes/casual restaurants, taking in some sites, sitting in a picturesque plaza drinking coffee... that sort of thing

Seeing as we can’t go off to do that in another city, it’s about time we discovered the romanticised city break version of London! I feel like I should already know what that is but as a local I’ve taken a lot of things for granted and don’t tend to leave my patch much (east London, zone 2).

Some light criteria for any recommendations you may have (not trying to sound picky!):

• I’m going on mat leave, more or less anything goes but if you think it’s not baby suitable then really helpful to know (as I can prioritise for pre birth!)
• day time weekday things (planning to do at least some of this during our window of opportunity during the school day, DH is a SAHP)
• both winter and summer things are welcome

Things I already have in mind:

• fairly obvious I suppose, but the major galleries and museums; it’s been a while since we’ve been to any of these without children, and broadly speaking baby in tow is very different to Primary school aged children in tow
• we already regularly enjoy the River bus (and shall continue to do so)

Really appreciate any tips or recommendations!

What a great thread

To anyone who hasn’t visited, I recommend the Garden Museum, exploring the whole new city that is springing up at Nine Elms, Mudchute farm (where there are amazingly still anti aircraft guns, in view of Canary Wharf), the restaurant at the top of the Nationals Portrait Gallery, Hyde Park wilderness and then speakers corner

You have to go to Kings X which is a day trip in itself. Nearby there is St Pancras of course, which is a great building, also the British Library which is great once you get inside, the Crick if there's something going on, the Wellcome Collection and Kings Place

I really love all the wharfs, some lovely strolls and great places on the river for lunch. Butlers is my favourite.

Ooh great, thanks for another recommendation Epanoui!

I’ve never heard of quite a few of those Solasum, thanks!

That’s a good point Davros, I’m regularly around Kings Cross St Pancras, usually early morning and late evening, travelling for work and being a bit grumpy so I’ve never thought to actually explore the area!

Posted too soon, was also going to say I agree about the wharfs Believability, it’s been some time since I’ve had a good stroll along one and I love the architecture and the often accompanied cobbled streets.

This (Butlers Wharf, as per Believability, which I think is on Shad Thames?) is a good recommendation for anyone visiting London and wanting a very photo friendly touristy spot, but that isn’t actually jam packed with tourists. As well as being a nice spot to stroll, with converted warehouses and such, there’s a number of restaurants with outdoor seating with a direct view of Tower Bridge. Even if you don’t want to to stop and eat, you can get some good snaps with the bridge prominent in the background and there’s lots of benches along the river where you can have a break.

Cheeky bookmark

I used to go out with a Blue Badge guide, so I absorbed a lot second hand.

City churches like St Dunstan in the East ( although it's now just a ruin with an amazing garden tucked away) are lovely for a stroll. St Brides on Fleet Street ( whose spire was the inspiration for the modern tiered wedding cake) has a basement worth exploring. Clement Danes and St Mary le Strand are lovely inside. Christchurch Spitalsfield ( the Hawksmoor church mentioned upthread) is gorgeous, it's my favourite London church.
St Alphege in Greenwich and St Ann's Limehouse are also his - it is proposed that Hawksmoor, who was certainly no Christian, places his churches along ley lines, and that joined together on a map they form a pentagram...

There's also a mummy in the tower of St James Garlickhythe on Garlick Hill although the church is only open by special appointment.

St Paul's in Covent Garden is known as the Actors church and has gorgeous carvings inside by Grinling Gibbons. He also carved the organ case at St Paul's Cathedral.

You can do guided tours of the Barbican, which are fascinating and really opened my eyes to Brutalist architecture. The arboretum at the Barbican is gorgeous, although only open to the public in certain days.

Bunhill fields ( derives from Bone Hill) is a small but fascinating graveyard on City Rd. William Blake is buried there.

Crossbones graveyard in Redcross street SE1 is completely unprepossessing apart from the ribbons people tie to the gates. It is unconsecrated ground, and some 15000 prostitutes are buried there. It was closed in the 1850s.

Nunhead, Kensal Green and Highgate cemeteries are all great for an atmospheric stroll. Kensal Green has catacombs.

Dennis Severs House on Folgate street is a Georgian terrace ( you have to book) which has been recreated as an authentic 18th century house. It's very atmospheric.

