Enjoying England for a year!
Jul 27th, 2016, 12:20 PM
#21
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 23,813
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
oh I envy you! We were in London for four months in 2010 and loved every minute of it. In fact, we're leaving for a London/Edinburgh trip in a couple of weeks but just for two weeks this time.
Has anyone mentioned London Walks? (I can't seem to post links but try walks dot com).
We did many of them -- interesting, inexpensive, knowledgeable guides, fun.
The kids would probably enjoy the London Eye. I was a little disappointed because the cars were so stable (better for the adults, I think) but the view is great. (try londoneye dot com)
We also loved Borough Market -- have lunch there and buy food to take home, and thought Camden Market was lots of fun. Probably more fun for then kids than Covent Garden, though that's very nice. From Camden Market you can take a gondola ride down the canals. If fact, if you google Top Twelve London Markets, you'll get a great list.
And of course the kids will enjoy the top deck of the double-decker buses.
All of the museums have good cafes where the prices are reasonable and the one at the V&A is particularly beautiful. There are free concerts in a lot of places but the one I can remember off-hand is St. Martin-In-The-Field.
What time of year will you be in London and whereabouts are you staying?
Has anyone mentioned London Walks? (I can't seem to post links but try walks dot com).
We did many of them -- interesting, inexpensive, knowledgeable guides, fun.
The kids would probably enjoy the London Eye. I was a little disappointed because the cars were so stable (better for the adults, I think) but the view is great. (try londoneye dot com)
We also loved Borough Market -- have lunch there and buy food to take home, and thought Camden Market was lots of fun. Probably more fun for then kids than Covent Garden, though that's very nice. From Camden Market you can take a gondola ride down the canals. If fact, if you google Top Twelve London Markets, you'll get a great list.
And of course the kids will enjoy the top deck of the double-decker buses.
All of the museums have good cafes where the prices are reasonable and the one at the V&A is particularly beautiful. There are free concerts in a lot of places but the one I can remember off-hand is St. Martin-In-The-Field.
What time of year will you be in London and whereabouts are you staying?
Jul 27th, 2016, 02:01 PM
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks everyone!!a goldmine of information, I could not have found on any guide book.
flanneruk,I will look up the websites mentioned..and the royal palaces membership will be really useful for repeat visits with visiting family and friends during the year..need to figure out which membership(s) will fit us best.
janisj , With hubby working and only able to go site seeing during the weekend..I may opt out of the 2for1 offers for the moment and focus more on walks, free museums and markets with the kids ..hopefully the weather will hold..but will keep the paper travel cards in mind..
patricklondon, the girls are game for 2-3 hours of walking..even more if there are a couple of ice cream stops
and the timeout walking guides did look great..so maybe I'll pick that up for a start and refer the websites mentioned here as well..
dotheboyshall, will be book marking your links..thnx!
goddesstogo , walks with the London walks and trips to the markets are top on the list...
flanneruk,I will look up the websites mentioned..and the royal palaces membership will be really useful for repeat visits with visiting family and friends during the year..need to figure out which membership(s) will fit us best.
janisj , With hubby working and only able to go site seeing during the weekend..I may opt out of the 2for1 offers for the moment and focus more on walks, free museums and markets with the kids ..hopefully the weather will hold..but will keep the paper travel cards in mind..
patricklondon, the girls are game for 2-3 hours of walking..even more if there are a couple of ice cream stops
and the timeout walking guides did look great..so maybe I'll pick that up for a start and refer the websites mentioned here as well..dotheboyshall, will be book marking your links..thnx!
goddesstogo , walks with the London walks and trips to the markets are top on the list...
Jul 27th, 2016, 02:59 PM
#24
>>where in Surrey are you going to be when you leave London?<<
Good question -- if near to a station (and MANY places are) you can easily pop into London any time during your year. So explore a lot now but don't run yourselves ragged just to get to the major sites.
Good question -- if near to a station (and MANY places are) you can easily pop into London any time during your year. So explore a lot now but don't run yourselves ragged just to get to the major sites.
Jul 27th, 2016, 03:23 PM
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Epsom..And definitely taking it very very easy.. hoping to only go out sight seeing 2 days a week..may be only for a couple of hours only..just soaking in the atmosphere than major sight seeing really..but kids are keen to get outdoors..
)
Jul 27th, 2016, 11:20 PM
#28
"hopefully the weather will hold"
oh boy, are you in for a surprise, as flanner may well say, "no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing".
though to be fair London and to a large extend Surrey is a pretty dry part of the UK
oh boy, are you in for a surprise, as flanner may well say, "no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing".
though to be fair London and to a large extend Surrey is a pretty dry part of the UK
Jul 28th, 2016, 07:58 AM
#31
Also hooded waterproof jackets and good umbrellas. Maybe rain pants.
