If you're a city parent here in London or are about to become a city parent in the big smoke there are a few things for sure that you will get to know pretty quickly. Firstly, just how many attractions are free in London; from amazing museums such as the Natural History Museum to free events scattered across the city. Though London is bustling with fantastic theatre, cafes, restaurants and shops, as a parent you will come to be familiar with places where you are free to run wild with your children, places where you can kick off your shoes, roll out a picnic rug, fly a kite, dip your toes into cool water and just breath.
Summer in the City offers so much and here with a guide to London parks and open spaces you can get some outdoor living and feel as though you've had a mini holiday and then hop on the no9 bus, sitting at the top for some great views on the way home.
With so many open spaces to write about we've had to divide this into 2 parts. Here is part one of our guide to London Life in The Parks.
I'm a little bias when it comes to Battersea Parkas this is the park where I have spent most of my parenting days. My love of the park first began when I picniced there with my boyfriend, steeling kisses in the summer sunshine and dreaming of our future together. He later became my husband and now we spend endless days playing with our children in the park where we fell in love. Our children took their first steps here, learned to climb trees and had birthday party picnics with puppeteers. It has become our garden, that open space where we ride bikes, scoot, roller skate and run free.
Triphunter has the park listed as no3 in its 'top ten places in the world to take a nap', but don't let that fool you. Yes it's a quiet park with perfect shady places for picnics but there's also an adventure playground a zooand fountains where children run up against the edge to get drenched in the heat of the day. Its the park where Cbeebies filmed their summer song too:
Battersea park has a lot to offer and is the only park that runs alongside the Thames. At sunrise a gong is sounded at the peace pagoda, which no doubt wakes a few of the animals in the nearbyChildren's zoo. There is a beautiful quiet and almost secret spot tucked away hidden behind the trees known as the Old English Garden, its well worth discovering it for yourself and taking in the scents of the beautiful flowers and plants or to lie back on a bench and recover from an intrepid journey across the boating lake.
There are two cafes - though I cannot boast that either does particularly great food but good enough for a bite if you've not brought some with you. It is always worth checking whats on at the Pumphouse Art Gallery and of course the children will be happy to discover not one but two playgrounds, with the adventure playground having a bouncy castle as well as rope slides and those-nerve-wracking-for-parents-thrilling-for-kids frames, slides and pulleys!
The park is steeped in history and has some of London's most famous landmarks such as Albert Bridge, Battersea Power Station and Battersea Dogs Home. Countless films and tv series are constantly filmed here in this little piece of green heaven that covers 200 acres.
So whether you want to picnic, visit the zoo, hire a bike, take a boat ride across the lake, visit the gallery, discover a new playground, discover statues by Henry Moore, Eric Kennington or the brown dog statue by Nicola Hicks, if you want to try to get the island in the lake, spot herons, climb craggy rocks or just quite simply soak up the summer sun. I highly recommend this gem.
Where: On the south bank of the river Thames opposite Chelsea.
Green park is the smallest of the Royal Parks but is a welcome haven in central London. Covering 47 acres of central London space it is bordered by Piccadilly, Constitution Hill and Queens walk as well as it's neighbouring St James's Park and of course most famously Buckingham Palace.
Formerly known as Upper St James's, by the mid 18th century the name was changed to that of Green park. True or not it is believed that the parks name may have come to be from a tale in which King Charles IIpicked flowers to give to another woman, his wife then ordered every flower to be pulled up and no more flowers were to be planted. Though the park has no flower beds it does have some of Britain's rarest native timber trees: the black poplar.
Children will be delighted to know that this is a place that has not only seen duels and fireworks but also the place where Pongo and Purdy first meet in the 1996 film 101 dalmatians. They might be pretty intrigued to know that the Tyburn (a stream) runs underneath it too!
So, if the Queen forgets you were coming round for afternoon tea then the royal soil of Green Park is a great alternative spot to sit and eat your sandwiches instead. Surprisingly quiet for its central location its a place to remember to stop and pause, hire a deck chair and watch the working world go by. So if you're nearby, perhaps having seen the change of the guardor having visited The Flemming Collectionpause for a while in Green Park and enjoy the peace and quiet in the centre of the city.
Where: South end of The Mall bordering Constitution Hill and Piccadilly. Green Park sits between Hyde park and St James Park.
With breathtaking views and rambling hills this feels like a wild place tamed for our enjoyment. From the top of the hill it is quite easy to feel as though you were standing on the edge of the world. Looking across and into the city with its increasingly changing landscape it is a welcome view; leaving the busy bustling city behind for some wide open space.