The whole area around The guildhall is fascinating - you can visit most of the livery company halls when they have open days. The Guildhall museum is interesting and relatively unknown. Under the Guildhall is the fairly recently discovered Roman amphitheatre.
There is also a clockmakers museum ( all the clocks chime together at noon and it houses Mary Queen of Scots pocket watch which is shaped like a skull, a brilliant Memento Mori)

You can do tours of the Ghost stations of the underground, and of the great powerhouse pumping stations like Abbey Mills, which I believe is the only one still operational. Designed by Joseph Bazalgette, who had the foresight to make our sewers the size they are, he is also responsible for the design of many London bridges and also the Woolwich Ferry.

I can talk about this shit for hours

Brilliant post, Lady! You mentioned three of London's Magnificent Seven cemeteries - if the OP is interested in visiting cemeteries, here's the list of 7 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnificent_Seven_cemeteries and I gather that Mortlake cemetery is also worth a visit.

www.sbf.org.uk/whats-on/category/Lunchbox/

Somebody up thread mentioned St Brides church on Fleet Street, which is close to the St Bride Foundation and the Bridewell Theatre.

St Bride Foundation:

"Established in 1891 with a clear social and cultural purpose, St Bride Foundation is one of London’s hidden gems.

Housed in a beautiful Grade II listed Victorian building, St Bride Foundation was originally set up to serve the burgeoning print and publishing trade of nearby Fleet Street, and is now finding a new contemporary audience of designers, printmakers and typographers who come to enjoy a regular programme of design events and workshops."

Bridewell Theatre:

As well as full length productions in the evenings, the Bridewell Theatre is home to the Lunchbox Theatre.

"Escape the office dramas this lunchtime and lose yourself in another at our Lunchbox Theatre.

Performances start at 1pm prompt and are about 45 minutes long."

Thanks @HankNPat !
All the recommendations so far have been brilliant, but I'm a big fan of getting up close and personal with London History where possible. So for example, if you go to Tower Bridge, go and visit the museum in one of the towers that houses the engines that lift the bridge- you can walk along the upper walkway as well - it's a surprisingly great view!

Oh also - free classical recitals most lunchtimes at St James' Piccadilly.

We went to London at the start of the week as dc3 is obsessed by the great fire.
We went to All Hallows' by the tower church it's was really interesting. It's the oldest church in London.There's a Roman path in there and the original doors that were damaged in world war 2. All 3dc thought it was good.

My cheapskate lazy day go-tos are:
The Thames Clipper - can use your Oyster/Daypass, onboard refreshments & facilities and is buggy friendly - obviously avoid rush hour. I can blissfully while forever away oggling the City from the water. Dickens' London side by side with mindboggling glass riverside skyscrapers ... frying my brain over how many gazillionnaires there must be in London to fill so many swanky riverfront gaffes.

• and the ever captivating DLR (front seat front seat front seat!)

Both are great sightseeing routes good for parking yourself comfortably for the full ride, to get a glimpse of areas you're bound to want to explore further / or hopping on & of as & when along the way.

Fabulous thread!

This is such a good thread. Am making notes of so many of these!

i love this thread and am going to be lurking taking notes

does anyone know of good bus routs we could hop off and on?

Wow, some fab insights and history! Lady it’s like you’ve given us a virtual tour also I agree about Tower Bridge, my DCs love it (and it’s fascinating for adults too). The bridge walkway is great, but also the stairwell going down from the walkway - you can see interesting windows, huge girders, it’s quite captivating. We also enjoy the engine museum down the road, and to link it to another recommendation upthread - once at the engine museum, you’re practically at Butler’s Wharf.

I’m at least starting to feel reassured that I know a little bit about my hometown still learning a ton here though

Pink as in actual hop on/hop off, like tourist buses, or regular buses? The Original Tour does the cheapest open top hop on/off but they’re so much more expensive these days. DH and I used to do these when we first met, as DH was new to London, and we were both on limited budgets. These days, you can’t find a ticket much cheaper than £25/adult - that’s for one calendar day, you can pay more for 24 hours or for multiple days. Worth it still if you’re visiting on an occasion but a bit off putting for us now for just a casual couple of hours of exploring!

If you want regular bus routes, I have a couple of recommendations. The 11 goes Liverpool St-Victoria and passes St Paul’s, Trafalgar Square and Westminster. The 73 goes Stoke Newington-Victoria, if you get on at Victoria it soon goes past Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch. The 26 goes from Hackney Wick to Waterloo, if you get on somewhere a bit make central (like around Liverpool St/Bank) you then through the City, Fleet Street, last Royal Courts of Justice and then over the Thames with views of London Eye, South Bank, Parliament, a lot of prominent London skyline. The 26 is my favourite route! Sit on the top deck for good views then get off near South Bank to explore, take in the views. Plus Waterloo Bridge is immensely more bearable than Westminster Bridge, which is always packed with tourists and people selling London t shirts etc.

