By Eve Bell

I have always loved having a mooch around London. No agenda, just wandering and people watching. The best part about any city break for me. Seeing where you end up.

This is the second time we have taken the children to London. The first time, was when they were 5 and 4. We did the sights and they moaned. We walked and they moaned. They just wanted to be at the park. Any park would do, but their minds were blown by the Diana Memorial Playground.

This time, they are 9 and 8 and decided to just pick an area we had not been to and just see where it took us. We chose Hampstead. Mainly because reading a historical fiction book at the time and it was set in Hampstead.

We stayed at the Premier Inn, which you can never go wrong with when visiting London with kids. You don’t want to spend a lot of cash on a posh hotel when you are sharing a room with kids who just want to jump on the beds, run up and down the corridors and bring more ice from the ice machine than you know what to do with.

They were desperate to visit the zoo. Since we heard about the reasons behind its opening. They needed somewhere to house all the animals that were sent to the Royal Family, who had no idea what they should do with that lion and gorilla was that gifted to them. They loved it with most time spent in the reptile house. As Seth loves snakes and wants one. Which is not happening.

From Regents Park, we actually had a walk with no agenda and no moaning. We ambled down the canal to Camden. The whole world was in Camden, so we quickly jumped on a bus to anywhere. My best tip when in London with kids, would be to use buses instead of the tube. There is usually a long walk to stations and platforms. The escalators soon wear thin. On buses, they can see so much more. Definitely means less moaning.

After jumping off in  Holborn, we had a bowl of pasta and decided to head back to Hampstead. We were so shattered. A few more trips to the ice machine and the kids were out like a light.

I have always wanted to go to Hampstead Heath and it was a beautiful autumn day. Again no moaning. There was a promise of a park though. We didn’t tell them (well Louisa), it was at the bottom of the heath, while we were walking to the top. Well worth it for the views over London.

After the park, we jumped on a bus to see where we would end up and ended up stuck near Buckingham Palace because of the Remembrance Parade. It was lovely to see and listen to all the bands playing. It was far to cold to stand still though. The children wanted to see Big Ben, shame it was all covered in scaffolding. As soon as we headed into central London, A quick bite to eat and we headed home back to Manchester.

No agenda doesn’t usually work for the children. They like to have a beginning, a middle and an endpoint. It was so liberating them not asking ‘what are we doing next?’. One of the best trips we have been on. A wonderful chilled weekend away.

As we headed home to Manchester. We were all shattered but full to the top. Full to the top of us.