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London England with Kids Itinerary

Why England?

I've been obsessed with England since I was a little girl. When we found $1 plane tickets (plus tax) after Brexit happened, we spontaneously bought four tickets!

How did we plan it?

I spent about 60 hours doing research online and in guidebooks. Before I started I had no idea what we wanted to see besides the obvious. To make the most of our 13 day trip we decided to combine London with a road trip through the west coast of England from Dorset to Liverpool, experiencing the Cotswolds and Oxford on the way. My favourite guide book was Rick Steves England book, as well as the DK Family Travel series "London with Kids". I planned out everything in a lot of detail including all transportation and where we would eat each day. This was worth doing! We changed almost nothing on our itinerary and the entire trip went incredibly smoothly.

Our itinerary in a nutshell:
Day 1: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Thames River Cruise.
Day 2: Tower of London, St. Pauls, Greenwich.
Day 3: Kensington Palace, St. Marys Hospital, Natural History Museum, drive through Nottinghill and Soho on the double decker city bus.
Day 4: Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace, St. James Park, British Museum, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Harrod's.
Day 5: Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle
Day 6: the Cotswolds
Day 7: Liverpool
Day 8: Chester Zoo
Day 9: Oxford University
Day 10: Blenheim Palace
Day 11: Jurassic Coast - Lulworth Cove and the Durdle Door beach
Day 12: Corfe Castle
Day 13: Legoland Windsor

What ended up being my personal favourite top 3 experiences, in order:
1. Hampton Court Palace
2. Oxford University
3. Tower of London

Things I would want to experience next time we go to the UK:
- the various markets in London
- back to Harrod's, this time on a weekday morning
- Buckingham Palace when it's open for tours 2 months in the summer
- Christ Church College at Oxford
- the Churchill War Rooms in London
- Canary Wharf, financial district in London
- the Kew Gardens in London
- Victoria and Albert Museum in London
- more time to explore the various parks especially Hyde Park and St. James Park
- the Greenwich Observatory and museum 
- St. Pauls cathedral in London (was closed when we went)
- The British Library in London
- Cambridge University
- a few days in Cornwall
- Canterbury Cathedral
- the White Cliffs of Dover
- the lake district

Where we stayed:
In London and Liverpool we stayed at Premier Inns which are the UK budget hotel brand. We were very impressed with it! Super comfortable beds (kids got their own beds, not sofa bed) and a full spread including hot items for breakfast buffet.

In Dorset we stayed for 3 nights in a rented cottage. I would not do a "Air BnB" style accommodation again. Worst beds we ever slept on.

In the Cotswolds/Oxford for 3 nights we stayed at the Old Stocks Inn which was our splurge. Such a lovely family suite, with super cute decor, lovely amenities, amazing free breakfast including hot a la carte items.

Things that surprised me about England or about our itinerary:

