London

If you have read previous posts, you’ll know how much we both adore visiting London, and especially at Christmas. It has now become a tradition to have a Christmas weekend in London each year.

This was our first time visiting London since all of the Covid debacle and having a baby. So, we were beyond excited to share our joy for London with our little boy, and hope he loves it as much as we do!

We have done pretty much everything in London now, which means our visits going forward can be more relaxed and less planned (to some extent, because we are major planners).

Train journey

Visiting London for one night/two days, we found a great deal. Our train leaving at 7am going to London, and then leaving London to come home the day after at 3pm. It cost us around £120 – for the three of us going when all of the festivities have started, we didn’t think it was too bad.

Now, travelling with a one year old on a train I was dreading. But Dexter never ceases to amaze us. He was brilliant. Even whilst on the train going down to London it was announced that we would have a 42 minute delay due to track maintenance at one of our stops. He watched films, played and had some snacks.

Coming home from London, was slightly difficult because the train was jam-packed. And we have come to the realisation that trains have ZERO storage for prams, I mean, NONE what-so-ever. Dexter definitely was on that holiday come down when you want to just be home – so a few films, and Rich pacing up and down the train helped get us through the 2 hour journey.

I can happily say travelling by train was a success, hurrah!

Hotel

This year we stayed at the Grand Royal London Hyde Park. For one night in London, near Hyde Park cost us £123 (with £5 cashback). We originally looked at staying at a Premier Inn as we love their cheap and cheerful rooms, but the price was the same as a fancier hotel, so we thought…TREAT OURSELVES.

The location of the hotel was great for us, as we decided on the location after we planned what what activities we were doing, mainly being around Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Oxford Street. It all worked out perfect!

The hotel’s decor was definitely traditional, rather fancy in a different way. The room was perfect, although a little larger and no steps in the room would have made it more relaxing. But for what we needed, it was great, with a lovely little bathroom too!

Winter Wonderland

We have visited Winter Wonderland about 5 or 6 times now. We love a Christmas Market, and this one on Hyde Park is huuuge! This year you can’t just walk in like previous years. You have to book a time slot, costing us both £5 each to get in.

This new system in place has actually worked in our favor as we have been to Winter Wonderland all times of the day, and different stages of the Christmas period. So we had our timeslot booked for 10am to 1pm, on a Saturday. So busy enough for a little hustle and bustle, but not jam-packed enough to overwhelm the baby.

We probably didn’t spend as long as we liked, but it went noticeably cold, and started to drizzle, so we sat in shelter with some food in the German village, showed Dexter all of the flashing lights and rides, then browsed the stalls – getting Dexter a London bauble to add to our Christmas Tree.

Hard Rock Hotel

If you worry about crowds, Covid or not, 10am is probably the best time to visit, but it does probably have the least Christmassy atmosphere.

We decided that after Winter Wonderland we would pop by the amazing Hard Rock Hotel for a hot drink, and let Dexter stretch his legs and run around. He definitely did run around, haha!

If you are visiting London, are are heading towards Marble Arch way – definitely pay this hotel lobby a visit. Maybe it is because we are massive Hard Rock fans, but, It feels so Christmassy and just has a general lovely vibe about it. So, stopping by for some hot drinks was the perfect pit stop.

Disney store

Now we all must be very aware of the sad news of all of the Disney Stores closing in the UK. Leaving the only one in the UK to be left open in London, on Oxford Street. Every time in London, we always visit this shop, as we do everywhere. But this one is a beautiful shop, with so much going on.

I expected to go in, buy a new bauble then come out. But I didn’t because the queues were both so long – I think Disney have ruined this for themselves now. But we did actually have a very magical moment, and moments like this is why the Disney stores should NEVER have closed down. On the ground floor was a huge Buzz and Woody statue amongst Toy Story toys (Dexter is currently obsessed, and I don’t think obsessed is the right word for it). He spot the statues, and he just instantly wanted to play with them, trying to press buttons and pull Woody’s hat. Imagine what he will be like when he actually gets to meet Buzz and Woody, eep!

Sophie Tea Art Gallary

I have been following Sophie Tea on Instagram for quite a few years now. And now with her having an Art Gallery on Carnaby Street we had to visit. Sophie is a young artist that paints some beautiful and unique pieces, that I definitely felt she deserved our time as a family to call by her store, and to see what I have been following in real life.