You can’t hop on and off in the typical sense, BUT, a bus trip is £1.50 for adults (bit complicated with kids depending on whether or not they get free travel etc), and you can make unlimited bus trips within 1 hour of the first trip. And £1.50 per 1 hour slot of trips isn’t too bad. Bus travel for the days caps at £4.50 on Oyster or contactless card. If you’re getting the tube as well travel zones 1-3 caps at £13.10 for the day (more for zones further out).

Appreciate you may also be a Londoner, like me, but figured I should share that anyway for anyone not local!

Some of our favourite things to do in South East (all child friendly)

Horniman Museum and Gardens, with great views from the bandstand. Farmers market on a Saturday.

Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs

Dulwich Picture Gallery, coupled with a visit to Dulwich Park

Brixton Market and Brixton Village for great food and shopping. Nearby Myatts Fields Park is a little gem with great playground and cafe

Peckham Rye Common has a fabulous new playground and the park behind is beautiful with a great walled garden, Japanese garden etc. Nearby Lordship Lane has lovely eating and shopping.

Up in Farringdon the Post Office Museum (and mail train) is really good and has a separate kids play area that you can book with or without a museum visit.

Kings Cross Granary Square and surrounds is worth a visit - especially on a nice day as the fountains are great.

Figured I’d add another tip, but more on a practical level for anyone thinking of visiting London and seeing the sites in case anyone on/watching this thread is in that category (I’m trying to repay for all of the great tips I’ve had!).

If you visit the Westminster area, unsurprisingly a rather popular tourist spot, a few top tips. Firstly, if you get off the tube at Westminster just go above ground straight out of the ticket gates, don’t bother with the subway. Yes, it’s technically quicker and avoids crossing roads with loads of other tourists, but, it’s super grimy. I work locally and whilst some die hard commuters still use the subway a lot of us just go street level. Plus it’s almost always filled with a tourist group waiting to use the toilets (top tip: just don’t use those toilets...).

If you’re looking for regular snacks/food without being ripped off, like a meal deal, go across Westminster bridge to St Thomas hospital. Might sound odd, but they have an M&S Food inside just after the Main Entrance. I’m worried that might bring some sort of wrath upon me by suggesting that so of course do avoid if you’re hideously contagious with something (and maybe don’t be sightseeing either)

There are some small shops and coffee shops in Westminster but when I saw small, I mean micro. The smallest Boots, Tesco and Caffè Nero I’ve ever seen. So they get busy really quickly. For a bit more variety for lunch, go just down the road to Strutton Ground, and for a really decent coffee go to St James Park tube to Caffe Grana. It’s also much nicer as a tube station to exit compared with Westminster, it’s a busy commuter stop but not filled with tourist groups. It’s about a 2min walk max to Westminster (Abbey, HoP etc), you can see the Abbey when you step out of the station (Broadway exit).

Basically my top tip is avoid everything in Westminster apart from the actual site you want to see

18 Folgate Street is brilliant, definitely pre baby though.

Thanks for the tip about Hackney Walk cubes I had to go to Hackney this lunchtime and spent a blissful 30 mins trying on lovely things at the Matches outlet managed to resist buying anything as I'm skint at the mo, but I'll be back!

I didn't notice The Naked Ladies or Nymphs at York House Gardens, Twickenham listed in the West London secret places. Many people who have lived locally for years don't know they are there. Cleaned up a bit now, they seemed particularly secret when overgrown with moss, ferns and algae.

When I think of hidden London places, Postman's Park near St. Pauls always springs to mind.

Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park is a must go in April/May. I never knew such colours existed.

Don't forget Bermondsey!!
In January my DSis and I went to the Tower of London by boat from London eye, then back on the boat to Bankside and a nice walk to the Oxo Tower for lunch. It was fabulous. We're both Londoners but hadn't done the Tower for a good few years. We meet regularly for a day out at a Gallery, museum or attraction followed by a good lunch. Next week we're getting the Clipper again to the O2 to go on the cable car (she hasn't been on it) and back, then Clipper again and lunch, probably at the Oxo Tower again as it's a favourite or maybe we'll stay on the Clipper and go to the Delaunay. It's a great regular treat. I will "watch" this thread.

I didn't notice The Naked Ladies or Nymphs at York House Gardens, Twickenham listed in the West London secret places. Many people who have lived locally for years don't know they are there. Cleaned up a bit now, they seemed particularly secret when overgrown with moss, ferns and algae.

I adore these. When I was a child they really did seem secret and mysterious.

Yay trending, I feel useful!