  • How small Buckingham Palace is! I can see why the Queen prefers to live at Windsor Castle (which is HUGE!!). Buckingham Palace seems to be like her office, but her home is really Windsor.
  • How expensive London is!! Though most museums are free.
  • How safe and easy everything was in London. So easy to find your way around! We didn't encounter any sketchy area's or people in downtown London. It was all very safe and very clean. I remember thinking I would feel very safe traveling from Heathrow to London and around downtown London by myself. We did drive through some more run down area's when taking the train out to Greenwich.
  • How limited the typical menu options are. I think we are spoiled on the Pacific Northwest with variety and quality of restaurants. Even the "popular" restaurant chains in England did not live up to what we have in North America, with the exception of Pizza Express which we loved. We did not find anything like a Cactus Club, Moxie's or Earl's for example.  Yes of course there are pubs on every corner, and you are allowed to take kids in there, but we just weren't a fan of pub food as a whole. Most of the restaurants are either pubs, or authentic Italian (which we are not a fan of either generally), "Grab and Go" sandwich places or ethnic restaurants. Attractions like castles that had restaurants in them were all the same. Full buffet with roast, potatoes, veggies, fish and chips, and things like walnut cake for dessert. Walnut cake and Lemon Loaf everywhere. Those seem to be very typical cake choices for afternoon tea. Typical kids menu items were things like fish sticks, squashed peas and beans. At some attractions that offered kids meals it would be things like real slabs of ham and butter on white bread, or thick slices of ham and cheese (again, real thick ham not typical deli slices). Breakfast muffins were almost always white chocolate and raspberry. Not sure if it was just a coincidence, or if British people really just like this type of muffin?? Was hard to find something like a not-so-sweet bran muffin... that's ok, just another excuse to indulge in delicious croissants instead. :)
  • How crazy the roads and highway systems are. I've been to Europe a few times before so I knew about all the roundabouts and I've been on the Autobahn... but the UK highways are a totally different experience! So complex! I've never seen roundabouts inside of roundabouts! Some roundabouts had 8 exits! I'm very glad we had a GPS to tell us minute by minute directions cause we would have been so lost otherwise.
  • I got a strong feeling while there that British people enjoy routine. They like specific foods, over and over again. They like to walk their dogs and have their afternoon tea. They like what they like and they stick to it. Even when in very touristy Cotswolds (think Downton Abby), I got the vibe that the locals didn't really want tourists there even though they were catering to them. The friendliest place we went to was Liverpool by far, now that's a city with heart - if only it wasn't so difficult for us to understand their accents!
  • When you plan an itinerary, it's sometimes surprising what you end up enjoying the most. My favourite thing is something I almost crossed off our itinerary entirely!! (Hampton Court Palace... almost missed it, glad we made time for it cause it came in as my #1 favourite attraction we went to in all of the UK)


OCTOBER

Day 1 Wednesday - Westminster Abby, Thames River Cruise.



Arrive at London Heathrow Terminal 2 at 11:40am after a red-eye flight. My plan was to make the most of our first day and not to nap. I figured I would take a risk and take advantage of the adrenaline rush that comes with being in a new place. Thankfully, that plan worked out!

Gather luggage and make our way to the transit area of the airport. Make our way to the hotel using the Hotel Hoppa bus system that serves airport area hotels. Hotel Hoppa takes cash. At our hotel (Premier Inn Heathrow) check in, freshen up in our room quickly, and make our way back to the airport to catch the Heathrow Express into London. The Heathrow Express is a very expensive option but it is by far the fastest way to make it downtown and we wanted to make the most of our afternoon before attractions closed around 5pm. There are people in the airport selling tickets for the Express so they make it extremely easy. Just follow the purple line! Our first stop was Paddington Station, where we transferred to get to Westminster Station. Coming out of the space agey Westminster Station was surreal. The first thing we saw when we came to daylight was Big Ben and the Parliament buildings.



We crossed the street to Westminster Abbey. After doing the self guided tour through the Abbey (which I didn't think was all that great, honestly - it's basically a cemetery and I couldn't find the graves/memorials of the few people I was the most interested in. It was also quite crowded and smaller than I expected) we walked down to the river to the Victoria embankment and bought tickets for the river tour boat. We decided to skip the London Eye cause I read reviews it was overrated and too expensive (agreed... glad we didn't do it!). Since most of the most famous sights in London are viewable from the river this was a great way to see the city quickly. It was also nice to get close to the famous bridges, from the Westminster Bridge to the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and Millennium Bridge.

We rode the boat to the Tower Pier where we got off to find a place for dinner.

By this point it was chilly and to our surprise, this area of the city is quite dead on a weekday night. This is close to a business district so even though there was a fair number of restaurants, there was nobody there. We made our way to a "Gourmet Burger Kitchen" which was empty. There was one waiter working. Kids were not a fan of the burgers and there were no other kids options. I think they were too tired to put up much of a fight and they believed us when we told them these really were their only options until breakfast the next morning. By this point it was around 3am our time and we were so ready to get back to our hotel. We took the underground from here to Paddington Station and then caught our return tickets on the Heathrow Express back to the airport, then the city bus from the airport back to our hotel. We decided to stay at the Heathrow Premier Inn because of the reviews and amazing prices. At the time of our booking the hotels in London were mostly sold out and very expensive. If we had more time to book ahead we would have probably tried to stay a bit closer even though it was more expensive. Trying to commute back on the underground or bus after a long day of sightseeing was not worth it. That took more than 2 hours. Taking the Heathrow Express got us back to our hotel fairly quickly but was also *very* expensive. You can book the Heathrow Express in advance to get a steep discount rate but that seems to be applicable only to people with a local postal code or local Visa. I tried to book ahead but it wouldn't work for me. If you're able to figure out to get the discount rate as a tourist, it would still be my first choice to go this route! The Heathrow Express is a very plush way to travel. It's very quiet and sleek. Mostly business travellers use it, most of the time we had the train car to ourselves. British people like to travel in quiet, but one time a German businessman started a conversation with us.