Look here for walks where you'll be staying:
http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
Bear in mind that there is much, much more public access to private land in the UK than in the US.
Look here for walks where you'll be staying:
http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
Bear in mind that there is much, much more public access to private land in the UK than in the US.
Jul 28th, 2016, 12:08 PM
#32
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Other thoughts on walking:
- London itself is fantastic. Its extraordinary green-ness plus its transport system plus its river and canal paths make amazing things possible: you can walk from Canary Wharf to practically anywhere in Britain without mixing with traffic.
There are loads of London-specific walk books (I used Andrew Duncan's Walking London for years), mostly with shorter walks than Ramblers go in for: but it's probably better to browse the selection in a really good bookshop. Waterstone's in Piccadilly has dozens, as has Foyle's in Charing X Rd and Stanfords in Covent Garden to a lesser extent: I'd get one majoring on our big parks, semi-rural neighbourhoods and the footpaths linking them and one just guiding you round alleys and twittens in the older parts of the centre
- Once settled. Every newsagent and small bookshop (they're still there) in suburbia has a handful of different titles called something like "20 nice walks round here". They all carry a different selection of walks within 10 miles or so of where you are.
- More widely. The Ramblers Org is mostly about Serious Walking. Pathfinder books tick many boxes for ordinary mortals (like size, shape, convenience and child-friendliness). But a great project for a bright 9 yo is to get a 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map centred on your new house (from the OS site or from specialist retailers like Stanfords), and use it to teach him/her to be your guide.
Anywhere that's not central London will have dozens of public footpaths - and believe me, at 9 learning to decode the map centred on your house transforms your life. The discovery of how much information can be crammed into a piece of paper will be the perfect antidote to Bleeding Pokemon.
At that point, you can decide your own walks. Before you know where you are, you'll have the complete OS set for SE England.
- London itself is fantastic. Its extraordinary green-ness plus its transport system plus its river and canal paths make amazing things possible: you can walk from Canary Wharf to practically anywhere in Britain without mixing with traffic.
There are loads of London-specific walk books (I used Andrew Duncan's Walking London for years), mostly with shorter walks than Ramblers go in for: but it's probably better to browse the selection in a really good bookshop. Waterstone's in Piccadilly has dozens, as has Foyle's in Charing X Rd and Stanfords in Covent Garden to a lesser extent: I'd get one majoring on our big parks, semi-rural neighbourhoods and the footpaths linking them and one just guiding you round alleys and twittens in the older parts of the centre
- Once settled. Every newsagent and small bookshop (they're still there) in suburbia has a handful of different titles called something like "20 nice walks round here". They all carry a different selection of walks within 10 miles or so of where you are.
- More widely. The Ramblers Org is mostly about Serious Walking. Pathfinder books tick many boxes for ordinary mortals (like size, shape, convenience and child-friendliness). But a great project for a bright 9 yo is to get a 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map centred on your new house (from the OS site or from specialist retailers like Stanfords), and use it to teach him/her to be your guide.
Anywhere that's not central London will have dozens of public footpaths - and believe me, at 9 learning to decode the map centred on your house transforms your life. The discovery of how much information can be crammed into a piece of paper will be the perfect antidote to Bleeding Pokemon.
At that point, you can decide your own walks. Before you know where you are, you'll have the complete OS set for SE England.
Jul 29th, 2016, 12:29 AM
#38
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,924
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From Epson you will have plenty of local walks to choose from. An obvious one would be Box Hill (I think there's a direct bus from Epsom), but there's quite a variety of walks in the Surrey hill and heathland areas.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/list...alks-in-surrey
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/list...alks-in-surrey
Jul 29th, 2016, 01:04 AM
#39
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks again for the wonderful information!!
spent a wonderful day yesterday starting at Big Ben..viewing the Horse guard change ..running around in St James park, looking at the ducks(must take bread next time), walking past Buckingham palace, train to Battersea park for a late picnic lunch and adventure playground time (the free kids section)..with only a few drizzles in the late afternoon..
brilliant day spent outdoors in the beautiful parks in London!!
spent a wonderful day yesterday starting at Big Ben..viewing the Horse guard change ..running around in St James park, looking at the ducks(must take bread next time), walking past Buckingham palace, train to Battersea park for a late picnic lunch and adventure playground time (the free kids section)..with only a few drizzles in the late afternoon..
brilliant day spent outdoors in the beautiful parks in London!!
