Southwark/Vauxhall vs. Lancaster Gate/Hyde Park for family summer visit ?

[shwang]

We have 4 girls ages 6, 8, 11 and 17 and will be visiting London in summer 09. In June we will be renting a flat for 10 days in Little Venice. We return to London for 10 days in July and are deciding whether to rent a riverside holiday flat on ALbert Embankment between Vauxhall and Waterloo....or a holiday flat near Hyde Park on Lancaster Gate. The latter seems a more child-friendly location ,but it's significantly more expensive, and we'll have already been in North London in June. Is south-of-Thames a child-friendly area, close to the Eye and Tate ? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks so much !

south London is brilliant, and the riverside apartments are just great, also they have lots of great stuff to do in the area, nice parks, great culture and also within very close distance to central London so you wont have to pay the premium but still be close to the main attractions.

Thank you, lilysmummy (I love the name Lily). I also posted this question on the UK travel forum and several London moms (including 2 who live in the Southwark neighborhood) were vehement about the neighborhood being dull, sterile, not much for kids, and everything shuts down in the evening. Confusing ! This apartment is about halfway between Vauxhall tube and the London Eye--do you live near there ?