The Heathrow hotels are so much bigger and more spacious, it was nice to be in a quiet suburb and have a bigger room than we would have had downtown. At the time of our booking I had troubles finding a hotel room downtown that would accommodate 2 adults and 2 children in one room that wasn't crazy expensive. Usually they only allowed 1 child in a room. I don't know if this is a normal thing or we just got unlucky with timing. Either way, the hotel we ended up with was wonderful even though it was a bit of a trek for us. (Why didn't we do something like an Air BnB? Keep reading to find out!) From Paddington Station to Heathrow it took 25-30 minutes on average with the Express train. Taking our city bus from the airport to our hotel took about 10-15 minutes. The Heathrow Express terminal and the city bus terminal were fairly close to each other, I think it was about a 5 minute walk. Next time we go to London we will stay downtown, though I would definitely stay at the Heathrow Premier Inn again if I have an early flight out or a late flight in. Now that I know my way around the city I think I would choose to stay in a hotel close to Maryleboyne or Kensington. Both are fairly close to Paddington Station (which is important if you plan to take the tube, it's the main station), as well as to parks, restaurants and shopping. They are also central to many attractions. I would take a bus or taxi to Paddington Station and then take a taxi between attractions that are close to each other. Don't even bother trying to walk between attractions. Save your feet! We started taking taxi's by our third day and regret not doing it sooner. They are not that expensive as long as you stay right downtown and they are very fast. Downtown roads are basically reserved for taxi's and buses. You won't see many private drivers here as they are charged extra by some kind of a toll system. This opens up the traffic in the downtown area's for taxi's to move around faster. It's a very efficient system! We typically paid about 10 pounds for a 10-15 minute taxi trip. Taxi's have room for 5 people in the back.








Day 2 Thursday - Tower of London and St. Pauls, Greenwich.

The Tower of London is easily the #1 outdoor attraction in London. I had read in many reviews that it gets packed quickly and that there are long lineups. We made a plan to be there early. We got in line about an hour before they opened, and were ready to enter as soon as the gates opened. We had sections of the Tower of London completely to ourselves for a good hour before it started getting busy. We explored to our heart's content and had an early lunch in the restaurant inside the tower. Once we finished lunch it started getting very busy with school groups and tourists. One of the coolest parts was seeing the Queen's jewels on display. A moving sidewalk moves you past them so you can't just stand there and gawk at them, but you can start at the beginning again if you want another pass by. She owns some of the biggest diamonds in the world, one of them is in the shape of a heart! We were all mortified by the torture towers. Some of the stories were oh so gruesome. We also stood near the spot where Anne Boleyn got beheaded. There are six captive ravens in cages on the grounds which are held there for superstitious reasons. Legend has it that as long as they are there, the kingdom will not fall. If they are lost or fly away, "The crown will fall and Britain with it". There are cool displays that show where the polar bears and elephants used to be kept in the Middle Ages. The polar bear was on a leash so it could swim in the river! We made our way to St. Pauls Cathedral but unfortunately it was closed due to a function. Our kids were sad they missed the whispering gallery in the cathedral. One more thing to do when we return some day! The area around St. Pauls reminded me a bit of Wall Street in New York City, though the financial district is in a different area of London that we never made it to.

