dh has bowed to mumsnet! He would like you to help plan our short break toLondon with dcs..

[JoyceDivision]

we travel on Tues to Brentwood, so will be there in the afternoon, we have tickets to harry potter at 3 on wed, and then all of thurs free, before travelling back home friday morning.

So, what is child friendly / exciting (cheap! FREE!!) that we could do?

DH just said 'ask mumsnet' so you are honoured!!

dcs are 8 and 5

So far we have:

British museum
changing of guard
Westminster cathedral has list at £2 to look out at top of spire rather than london eye as I think dd will be terrified so dh can zip up with ds.
Open top bus tour for dcs!
planning to get oyster or travel cards for tube travel

Any other good stuff, recommended eateries in london or at the brent cross side so we're not just in the hotel all appreciated

thanks in advance

Don't do the official bus tour, it's about £25 a ticket! Just take a normal bus or two through town for £1.50 each, kids free

I wouldn't do Westminster Cathedral as it's in Victoria which is a mess of roadworks at the moment without much else to do.

With that age DCs I would do St James Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalger Square , then walk up to Covent Garden and Leicester Square, China Town etc - all free.

You could then walk down to River Thames/Big Ben/London Eye. Nice place to sit and people watch and green space for DCs to run around.

ooh fab tips! Thank you!

Totally agree do not do the open bus tour. Much cheaper on normal buses

Firstly..brentwood is in Essex. Its around a 40 minute train journey to liverpool street station, where you can join a number of underground lines

The view from the top of st pauls catherdral is great if not doing westminster

Coram fields near Russell Square is good.

If it is raining the childrens museum in Bethnal Green is great (and free)

Natural history museum and science museum are both great for kids,you could follow with a walk through hyde park/ice cream by the Serpentine or a trip to Harrods food hall

Depending on the weather,and how good at walking the kids are,an option to see all the main sights could be

Central line underground to marble arch,walk through hyde park, past wellington arch, down constitution hill to buckingham palace to see if the queen is in. Then walk down the mall, past Clarence House and horse guards parade to Trafalgar Square. From there down whitehall past downing street and the war memorials, straight to houses of parilament/westminster abbey/big ben. Walk over westminster bridge and then along southbank where you have the eye, the globe, sealife centre, london bridge,tate modern,etc plus usually lots of street entertainment

You can walk along southbank to either waterloo or london bridge station,else you could even jump on a riverboat from westminster pier!

Phew- sounds long but i have done this on many a day (live in london)and means you can get photos of all they key attractions in one day (and for free!)

Ps the princess diana park in hyde park is great but go early as there are limited numbers and people queue up before opening. Nightmare on really sunny days if you aren't there first!!

British Museum is quite dull. The Science Museum is brill.

I really enjoyed the Bus Tour, but don't think your DC would at that age, and you spend a lot of time in traffic obviously with it being London. London Eye is dull. Really enjoyed the Boat Tour but not so sure kids would. I think there are Duck Tours (land and water) as well - I went on one in Dublin and it was hilarious.

Or you could easily spend half a day down the Embankment, there will be entertainment there being half term, and most likely things on at the Southbank Centre. Food there is pricey but everything else down there is free.

Depends on the weather really, plan a good and bad weather day and see how you go.

And have a look at the Time Out website as it lists a lot going on in London.

Haha connor great minds think alike!

The Monumnent is good and cheap if you're after a bird's eye view of London
I'd recommend getting out onto the river. Thames clipper is reasonably priced with an Oyster card or a day travelcard.

It's not cheap but for anyone else looking for ideas the Thames Rib voyages (speedboat) was brilliant and goes from the same pier as the London eye. Our dc are 9 and 12 but we saw some younger children doing it at the same time as us on another boat.

For food Abeno near the British museum is good for kids (Japanese pancakes, cooked on the hot plate in the table in front of you) and the pop up Wahaca on Southbank is also excellent.

Ooh, and London Walks are great.

Thanks everyone, dh is v impressed that you've all taken the timeto reply and be sol helpful.

There is lots of useful info which will be a big help.

Hope you all have a luffley rest of the bank hol!