Any London Attraction Freebies please

jenniewb

Other things I like to do for free in London are...

Visit the galleries- many of which are free:

• The National Portrait Gallery near Trafalgar Sq/Leicester Square
• The V&A (Who also do alot of events and worth logging onto their site to find out when, what time and if they are for children or adults, I am sure a Big Draw event happens there annually. Also, the last friday of every month after 6pm ish, and wednesdays after 6pm ish).
• The Crafts Council gallery in Angel (craftcouncil.org)
• Both the Tates: one near Vauxhall, one near Southwark, there is a boat service to join both together and a late night for each.

(there are other free galleries and museums in London, its just these are personal favourites)

Other galleries which are low priced but not free and could be worth a look are:
The Hayward Gallery (Southbank)
Any exhibitions of the above that are visiting/touring exhibitions where you do need to pay

Visit Markets:

• Greenwich Market: sat/sunday, 11am to 5pm
• Portabello Road: fri/sat 10.30am to 5pm
• Dare I say it, petticoat lane (cheap and "back of lorry" type stuff, most is fine, one or two are questionable!)thurs/sunday 10-4pm
• Oxo Tower Wharf can be nice for views of London While you eat (There is also a similar place to eat at the Tate Modern, both are mega pricey but if your feeling flush...) there are also 3 floors of shops, quite empty during the week but great for craft fans.
• Similarly the Cockpit Arts events which happen twice a year in Holborn and Deptford, but if your visiting Sept/Oct you may unfortunately miss the events which happen at Easter/Xmas time. MANY original Crafts artists and designers, often mentioned in Elle magazine.
• Greys In Market- OK more of a store then a market, but great if your into fashion and trends- more of a window shop event then a purchasing event unless your very ££££wealthy! but great for fashion students!- and friendly service!
• Covent Garden- tourists seem to love this, personally its very generic and non descript- aside from the street events that happen. There are one or two unique stores such as the Bead Store (Near Seven Dials), Monmouth's Coffee (best place in the world IMO for coffee!) and Coco De Mer (not for children!) but in general, the stores there are nothing you wont find in other parts of London, the UK and even the globally.
• Spitalfields, thurs through to sunday (11-4pm is the best time to visit) are the best days, very varied- some home made crafts and up and coming talent (thurs/fri are best for these) and other stores selling on market stands and Chinesey type imitation rubbish sliding in there- but luckily more of the former!

Visit shops which hold events or are just nice to look at from a fashion point of view:

• The windows of Selfridge's,(Oxford Street) Harvey Nicks (Knightsbridge) (Harrods is overrated and full of non-English speaking tourists),
• If your a fashion and trend fan, Topshop Oxford Circus is great- three floors of new fashion, and another floor for men- they do sometimes have events, but it is very rare and normally coincides with LFW (London Fashion Week www.londonfashionweek.co.uk) which is around that time.
• Borough Market (London Bridge) (Friday-Sunday, 10-4pm) great food, testings and lots of similar bits and pieces- many times you can meet the original farmers and chiefs on a face-to-face level.
• Similarly, Whole Food Market, (High Street Ken) daily, 9am till about 10pm? all organic foods store, 3 floors, great service and expensive but good quality stuff. Also random food things you wont find anywhere else but the USA or smaller well hidden food stores.
• Another shop I have not visited yet but mean to (yet to be vetted but sounds good!) is the Lush store/spa in Kings Road (Sloane Sq).
• Bricklane for a few very good and unique stores, check out Cheshire Street and near the Truman Brewery. Great when the weathers warmer as they do BBQs and always has a nice laid back vibe. All the stores are tiny but worth a visit if you have a thurs-sunday free. Tatty Devine is on the tail end of Bricklane- if you like the stuff they have (on ASOS) It is worth a visit. Again, tiny tiny store!
• Go in between Bricklane and Spitalfields market and there are many generic stores like Office and All Saints. Worth checking out whats going on in the Trewman Brewery area (www.trumanbrewery.com) which houses everything from student art shows/graduate shows to designer sales.