After this we headed out to Greenwich which was way nicer than we expected. It's a bit of a trek from downtown London but it's a beautiful journey and the destination just as lovely. There is a lot to see in Greenwich and it's very family friendly, especially for younger kids. There are playgrounds, orchards and family friendly museums here. There is an old ship you can tour as well as a Maritime Museum. We didn't make it to the Greenwich Observatory, but we did find our way to the Greenwich Meridien and got our picture taken there at line 0! One foot in the East, and one foot in the West! The kids enjoyed the playground at the Queen's Orchard Park. On the way back to the Thames Clipper boats pier we heard bands practicing a the Naval Academy. Greenwich is definitely a place I'd like to come back to. There is a huge park here (including a deer park) that we never got a chance to explore.
































One foot in the East and one foot in the West! At the Greenwich Meridian




















Day 3 Friday - Kensington Palace, Natural History Museum

Our jet lag started catching up to us this day. Our first stop after getting out at Paddington Station was St. Mary's hospital, where we had a photo op on the front stairs where Duchess Kate and Prince William debuted their newborn children. Then we were off to visit their home, Kensington Palace. It was a lot of walking to get from the bus stop to the actual palace. The palace area that is open to the public is fairly small. The only thing of significance to see inside is a display of some of the Queen's gowns and some from Princess Diana as well. The palace had a bit more of a trendy vibe in its decor, which made sense seeing as it's home to the younger royals. We didn't make it to the gardens as we were pretty tired and were wanting to get to the museums. We made it through about half the Natural History Museum before I was about to fall asleep while walking... and that was the end of day 3. We had been hoping to make it to the Albert and Victoria Museum as well but didn't get to. Next time!




Day 4 Saturday - Buckingham Palace, British Museum, The National Gallery, Harrod's

We planned to see the changing of the guard at St. James Palace (insider's tip for you here... it's far better to see it here than at Buckingham where you get squished and locked in). Only it was raining a little bit this day so we didn't get to see all of it. If there is threat of rain they cancel it. We did get to see the horse guards parade though, which was just as cool. Also the guards on duty this day were the most famous ones. There are different regiments that trade off so they are not always the ones with the red outfits and tall black hats. There is a schedule online where you can see which guards will be there on which days. We just got lucky! St. James Park looks like a lovely place to go for a stroll, if we had time and if our feet weren't so sore. There is a public washroom here that you have to pay for, that is attended by workers. I think it was about 25 pence, you need exact change. There are no stores or restaurants within close walking distance so it was nice to find this washroom.




The British Museum was amazing. Everything I'd hoped it would be and more. Most people say you can't see the whole thing in a day, but guess what - we just about did. My favourite displays were from the time period of the Sumerians and Assyrians - the very first civilizations. They are just unbelievably intricate and beautiful. To my eye, they seemed even more advanced then some civilizations that followed. They definitely had an eye for beauty. I also loved the huge library of books in the "Enlightenment" room. Another favourite was the artifacts of Europe from 10,000 BC. Last but not least, the Rosetta Stone provides an awesome photo op! If you can get close enough. It was very crowded around it.



The National Gallery is worth a stop even if you don't know your art or are not into it. So many Van Gogh's and Monet's in one room! There are few places in the world where you can see so much well known art all in one spot. Seeing it in real life is just such a different experience from seeing a copy. Some of the art from artists I'd never heard of before took my breath away. They seemed to be 3D and looked eerily real.



Harrod's department store... what a place. We should have known better then to go on a weekend evening, it was SO crowded! It's very tight in there. Nothing like department stores in North America.  I would love to come here again but next time on a weekday morning preferably. The utmost in luxury, it's a very cool place to look around - and to people watch. We had a sit-down at the ice cream parlour (which we finally found after asking for directions, it's off in a tiny corner) and then checked out their year round Christmas shop before heading through the luxury goods section and the market area where there are the most beautiful food displays. Many exotic and customized foods. Had it not been so crowded we may have lingered and bought something here. There is a candle lit memorial to Diana at the foot of one of the escalators. The escalators have an exotic Egyptian theme.



