If you can predict anything about a visit to London, it’s a good bet the weather will be unpredictable. Thanks to the UK’s changeable climate, it can turn from glorious sunshine to a cloudy downpour in mere seconds.
That means that, on a visit to the capital, when you’ve booked into the likes of Signature Townhouse London Hyde Park, you’ll need to draw up a flexible itinerary of attractions – especially if you’re taking the kids with you on your short break.
Go ice-skating, ice-karting and bowling at Queens
Proudly referring to itself as the UK capital’s ‘biggest one-stop fun shop’, Queen’s is a place where children and parents can throw off the shackles and truly enjoy themselves. This enormous Paddington venue (within walking distance of Hyde Park) is where you’ll find London’s only open-all-year ice rink and so not only somewhere you can go ice-skating but also ice-karting, as well as ten-pin bowling and trying your hand at the games in the retro gaming arcade.
Try out the tramps at FlipOut London
East London’s where to head for some (ahem) flipping good fun because the East Ham area’s home to possibly London’s finest adventure park; one that specialises in terrific trampolining. Spread across two storeys, then, FlipOut London is filled with 50 trampolines, as well as 12 climbing walls, indoor caving, foam pits, battle beams, a laser maze, a ninja warrior course and a 30-foot-long slide. There’s also a dedicated toddler area.
Get in the swing with indoor crazy golf
Let’s face it, there are few things more fun than crazy golf and London’s blessed with venues that cater for it (all of them easy to reach from hotels near Hyde Park London UK). And the great news is that many of them are indoors – and their courses are wonderfully elaborate, too, with themes covering everything from neon-driven future-tech to whimsical, end-of-the-pier seaside-esque.
It’s, important to note that many of these venues are geared towards adults, though; featuring on-site bars that sell alcohol. That said, you’ll find firmly family-friendly indoor courses at Puttshack White City, Puttshack Bank and Junkyard Golf Club.
Dip into a delicious child-friendly afternoon tea
Without doubt, an afternoon tea is a terrifically tasty British tradition that millions of visitors sample every year. And we’re talking visitors of all ages, here. Nowadays, there are many family-friendly afternoon tea options with all sorts of different themes to sample in London – great news for both parents and little ones who love the idea of trying an afternoon tea near Hyde Park London.
Escape rooms
Finally, if you really want to spend quality time with the kids, how about booking a session locked in an escape room and, well, yes, working out with them how to get out? The appeal of this highly popular activity isn’t just spending time with friends and/ or family but the fact you can, for an hour or two, totally immerse yourself in a fantasy world and put your heads together to solve clues and puzzles so you can escape.
For maybe the best kid-friendly escape rooms, seek out Kings Cross’s Cluequest, Si5 Spy Missions Croydon or Enigma Quests School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, while older children will be well served by both Mr Q’s Plan52 and Operation Black Sheep and older teens will doubtless enjoy their VR escape rooms.
