5 Things to do with Kids in London Bridge

The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, but all views are my own.

I love exploring London with my children and we are always looking for an excuse to visit the big city and discover something new.  We got the train up last weekend for a visit to the Tower of London and decided to spend the afternoon around London Bridge seeing what there was to do.  It was a lovely area and we have a list of things we want to go back and try (time to look up hotels near the shard) but here are five things we enjoyed doing. 

1) Walk down to Tower Bridge 

We crossed over at London Bridge but the children were keen to see Tower Bridge so we walked along one side of the river Thames and then crossed back over on Tower Bridge.  The Tower of London is right here and definitely worth a visit! You can go up inside Tower Bridge and look over on to London Bridge and we found crossing both bridges was an easy walk for the boys (aged 6 and 8).  The eldest has been learning about the River Thames at school and we loved watching the boats underneath us, spotting the static restaurant boats, the little ferries and the cruises.

2) Get Lunch at By Chloe

By this point we were hungry so we found a lovely vegan restaraunt to try out.  By Chloe was bright and inviting and had a delicious menu as well as quite a cake selection.  We really enjoyed eating somewhere new and whilst none of us are vegan, we loved trying the vegan versions of mac and cheese, fish and chips and a tasty guac burger!

3) Admire the Skyline

My six year old has been learning about architecture and interesting buildings and London Bridge is the best place for discovering these. We spent ages discussing the skyline, the curious shapes and building designs and how we would design our own building.  If I had thought in advance, I would have brought paper and pencils with me as the benches were in the perfect spot for getting the kids to stop and sketch it.  The London skyline is always impressive and we all decided we needed to come back and go up inside the Shard!

4) Choose a Pudding at Borough Market

Whilst we were walking around the area, we found Borough Market and were immediately drawn in by the smell of cakes.  We had managed to resist a pudding with lunch but we spent lots of time wandering around the stalls looking at the freshly baked goods, the delicious looking fudge and hand crafted chocolates and finally settling on goat's milk ice cream.  It was bustling and cosy with the lights and right on the water's edge so we could escape with our chosen treats and continue exploring the area.

5) Learn about the History

There is so much to discover around London Bridge that we didn't have time to fit it all in but we would love to go back to find out more about the history of the area.  We found a monument to the Great Fire of London which was next to the old Roman Baths (8 year old is currently learning about the Romans at school so it tied in well!) and the Golden Hinde was right by the Bridge and you could pay to walk on and explore (£15 for a family of four).  We found Clink Prison Museum which I have promised we will go back to visit and the HMS Belfast is currently docked in London Bridge if you want to visit that.  London has such a fascinating history and the children were learning so much as we walked around and talked about what we saw.  

There is so much to do for families in the area and it is definitely somewhere we plan to come back to and explore further! Do you have any suggestions of places to visit in the London Bridge area?

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Knight School at the Tower of London

We did not pay entry to the Tower of London or for the Knight School experience

Over the February Half Term, visitors to the Tower of London can enrol in Knight School and train to become a Paige, Squire and finally a Knight alongside Sir Anthony Woodville.  We were invited to a preview event and Archie (6) and Dylan (8) had a go at training to see if they would be knighted at the end.

It was our first visit to the Tower of London and Knight School was the first thing we explored.  During Half Term (from the 15th - 23rd February) it will be running every day between 10am and 4pm and is included in your general entry.  The children were greeted by two 15th century characters who immediately made them laugh as they explained life in 1471.  As part of the training, they had to learn to dance and tell jokes, serve the Knight at table and then joust on pretend horses.  Finally as they neared the end of their training was the bit they had been most excited for, the swords.  Each child was given a foam sword and they were taught the three main moves before being set free to attack 'Roger'.  They boys loved the comedy and were really proud of the medals they were presented with at the knighting ceremony.  The whole experience lasted less than an hour and got the children really excited for what else was to come.

The knights had spoken about King Henry's armour being on display in the white tower so that was our first stop after a quick snack break (there is a cafe directly opposite the Knight School grounds).  Inside the White Tower you can discover many sets of armour from throughout history as well as lots of information on weapons, cannons and all the other things young children are fascinated by.  We found an interactive room towards the top of the tower which had somewhere you could learn about shooting a gun, screens where you could build castles and many other games that are both fun and very educational. 

After discovering the armour, we wanted to go and see the Crown Jewels and the children loved watching the guards outside with their guns, hats and very methodical way of moving.  The jewels were bright and sparked a lot of conversation with the boys about the monarchy and the queen. 

We walked around and learned about the animals that had lived in the tower, the elephant sent over as a gift and the polar bear that was chained up and the boys found it really fascinating.  There was plenty more we could have looked at but we had to cut our visit short as we had somewhere else to be.  We all really enjoyed our day at the Tower of London, there was so much to do for children and families and the Knight School really brought it all to life and helped encourage the boys interest in history.  If you are around London next week then I would really recommend a visit!  Both the boys have asked if we can go back soon!

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