Parks are great, but some days are better then others, weekends are very very crowded, and lunch times in places like St James Park are also pretty busy. But generally speaking, mid week either 9-12 or 2-5pm or after 7pm are OK for some of the non central parks like Greenwich, Hamstead Heath, sometimes Hyde Park. (There are many many other parks in London!) Regents Park is great pre Zoo day- as the Zoo itself can get pretty busy and Kew Gardens is very expensive, but great for a slow relaxing day out- just lots of walking!

Also may be worth checking out events at places like Earls Court, Olympia, Alexander Palace (Alley Pally), Excel etc for events which only happen in that week. Pricey but good if your interested in the subject matter.

One idea is to grab the most recent copy of Time Out and flick through. Its around £2.50 in most newsagents.

mrsdinozzo

thanks for the above jenniewb - have printed your list out and popped it into my *touristy* folder for future reference...:cool:

pammie39

hi there
my daughter is 6 years and gets bored easly.

she enjoyed the sience museam (sorry about the spelling), the natural history museam but most of all THE MUSEAM OF CHILDHOOD in bethnal green (next to the station, central line underground), there is lots to do and brings back memories of my childhood (toys and games).

enjoy!!!

craftynutters

you can get funfares from dover on the national express from£1 each way and only takes as long as going inthe car and no parking hassles
Dont forget there are some parts of london u can't park for free even with your blue badges we usually use the coach it's a lot easier

tinawina_2

candyflossing wrote: »

http://www.londonisfree.com/ Enjoy!

Edit: Also IMO the tour bus is not worth the price you pay - the info you are given can be found in any cheap travel guide or online - just get a tfl travelcard and you can ride as many double deckers as you want There are some bus routes which basically follow the same route as the tour buses too.

Also if kids are young Hamleys toy store is really great there are always magicians, entertainers and free balloons Also they can try out some of the toys and computer games - always used to love going there when I was a kid. :P

I am sorry but I disagree with you about the bus tours. we did this last summer, and it was fantastic. well worth the money and really good fun. it's even better if you manage to get it on the tesco deals, which we did. we have already got this years tokens ready for the tour. if you don't have the tesco deals coupons, you can buy them off ebay for a lot cheaper than the cost of the tour tickets!

tinawina_2

I also disagree about harrods being over rated. I think it's fantastic. yes it's full of tourists, but that's what we all are!
It's an experience.

xfive71

Hi, London is fab for kids. If you could get a bus in, that is the way to go. The Congestion charge and parking will make your hair curl. Some suggestions :

Tube stop : South Kensington
The Natural History Museum has a great dinosaur exhibit. The huge diplodocus skeleton at the entrance and the T-Rex animatronic are wonderful. The kids souvenir book at £4.50 is very good - I love reading it myself.

Next door is the Science Museum which is great for kids. Go to the basement - lots of hands on exhibitions and if you time it right, there is a bubble making demonstration for free. Bring supermarket sandwiches and drinks because those are quite expensive on site. There are picnic tables on site.

If the young ones are not flat out yet, take a 10min stroll to Harrods. The kids will go mental at the Toy Kingdom at Level 4. I felt it is a little less manic than Hamleys. There's almost full sized stuffed soft toys (chimps, elephant I think) as well as an animatronic teddy bear display based on the Globe Theatre.

Queue up for fresh doughnuts at Krispy Kreme on the ground floor towards the rear. Sometimes they give out free sugared donuts whilst you are in the queue. If not, you could ask and they will obliged. They give out free paper hats as well.

Tube stop : Covent Garden
Great area to wander around and watch all the busking. A little walk away from Covent Garden - you can find Belgo Centraal. For every adult meal, two kids can eat free! The kids meal is not too shabby either and includes an ice cream cone. I would suggest double checking their website, especially for the exact location

Tube : Westminster
Plenty of photo opportunities around the area including Westminster Abbey, Parliament House and the London Eye. The London eye itself is pretty pricy if you have a big group though but it's free to look. There is a small playground nearby the London Eye if the kids would like to let off some steam + a McDonalds for food.

Another great playground is the Diana's memorial playground at Kensington Gardens (nearest tube : Queensway/Bayswater). my kids love the stranded pirate ship in the middle. Pack a picnic and you are sorted.

creased-leach

Whilst you're in Folkestone, take the kids to Lower Leas Coastal Park- pack a picnic & you could be there all day- it's a fantastic free facility, and right next to the beach.