Greenwich park has lots to offer, you can climb the hill to reach the Observatory or just to roll back down again! On the lower level of the park there is children's playground and on a warm day children will love to walk through the little man-made stream. Visit the national maritime museum, the weekend market and Cutty Sark. If its a windy day you're sure to see lots of kites flying with such wide open spaces it really is the best place to send kites soaring up to the clouds.
Greenwich is the place where time begins but its also a place where time slows down for a leisurely picnic in the warm summer air. You can picnic in the kings 'back garden' with one foot in each hemisphere, now what sounds more lovely than that on a summers day.
It is easy to see why Greenwich Park has become part of the World Heritage Site. Its a great place to spend a day, learn about what lies above us in the sky at the obervatory, spend some pocket money at the market and lie back and watch the clouds roll by.
I would recommend travelling there by boat to make it an even more memorable day. There are lots of places along the Thames where you can hop on board and sail your way down.You can take a riverboat to Greenwich Pier from Westminster, Embankment or Tower Piers.
Where: Sitting on the south east side of the Thames opposite the isle of dogs.
I'm thrilled to have recently received a card from Illustration Cupboard (a place I shared with you here) for the Brian Wildsmith exhibition. He is one of the most memorable and most favourite artists from my childhood (peek at Granny's Bookcase). It's been a pleasure to share with my boys some of my well-loved Brian Wildsmith illustrated tales. And now...his work is on show.
Illustration Cupboard will showcase some original paintings and black ink graphic artwork too, some of which are so wild and detailed. It sees the first showing of Brian Wildsmith's costume designs for The Blue Bird. So exciting...A special trip to London is in order.
There has been a lot of focus of 'now and then' in the press in lieu of the upcoming Jubilee here in the UK and I've been taking a look back at the clothes children have worn over the past 60 years. The shapes, the colour and the classics of a generation now grown up. There has been a great and welcome shift in the design of children's clothes and now we see clothing designed for children, created with the child's perspective of life they're fun, free flowing and imaginative.
Since beginning Sisters Guild I've become so much more aware of the trends and styles of children's clothing and as a mother with a passion for great design I've begun to understand what is important about childrens clothing. Searching for the very best unique designers and offering them to you here in the boutique, we constantly seek the classics of this new blossoming generation, predicting the shapes and colours that children and parents alike will both love, pieces hard to find on the highstreet, quirky, colourful, playful, pieces that mark the style, the era of a generation in bloom.
We don't like to think of our clothing range as 'fashion' we try to look at it as 'dressing up' its not about being on trend when you're a child but rather being you. It's about dressing up to who you are, be it lollipop shorts,bright festival dresses, soft rompers for doing just that.. romping around the big outdoors with no care in the world, they can be the girliest of girly dresses perfect for parties or picnics with bears and fit for a queen, pieces that make you feel unique, special, beautiful and free, if a child wants to fly you can make them fabric wings, if they want to climb cover their knees, if they want to dance give them a skirt that twirls as much as they could imagine. Our dressing rooms are about dressing to who you are and who you can be.
We've looked back at trends of the past; the clothes our mothers wore as children, the clothes we wore as we were growing up and now we're enjoying the now. A freer generation, a brighter and more colourful time and as we ready ourselves for deciding upon our SS13 range we look forward to discovering even more of the quirky and classic for the new generation in the hope that some of those pieces will become part play, part memories of your children's childhood and perhaps handed down to the next. Because here at Sisters Guild we believe in longevity, we believe that tomorrow is forever and childhood should last a lifetime.
We revisited a childhood love of paper dressing up dolls and created our very own from the SS12 collection here in our dressing rooms because though things change there's comfort in continuity.
So here's to our blossoming generation.
I wonder who they'll be today and all the tomorrows after
This is part of 'The Art of Living' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'. Check out our Summer Fun too with 100 ideas for fun games and play this summer. If you want to see our latest loves take a look here.
Want to take a look behind the scenes of Sisters Guild? Take a look at our A-Z here where we share a sentimental journey through family life.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletter to receive offers and news and find out the about our new collections sign up below.
Blogging creates a global neighbourhood, an online community of ideas, inspiration, stories and experiences. Writing our own blog has let us be a part of this international community. We have learnt so much since we first began thanks to all of you, your blogs, your comments and your stories and we hope you have enjoyed stopping by to have a read of ours. Now, we want to discover more! We want to create a map of local love, to share this with you and invite you to share yours with us as we go on a journey with a new weekly series: Around the world with You.