Walking into the gallary, you can definitely tell she has poured her heart and soul into this, and it oozes her personality – it is so bright and vibrant. It is totally family friendly, we visited with a pram, but it was empty that we could totally maneuver around inside.

If you want to buy any merch, there are tote bags and hoodies to buy, and free Newspapers that are actually so cool!

Third Man Records

Another cool place we visited was the new Third Man Records shop, right near Carnaby street. For those who don’t know, Third Man Records is a record label created by the amazingly talented Jack White (of which, Rich is a massive fan of). This shop is the first store outside of the USA (Nashville, Tennessee and Detroit).

Having visited now, it is actually really cool, it think if you stripped out any of the Third Man Records branding out of it, you would know Jack White was the person behind it. It is over two floors, with a retail shop on the top floor – selling records, CDs, clothing, guitar straps Trinkets like matches and even a recording booth – you pay £15, to record 2 and a half minutes that is then put onto a record! Sadly it wasn’t working on our visit, next time we are in London, it will be the first thing that we do! Then on the second floor is a music venue with a few more unique touches like a Literarium that after inserting tokens (for £5) you receive a total random book (which is a Christmas present for Rich, sssh!).

For a shop, it is so unique and cool. If you are around, call by even if it isn’t your thing, I guarantee you will love it.

Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly

Last time we visited Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly Circus, we just had a walk around the restaurant and shop. This time we are stopping by for food! We booked a table prior to arriving, as most HRC’s get pretty busy and booked up, but this one is relatively new, is in London, and is in Piccadilly Circus. Even as a HRC member I doubt we would be able to walk in.

I don’t really have to say much on the HRC front because food is always delicious, and service is spot on. But as a whole on this Hard Rock in particular, it is huge. Having only seen the shop which is pretty substantial in comparison to other, I should have know this was going to be a good one.

We were sat next to Adam Slack (The Struts) guitar – we are big fans of The Struts, I love seeing who we have been sat next to, and then exploring the restaurant to see what other amazing pieces of history they have.

Leicester Square

The second Christmas market we visited for the day was at Leicester Square. We’re we were greeted by the beautiful Mary Poppins statue right at the entrance.

At the end of the day, Christmas markets are pretty much a copy and paste job of the next one – but that doesn’t stop you from feels Christmassy. So we browsed the stalls, before heading out trying to stop the statues dotted around Leicester square. We also spotted Don from Singing in the Rain, Mr Bean and then Batman (you can find him on top of the Odeon building).

We spotted only four statues this time, as with the sheer amount of people and the Christmas markets in place it did make it harder. So you can also find Harry Potter, Paddington Bear, Laurel and Hardy, Wonder Woman, Charlie Chaplin and Bugs Bunny.

Covent Garden

Once you have been to one Christmas market, I just feel you can’t get enough of them. So when we done everything we wanted to do on our first day, we realised we still had plenty of time to fit in more activities before we head back to our hotel. So what was one more Christmas market, hey? So we walked over to Covent garden to walk around the markets, and to see the Frozen display.

I always forget how beautiful Covent Garden is. Forget Christmas decorations, the area is stunning, it always has been. So any excuse to visit over the festive period. It does feel even more busy this time of year – but that is all part of the fun isn’t it?

As Frozen 2 fans, and Dexter loving Olaf, this ran perfectly into our fun schedule for the weekend. As Frozen is currently on in the West End, some Disney magic has be thrown into Convent Garden, in celebrating for it, I assume? It is on from the November 9th to January 3rd 2022. Every hour from 12pm to 7pm you can see all of the snowy Christmas’ trees do a little something cute to a rendition of Let It go and there is also a neon installation Elsa style.

Oxford Street

We love walking down Oxford Street, and at Christmas it is a beautiful walk.

The Christmas lights are another level. So it is a good job we like walking it, as we walked all the way from Covent Garden, down Oxford Street to our hotel near Kensington Gardens!

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Gardens was a 12 minute walk from our hotel. It was perfect an an early morning, when the city was waking up to take the baby so he could have a good run around. After a quick google search, I found that we could visit the Diana Memorial Playground, Peter Pan statue and Elfin Oak.

Our hotel was right at Kensington Gardens, so we saved this until the morning, as we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to let the baby run around before another sight seeing day. So the baby was up at half 5, so we were up and out by half 6 totally forgetting it is winter, and so dark in the mornings.