Day 5 Sunday - Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle

Today we headed out of downtown London and into the outskirts of London. We rented a car (Sante Fe with GPS!) near our hotel and headed off. First stop was to buy car booster seats for our kids from an automated ordering kiosk in a "department store". That was a new experience for us! After waiting 20 minutes an attendant brought out our purchase and we were on our way. (At 9 pounds per booster, it was way cheaper than renting from the car rental agency for 30-60 pounds per day!)

Hampton Court Palace was one place I had almost considered not even having part of our itinerary. What was almost crossed off ended up being my absolute favourite place. It is just so magical. Hampton Court Palace is really two palaces in one. This is where Henry the eighth lived! One half is of medieval architecture, and the other half was added on much later during the reign of a different monarch (William and Mary I think?) in the style of Versailles. This place was not crowded at all. We had many area's all to ourselves to explore. It was so huge. It was easy to imagine what it must have been like hundreds of years ago. We were told by an attendant that the tapestries on the walls were worth more than ten aircraft carriers! (They are made from real gold and silver thread and they are gigantic) The tapestries are within arms reach... watch out kids, don't touch that!

We had a horse drawn carriage ride through the gardens which was just magical. Everything was beautiful and dreamy. The epitome of a palace experience for me. This place was also very kid friendly and there was also a dragon themed playground and a cafe with "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed kids lunch packs.



Next off we went to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is part of the small town of Windsor. Windsor itself is a hilly town with great shopping and restaurants. Windsor Castle has a prominent spot at the top of the hill. It is GIGANTIC. I was not prepared for how big it was. There are armed security guards with machine guns everywhere. There is a long walk from the base up to the entrance (over the moat, which is HUGE and includes the Queen's private gardens). You go through airport style security and then there are more guards everywhere. You have eyes on you at all times from all directions. On the way up to the castle you pass by apartments where some retired military personnel get to live. The first thing you see when you enter the castle is a tour of Queen Mary's doll houses. This part was mandatory for some reason. Then we went through the rest of the castle that was open to the public. This castle is really not kid friendly. We did it... but it is definitely geared towards an older crowd. Lots of fragile items on display. Lots of armour and weapons. The outside grounds and park surrounding Windsor Castle is beautiful, if our feet weren't sore and if we'd had the time it would have been nice to do a little hike here to some of the famous sculptures. It would have also been cool to see nearby Eton College where Prince William and Prince Harry went to school. After we were done here we did the 2.5 hour drive to the Cotswolds area "of outstanding beauty", aka Downton Abbey land.




Day 6 Sunday - exploring the Cotswolds

By this point the jet lag had finally worn off. This was our day to rest our feet. We mostly did some scenic driving, and Ryan the kids hung out in our cozy family suite at the Old Stocks Inn (complete with bunk beds, two TV's and gaming console) while I took off on the English country walk of my dreams. The Cotswolds is an area of natural beauty and old stone buildings. A long time ago this area was famous for it's wool. It had a major economic boom and then a bust. When the bust happened, people just abandoned these villages and they stayed pretty much intact since then. Now it's a bustling touristy area. We toured a smaller castle (Sudeley) that is still lived in by an Earl and his family. The Earl built a huge castle themed playground for his kids which is open to the public. The gardens were beautiful and fun to explore as well. We made a stop in one of the towns for lunch and toured the rest by car. We made it through about five of the towns. We explored Cogges Manor Farm where some of Downton Abbey was filmed. It was cool, but kind of overrated cause you had to pay a lot to get in and there wasn't that much to see. Kids loved the zip line though!

"Lord of the Rings" gates, which happened to be right across from where we were staying!






My verdict is that Stow-on-the-Wold where we were staying was one of the loveliest towns. We went to an authentic pub for dinner, "The Bell", where I had a dinner of "Bangers and Mash" (best sausages I've ever had!). There are wonderful hiking trails all through the Cotswolds and there is no public transit here. There are tour buses that go from London to here if you want to do a daytrip here without renting a car. If we hadn't been so tired already and if we'd had more time it would have been nice to do some of the hikes. Most of them are several hours long at minimum. Some other day maybe!