So let's make a map, an atlas of our favourite places, be it your favourite place to sit, a little unknown park, a place with a view, grannies garden, a museum, a shop window, a favourite cake shop you enjoy with your children. Whatever, wherever your favourite place is we want to pin it on our map.
Share your favourite spot with us. Tell your story. Send us a picture. We will create a map of all the places we receive. Giving each one a weekly spot here where we share it with all of you.
Spread the word. Tweet. Link to you blog. Blog this. Email to your friends. Put your place on the map. Oh and for those of you we already know....look out for your inbox we're emailing you now!
Email us your place to: info@sistersguild.com
So, put your place upon the map and shout a big 'Hello'
Imagine all the people all the places we could know
This is part of 'The Art of Living' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'. Check out our Summer Fun too with 100 ideas for fun games and play this summer. If you want to see our latest loves take a look here.
Want to take a look behind the scenes of Sisters Guild? Take a look at our A-Z here where we share a sentimental journey through family life.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletter to receive offers and news and find out the about our new collections sign up below.
Yes, its that time of year when we start to think about the summer festivals. We grew up with countless as did many of our generation. Festivals from the annual trip to Glastonbury to some very early Stonehenge festivals and all that was in between. With so many childhood memories of the elaborate and creative events that took place rain or shine, we look foward to this time of year every summer. The Festival season is about to begin!
These days there are festivals I could only have dreamt of as a child and with so much to offer children there are many you can enjoy as a family together.
So if you've not got any tickets booked yet take a look at our pick of the best family friendly festivals where children can join in the wild rumpous, the enormous creativity and enjoy all the amazing fun that's on offer.
The Spellbound Forest
19th & 20th May 2012 Delamere Forest Cheshire
Strictly speaking this is not a festival but we couldn't write this list without this intriguing theatrical event. The Spellbound Forest promises to be an enchanting experience and one to begin this years summer events.
"Wild Rumpus & the Forestry Commission invite you and your family to step into The Spellbound Forest. Twisting paths through the forest tell the twisting tales of English Fairy Tales through theatrical performance, music, visual art and dance. From the youngest to the oldest member of your family, lose yourself in the enchanted world of fairy tales, where men
can become birds, tears become rivers, and children whirl at the elven ball. The Spellbound Forest won’t just tell tales though, we will create our own new English Fairytale, dance our own new dance, and sculpt a marvellous creation to live in the forest long after the magic has faded.
You know the stories of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but let us introduce you to the English Fairy Tales that are waiting in the Spellbound Forest for you to wake them up."
This is certainly going to be a magical event where we will begin to believe in fairy tales again.
Be sure to take a look at the News Section where you'll find some travel activity packs (great for the train ride) and a wonderful 'how to' for an origami bird which you can bring with you to hang in the trees of the spellbound forest adding to 'the glorious flock of birds on the Earl Mar's daughters pathway.
Lollibop
17th, 18th & 19th August 2012 Regents Park London
Lollibop is a great family festival based in Regents Park. Perfect for the camping shy there's a host of free activities, performances and bands to entertain the under 10's. Now going into its 3rd year in which last year saw Rastamouse! Its a big party for little people with a programme that will ensure everyone has a great time.
This year alongside many of the characters from cbeebies and channel 5's milkshake show doing a whole lot of dancing and bubble blowing, you'll find The Gruffalo, science museum workshops and Shrek the musical.
Camp Bestival is perhaps the most talked about, the best loved and most fondly remembered of all the festivals each year. Every year it receives rave reviews from the press (Catherine Nelson at the Guardian wrote a great review last year,) In a beautiful setting with Lulworth Castle providing the backdrop, an unmissable line up of amazing talent and more mind-blowing activities than a child could dream of the only people enjoying the banished bedtimes and the giant dressing up boxes are the parents!
This is the best it gets and each year it gets better!
Wychwood music festival 8th - 10th June Cheltenham
Nominated best children's festival 6 years in a row Wychwood Festival has to be doing a whole lot of something right. With more than 100 activities for children from an All Age Circus Workshop presented by Solo Circus , music workshops and a family theatre this is a boutique festival with an impressive line up. Waterstones is sponsoring the Children's Literature festival, an integral part of the festival, and you can visit the Roald Dahl Museum tent and perhaps get a chance to experience some of the variety of author events programmed.
