The Littles Go To London

I took the kids up to London for a long weekend during the half term holiday. It seems that I am the type of parent that never reads those bits of paper that come home in their book bag, as I did not know that Autumn half term this year is two weeks. A very strange notion that kids should have one week less of summer holidays and one week more of autumn holidays instead. I cannot see the logic myself.

Anyway, I thought some adventures in London town would be a good distraction from the awful weather, and going away on holiday somewhere hotter is not really an option at the moment.

Here are few pictures from our trip...

This time of the year is quite spectacular in London though. We went for a run about in the Southbank Centre which has amazing carpeted foyers overlooking the Thames after the train trip.
Next day we went to Bethnal Green...

It was a bit too dark in Museum of Childhood to take photos, but basically my son thought it was a huge shop and that there was the prospect of me buying him a vintage pedal car he pointed out. Explain that to a three year old.

The kids always enjoy the shops on Tottenham Court Road though thankfully, especially the huge Paperchase which has an amazing art department upstairs, but sadly the cafe has closed. He bought a motocross bike from the toy shop which came with a tiny screwdriver to build it, that kept him happy and he took everywhere with him.

This is Hatton Garden, London's jewellery quarter (sadly being redeveloped as offices and posh flats thanks to Crossrail).

We went all the way to the end of the Central Line, to Ealing to visit Pitzhanger Manor. I went there recetly to see the Es Devlin exhibt and I thought they'd like the park and playground there too.

Sir John Soane was a famous architect in the Regency masa, and his main house in London is in Lincoln's Inn Fields which is very near to our workshop. It is an amazing museum now, so I was curious about this place which at the time would have been his country house. It has recently been completely renovated with handpainted walls which are mind blowing.

That wallpaper is all handpainted too, I can't really get my head around the amout of work that was involved.

The kids just liked the bricks.

Pehr was really into her 'spot the difference' book.

We were pretty lucky to get a gap in the wet weather to explore the park. The playground was a big hit.

By popular demand, Tate Modern again...

A very hypnotic film about ants.

Pehr - 'I bet I could do a better snail than that'
Leify - 'and me too'.

Thanks for having us London!