Day 7 Monday Liverpool

From the Cotswolds to Liverpool was about a 4 hour drive. I was hoping it would be a scenic drive but it wasn't. Just massive crazy freeways. We arrived when it was dark. It was complicated to find our way and we almost got lost. Thankful for the GPS! Liverpool is a night and day different experience from London. It used to be a very rundown and impoverished city and it started becoming revitalized about 20 years ago. It has a lot more modern architecture as a lot of it's growth has been more recent. It has a lot of history along it's docks as many famous ships would take off from here. Also the home of The Beatles - no big deal!

The Mersey Ferry was closed but we did make it to the Museum of Liverpool which had some very interesting exhibits including the U Boat Story. It was about the thousands of civilians and children who died in targeted ship attacks during WW2. Many of the children were put on the ships by their parents to escape to America.

Liverpool has so much heart. The people here were the friendliest we had encountered anywhere in the UK. Only problem was it was SO hard to understand them! Liverpudlian is a dialect that was so different to us it didn't even sound like English. It made for some awkward moments, but the people are so kind and welcoming regardless.

We enjoyed shopping at the modern Liverpool ONE outdoor shopping center. Never made it to any Beatles sites as most of them were quite out of the way and parking was expensive, so we just stayed in the Albert Dock area and explored what we could on foot.



Day 8 Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is the #1 zoo in the UK and the primary reason we traveled to this side of the country. It did not disappoint! The hallmark of the zoo is the newish South East Asian Islands exhibit. They added a lot of special effects to make it feel like you were right there. Loved it! We spent the entire day here and only made it about halfway through the zoo.



Day 9 Oxford University

After the zoo we made the 4 hour trip back to the Cotswolds where we spent the next 2 nights. From the Cotswolds it's a quick 30 minute drive to Oxford. There are also tour buses that do day trips from London to Oxford. Oxford is a very pedestrian friendly city. There are practically no vehicles in the downtown area. There are "Park n Ride" lots all around the outskirts of Oxford so you can park your vehicle and take the city bus in, which is what we did. You can easily see all of Oxford by foot.

Highlights of our day in Oxford: the Magdalen College (where C.S. Lewis taught), Blackwell's, the Museum of the History of Science, Ashmolean Museum (skippable if you've been to the British Museum), All Souls College (the most difficult college to be accepted at, famous students include Christopher Wren and Lawrence of Arabia) and the Oxford Museum of Natural History (awesome! Smaller but better than the London one).

Oxford is an interesting place to people watch. Half the town is made up of college students, the other half is more of an impoverished demographic. So you've got some of the world's brightest people right strolling alongside teen mom's who dropped out of school. I think most people don't realize Oxford University is actually not one university but a collection of about 30 colleges within the town. Most of them have at least parts open to the public, some of them do tours. Some of them are closed to the public.




Day 10 Blenheim Palace, and drive from Cotswolds to Dorset (Jurassic Coast)

Blenheim Palace is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It is arguably the palace with the most beautiful grounds in all of the UK. It was very ritzy and not really kid friendly at all. This is where some of the James Bond movie scenes were filmed. They have added modern art throughout the inside and outside of the palace which I thought did not add to the appeal of the palace but rather took away from it. This would have been a stunning place to go for a walk. A lot of people come here just to walk their dogs. There was a fancy lecture festival going on while we were there. No kids here except ours.



Day 11 Jurassic Coast

Lulworth Cove and the Durdle Door Beach. Some of the most beautiful coastal scenery I've ever seen. It was a lot of work walking up and down hills and cliffs, but so worth it!

During our time on the coast we stayed at an Air BnB in an old stone farm cottage.



Day 12 Jurassic Coast and Corfe Castle

There was a train festival going on this weekend, so we got to take an antique locomotive to Corfe Castle which is an ancient castle in ruins. Was built around the year 900 AD.

Went fossil hunting on the beaches of Lyme Regis. Didn't find anything we could take home, but we did take lots of photo's of fossils.

Drove back to London Heathrow airport hotel at the end of this day.



Day 13 Legoland Windsor

Self explanatory, kids loved it! Their reward for being such good travellers. :)



Day 14 fly back home from Heathrow






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