With big music names like The Saw Doctors, Duke Special, the Cuban brothers, James and Nina and the Neurons there's a lot to get excited about. So why not try out a yurt or a tepee for a few days of summer fun with the family at the Wychwood Music Festival.
A festival with its own lakeside spa? Oh how all the years gone by I'd wished for this!
The Wilderness Festival is a relatively new festival that seems to have taken the magic of all those gone by and put it together in a breathtaking location adding their unique sprinkle of wonder and charm . Defined by its passions it brings together a true celebration of the arts from spectacular theatre and Opera, more children's activities than any child or parent could wish for, and debates and talk. There's a strong emphasis on art and crafts too. But the Wilderness festival is also a celebration of the outdoors, with its picturesque location of wild meadows, lakes, and trees you'll discover horse riding, foraging, boating and fly-fishing, wild swimming and even hot tubs!
If to celebrate artistic excellence also extends to dining then the Wilderness Festival has captured this completely. You'll discover 300 seat long banqueting tables and fine dining tents from favourite restaurateurs.
You can sit with family and foreigner and enjoy evenings of gastronomic delights under the stars.
There is so much on offer, so many ways in which this festival will capture your heart and have you believing in the magical wisdom of the generations before us that promoted love, peace and harmony only this is the counterpart to the hedonistic past, a romantic, indulgent discovery that keeps its feet firmly on the meadow ground. The genius behind this all Tim Harvey, Jim Whewell and Jo Vidler have given us the dream festival and boy I can't wait!
If these pictures can't do it justice take a look at the video below. It'll have you instantly clicking through to book tickets! The only problem is that with such a packed programme of activities and experiences you'll be wishing it could last forever.
Just So Festival 17th - 19th August Rode Hall Parkland Cheshire
Just so festival says 'take your family on a journey of the imagination' and this is precisely what the festival does. A festival created for families and children it is the boutique sister of a bygone Glastonbury. With magic discover in the beautiful wondrous woodlands and landscape there's music, workshops and performances.
You'll discover ballet and modern jive, belly dancing and a retro disco in the Jitterbug area, Games, stories, juggling and trapeze in the Lazy Days, you can step inside NowHereNow, a place of illusion where nothing is quite as it seems, A zone for the Wild Things is where you can join the rumpous, and a peekaboo area for the very young, and, if it isn;t in Nowherenow, and it isn'y away with fairies. If, in Facat, it is no where else, then it must be Elsehwere!
When legs get weary at the end of the day you can grab a little wooden cart to travel little sleepy heads under the and through the evening's magic. There are yurts to keep you cozy under the starlit sky and delicous dining too!
With this weekend long festival you can expect a mix of magic that will see you wanting to return year after year and long after the children have grown up.
There we have it. Something for everyone, every age.
There'll be magic and games, theatre and literature, music and mayhem, family and friends, new things discovered and wonderful memories made.
The Festival Summer of 2012
Aha me maties! I have ye a great story to tell. Taken from the first book in the Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe this animation brought to us by the same genius that gave us Chicken Run and Walllace & Gromit is a plank-walking funny adventure on the high seas. With his rag-tag crew at his side the Captain (Hugh Grant) has but one dream; to win the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. He must beat his rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry ) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) in his quest which see's our hapless heroes travel from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy cobbled streets of Victoria London.
Hugh Grant plays perfectly to the under-qualified and yet unaware bumbling Pirate Captain with his self deprecating voice of self-doubt, the script is brilliantly funny and the detail astounding. A production apparently five years in the making is a great cinematic adventure for the family.
Will the pirate hating Queen Victoria and her swashbuckling skills be able to stop the Captain, will the young love-lorn Charles Darwin with his man-panzee be able put aside his feelings and his own personal agenda?
Finding Neverland at the Princess Diana Memorial playground
If you're looking for a more adventurous playground than the run of the mill swings, slides and roundabouts then adventure along to Princess Diana's playground in Kensington Gardens.
With a pirate ship to set sail across the stormy seas and a Tepee settlement you might even stumble across Captain Hook and Peter Pan!
The Neverland on the pages may be second star to the right and straight on til morning but this one is just off Bayswater Road and you take the no 49 bus!
The park is closed for maintenance - gotta keep it ship shape - from 14th to 18th of May
If you you're looking to take an educational and inspiring trip to the Design Museum this weekend you're in for treat. You can swoon your way to the Christian Louboutin's lust hungry red soled retrospective exhibition. When it comes to sparkly, feathered, sequinned, fantasy and fairytale footwear from studded pumps to glossy stilettos the french footwear designer Christian Louboutin brings the theatricality and beauty of it all.