We decided to still venture to wards the park, albeit dark and cold. It turned into a lovely walk near the lake, seeing Kensington palace, the playground etc. It was too cold to let the baby out of his snuggly warm pram, but I think he just loved watching runners pass us by and to just admire the sunrise within the park – as did we. It was so beautiful on reflection.

River Thames

As we were up so early, and it being a Sunday morning. We decided to go sight seeing while London was absolutely empty and closed. So, we headed over to show Dexter Big Ben, Parliament, St Paul’s, London Eye, River Thames, you know, all of the free things that are always open for your eyes.

It was crazy, how empty everywhere was, it was pre 8am but still – you expect the capital city to still be slightly busy. It was a dream though, it was a lovely, chilled and chilly walk.

After a good hour or so walk along the Thames, we got a quick Starbucks, and planned out next attraction for the baby.

Kings Cross Station

So as London started to wake up, far too late for our likings. We headed over to Kings Cross Station, for nothing in particular apart from the Harry Potter shop. There is just something so amazing about this station, maybe because of Harry Potter, but it is so grand and pretty.

We thought we would call by the Harry Potter shop, we love Harry Potter and are avid Hufflepuff’s and hope Dexter will share our love one day!

If you are a Harry Potter fan, head over to this station as the Harry Potter shops makes me feel like I am back in the Wizarding World in Florida. It has everything you could want, from chocolate frogs, to wands, to jumpers, to key rings.

Outside of the shop you will always see a queue that is for a photo opportunity to have your photo taken with a trolley going into the side of the wall…standard.

Camden Market

We always forget how much we adore Camden Market. It is a perfect location to be spoilt for choice for food. The food variety is so diverse and spectacular.

There is also a wide range of shops to visit from second hand clothing to art, home decorations to London souvenirs.

They have a black and white retro photo booth that we used a couple years back, but this time got some new photos with the baby.

Camden is definitely a cool place to be, you could spend hours and hours here if you wanted to browse every shop and stall.

The Postal Museum

This was a last minute decision to do this, as we weren’t sure we would have enough time and if it was worth the trek over to this part of London, it definitely was.

It probably doesn’t sound that good but honestly, it was great. The Postal Museum is located about a 20 minute walk from Kings Cross, and has two locations. You have The Postal Museum (they advise to do this last) where you can find the museum, shop, cafe, indoor and outdoor seating and toilets. Then you have the Mail Rail (roughly a 2 minute walk down the road), this is super cool, so there is also a shop here, but you visit here for the train ride and exhibition.

The train ride, is a ride through the hidden tunnels. The ride is approx 15 to 20 minutes long, in a very confined train, as it has to fit through the narrow tunnels. It takes you on a journey through the industrial heritage of the postal service, actually so interesting. You learn so much, and have two stops were there is a visual display for you to watch (ours had a festive twist on it, which was cute).

If you plan on visiting, make sure you click through to the website to see all of the terms and conditions to make sure you are fit for this ride. If you suffer with claustrophobia, it probably isn’t best. Tickets are to be booked in advance and are £16 for adults and £11 for children and free for under 3’s. Tickets include the train ride, entry in to the exhibition and access into the museum for a year.

Dexter absolutely loved it. A little anxious how he would be on the train ride with it having little space, but he loved it, and loved watching the visuals. It is a perfect hour or so for children.

London Underground

We planned not to use the underground as much as normal as they idea of using it with a one year old just seemed to scary. But we managed perfectly fine by jumping on and off the tube during the quiet hours. The hardest thing about the tube is having a pram, we ended up just carrying the baby in his pram up and down the stairs, as some times this was the only option. Or, it was just the quickest option. And if you holiday like us, time is precious. Carrying the pram wasn’t the end of the world. We done it, it made things easier for us.

Overall

48 hours in London, 38000+ steps with a one year old during the festive period. Felt quite daunting, but was a success! It wasn’t no where near as hard as we thought it would be, walking the busy London streets like Oxford Street, or jumping a tube (although they could do with more pram/disability access), we managed carrying the pram up and down the steps.

London is definitely a place we will visit more and more now, knowing we can do it, and the baby wasn’t fazed by the sheer amount of people. We love London, and now we have the perfect excuse to keep coming back to show our little boy.