industrial

At Barbican Arts Centre 

Halloween coffee in Eat Play Love cafe

My favourite London park

First of all I take great pride in saying that I love London. I have lived in few countries and a few English towns previously and never felt at home as I do here. I also think that London is a fantastic place to raise children, not only because it's such a cultural place with lots of museums and galleries, but also because it's a very green city and has some of the best parks on the planet.
Having Odessa of course means I spend lots of time in parks and I decided this summer to review those I like the most.
I will start with my favourite (unfortunately not in South West London where I live) - Hampstead Heath. I took my two favourite experts in everything "cool" - Odessa and Lelia.

Hampstead heath is beautiful and wild with lots of open green spaces. Visually it's absolutely stunning, it really makes you forget you are in still in town. It also has very friendly, laid back atmosphere - what my partner Tim would call 'hippy'. There is a real mixture of people, different nationalists, different cultures, families with children, young people on dates or the occasional naked tree-hugger practising Thai-chi... the thing is Hampstead Heath is massive, so there is space for everyone.

As it's too big to see it all in one day I would advise anyone to research and chose the parts you find the most appealing (for example the lakes where you can swim during summer). For people with children I recommend Golders Hill Park. It's where we usually go mainly because there is so much to do for Odessa: two lovely playgrounds, a small zoo, a butterfly farm, a café which sells home made ice-cream, and of course lots of open space to run, jump or dance.

What I love most about Hampstead heath is that there are plenty of "little gems" to discover just by wandering around. I am going to share our little discovery which all my family love Iverforth House Gardens. It's actually hard to describe what it is... Odessa refers to it as "Odessa's and Lelia's Princess castle", but I guess it used to be the grounds of a beautiful mansion house - a breath taking, truly magical mansion house - and it's open to the public.

You can get lost in beautiful galleries which are covered with all sort of plants and flowers, or run through beautiful little corridors, or explore amazing gardens and orchards... the architecture of this place is stunning, a perfect place for a photo session. Now I am not going tell you exacly where it is... go and find it yourself (it's better that way).

Hampstead heath is perfect place to visit with your children there is lots to keep them busy, it's also a very peacful place. Odessa and Lelia both loved it, and despite being very tired after five hours of running and walking, they didn't want to leave. I loved watching them exploring the space with such joy and excitement. And once again I have realised that the best things in life are often free.

when nothing big happens

On Friday we went to the Southbank to see the children's festival  "Imagine".  We took Odessa to two music related workshops, both very interesting and stimulating. The general atmosphere of the festival was wonderful, and there were little things happing all over the place, such as arts/crafts or a Monster runing around for the kids to follow.


There was also a food market with international cuisine - Odessa and Tim went for Polish sausages which made me love them even more! (I had a boring salad).


Unfortunately I didn't manage to take photographs of the actual shows - I could hardly stretch my legs let alone take my camera out of the bag.  Never mind, I was sure the opportunity would come later.  After the workshops we went for a well deserved coffee at the Southbank Centre (with a view of the Hayward Gallery - one of my favourite London buildings) where Odessa discovered a glass lift - she was mesmerised by it... so very often the the best pictures are taken when nothing big happens...

Odessa loves to have a big open space around her... 

..sometimes she decides to watch world around from different perspective... 

And that's how she looks after ten minutes flat on the floor...

And the last image I would like to dedicate to all my friends who, due to lack of photographic evidence, start doubting I exist... well there I am - proud mum of one funny little girl called Odessa... 

This amazing photograph was taken by my partner, Tim (who also persuaded me to add this credit).

under a chair

A lazy afternoon with friends in the local pub - The Wandle. A beautiful space full of big, vintage furniture made an amazing adventure playground for our children...

The Amazing Museum of Childhood

The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green is one of my favourite museums ever!
Come on, how many museums do you know with sandpit inside of it? To see all the kids running bare feet and playing with sand in the middle of winter was a surreal and beautiful experience!
It's a fantastic space full of interactive things to do for children: board games, computer activities, blocks, arts & crafts, huge vintage rocking horses, a play area for toddlers, giant rocks to climb on, fancy clothes and of course you can see all the toys from different eras (some of which make you feel very sentimental).


Odessa playing in of the computer educational games (below)

(and inside of one of the rocks)

(playing Snakes and ladders game)

They also regularly run themed exhibitions. We went there on Saturday and we saw 'Magic Worlds' - an exhibition which features fairy tales and fantasy literature. These exhibitions are wonderfully designed and well thought out - you can find lots of objects to explore and costumes you could try on. You could, for example, put rabbit ears on and 'drink' a cup of tea in with the mad Hatter (Alice Wonderland)... or cook snakes and spiders in a witch's cauldron, (they also provide the outfit!).


Very charming and imaginative.

Odessa was so happy - she couldn't stop jumping... not only did she really liked the place, she was joined there by much loved friend Lelia and cousin Kiara...


(Lelia came and nothing else matters anymore)

 (having Alice in Wonderland cup of tea with Kiara)

   
   
(three little witches cooking a snake and frog soup)

(in the play fire engine)

(in Alice in Wonderland room with Lelia listening to the story)

('Mummy look! Odessa is a rabbit!')

(and let's not forget about the sandpit!)

It was an absolutely wonderful day which cost us nothing, we stayed up to closing time and the children still wanted more. I loved watching Odessa exploring all the space and objects around her - it was very stimulating for her.

I'm guessing we will be back there soon...