With work inspired by his love and fascintaion with cabaret and showgirls there is certainly a air of this in the Hologram room, which you may wan to skip past if you're with children!
The exhibition takes a look at his 20 years of design and inspiration and you'll be 'taken on a magical journey of style, glamour, power feminity and elegance' exploring the sources of inspiration and the origin of his iconic red sole.
So, whilst the husband takes the children to the design and make workshop you can wonder around and fall in love with one of the most if not the most lusted after shoes of our time. Though this exhibition comes with a personal caution: perhaps not to wear your vertiginously high heels, skip past the hologram room if with your children, and be careful this may have you wanting your very own collection of Louboutin's.
If its been on your mind to take the kids to Little Venice to see the beautiful floating house canal boats then this is the perfect time to do it. There'll be bands, boat trips, stalls, children's games and refreshments 'for all the landlubbers to enjoy' as this historic event see's the boats stopping off on their way to Queens Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in June.
This is a true English affair with more 130 boats moored along this stretch of the canal and when the sun goes down the atmosphere becomes even more magical with the illuminated boats decked out to the nines for the after-dark pageant.
Tall Stories presents the latest in their collaborations with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler in the production of the wonderful childrens story The Snail and the Whale.
Or get inspired with the paints and challenge the children to make their own Olympic posters:
Take a coffee cup and some black, blue, yellow, red and green paint and, of course, a large sheet of paper.
Use the rim of the coffee cup to paint 5 different coloured circles then use your imagination as best you can to base your design upon the Olympic ring shapes.
Maybe the circles can become flowers, eyes of aliens, planets, watches, famous places of interest or landmarks. You can hold an award ceremony with prizes going to the most original piece. For more great Olympic crafts Visit: redtedart.com
Proving that theatre is at its best when its for the whole family the Lyric Theatre see's the return of the fantastic musical version of The Tiger Who Came to tea. We saw the production in its previous visit to the theatre and can tell you that Judith Kerr's childrens' classic is a wonderful performance full of songs to sing and moves to bop to in this clever stage adaptation.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea - suitable for children over the age of 3 is at the Lyric Theatre from 4th July 2012 to 2nd September 2012.
With a warning that some scenes may scare the under 7's the shadow puppet performance of Swamp Juice tells a turbulent tale of life in a swamp.
Highly acclaimed Canadian performer Jeff Achtem shines a new light on shadow puppetry using what seems like a pile of old rubbish to create characters such as singing mice, squabbling snails and wibbly wobbly creatures as he takes the audience on a journey in a canoe down a river!
With a sensational surprising 3D finale you'll be coming home tearing open the recycling bin grabbing cardboard boxes and pieces of string to create your very own homespun story.
so come meet a man in a swamp like no other!
Swamp Juice is showing at the Soho Theatre from 26th April through to 5th May
I know there is a certain amount of loathing for kids softplay places but there are lots of places that will regain your enthusiasm for them.The kids play at the National Army Museum is one of our favourite haunts on a rainy day - and there's been quite a few them recently!
With arctic and forest themed climbing frames, the childrens area explores aspects of army life from camping to clothing. With a dedicated soft play space for babies and arts and crafts, dressing up costumes, books and interactive panels the area is big enough for children to get lost in their play but not big enough that it sends softplay fears down your back!
And... 'at the heart of the new kids zone are six key principles of early years foundation stages, ensuring that children are learning whilst having fun.' So perhaps they'll come home with their minds stimulated too!
A perfect pit stop for children after some shopping on Kings Road and a chance for you to sit down with a warm cup of hot chocolate whilst the children burn off some excess energy - sounds like heaven!
Udderbelly is back! The E4 Udderbelly Festival London held at the southbank centre with its huge overturned purple cow is now running performances of 'Tiddler and other terrific tales'! Weaving together a magical collection of some of the most loved titles by Julia Donaldson with music, songs and puppets its guaranteed to be a a spectacular treat for the over 3's and their families.
If all this rain is making you wish you were a mermaid pop along to the London Aquarium where you'll see some of the most beautiful strange and wonderful creatures, from seahorses to sharks and some clownfish inbetween there are 500 species from every part of the world. Though I've not yet seen a mermaid be sure to be near the sharks at 2.30pm to see the feeding!
If you're looking for some indoor home made fun take a look at 'Summer Fun with Sisters Guild' written with the British summer in mind there's plenty of ideas for wet and rainy days.
