Morley is the brand new label by Anouk Robyn, the former designer of cult childrenswear label, Quincy, and is launching this season with lovely, understated pieces for children aged 6 months to 12 years. I’m loving the washed-out cottons and summery pastel colours — it is all so effortlessly cute, so easy to wear (I suppose you would expect nothing else from the woman who spent more than ten years designing for Quincy!).

All of the pieces above (and more!) are available from Couverture, one of my favourite London-based boutiques. Have a look at the rest of the childrens collection — all SO cute! And then… if you can stand the temptation, take a look at their womens and homewear collection as well — flawless.

-Courtney

As children are starting to break up from nurseries, kindergartens and schools for the Christmas holidays, a typical London holiday attraction to visit is Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We went last weekend and whilst crazy busy I was really impressed with the fairground — lots of really beautiful old-fashioned fairground rides, mixed up with more crazy modern ones.  Also there is Zippo’s circus and an ice-rink and of course a German Christmas Market to browse around.

Jamie Oliver even has a presence there (for those of you who don’t know Jamie — he is the UK’s culinary cheeky chappy).  He has taken over the band stand to offer some proper outdoor winter cuisine — Jamie’s Fabulous Feasts offers hot pork rolls, polenta chips and much much more, all of which looked delicious.

But the best bit of Jamie’s presence was the ‘decorate your own gingerbread man’ bit, set up for children.  For £5 my son and I gave it a go.  We got a naked man and tree and an egg box filled with various decorations — dolly mixture sweets, white and milk chocolate buttons, cranberries, apricots, dessicated coconut  and an icing tube (to act as glue).  We had a lot of fun jazzing our biscuits up and I have to admit, when we finally felt we had admired them enough, they tasted pretty good too.

Winter Wonderland is open in London’s Hyde Park until the 4th January.

I really don’t want to become boring with my posts (you’d tell me wouldn’t you?) but I just keep finding great ideas for posters for kids rooms.  My latest finds are these fabulous vintage ‘Trooping the Colour’ posters from the (quite brilliant I must say) London Transport Museum.  I have long known about the wonderful archive of posters held by London Transport (I personally love this poster advertising the ‘Summer Sales‘) but I came about these in a funny way.  I spotted 4 different Trooping the Colour prints used on a gift-box of espresso cups and immediately thought that posters of the same would look great on my son’s bedroom wall, so I looked them up on the London Transport Museum poster website.

This poster from 1923 is my absolute favourite but I also love this one from 1922 and this one from 1930 — they’d make a great set together.

The archive is worth a browse around for any train-loving boy (does anyone know one who isn’t?) and if the Queen’s guards are not your cup-of-tea there are plenty of other great ideas.  My favourite things to put in the search box for boys are trains and if you type in park or shopping you get some beautiful prints that would look great in a girl’s room (uh-oh I’m being all gender-specific again). And if you live in London it is worth typing in your area to the search-engine — I found some great posters from around our area, which I also like as an idea.  I’m seriously going to run out of wall-space!

If you haven’t already been, the London transport Museum is definitely worth checking out with kids, see our London city guide review for more info.

-Mo. x

So why am I so excited? Well I just booked myself onto one of their Summer dress-making workshops — maybe I will finally learn how to make this darling dress for my daughter that I have been cooing over from Oliver + S.

-Mo. x

London has become home to The Elephant Parade. During May and June, 250 colourfully painted elephants will be dotted around the capital to shine a spotlight on the plight of the endangered Asian elephant.  The campaign is from the charity Elephant Family, whose aim is to try and protect the elephant’s habitat which is increasingly threatened by human expansion.

The elephants here in the capital have each been painted by an artist or celebrity and together they make up London’s largest outdoor art event on record (with an estimated 25 million people viewing them over the next weeks). 

The elephants will go on sale by auction after the parade has finished but if you’re not sure your budget or living accommodation will stretch to a full-size elephant, then Selfridges are selling mini-elephants, which are also available here.

If you want to make sure you take in as many of the different elephants as possible (maybe even see them all) you can plan an elephant route through the city with this map.

Mo. x

Thanks to Candy Apple Red for the pic.

In addition to their beautiful casts, Image Casting does a really nice job of framing the pieces. Simple but beautiful, with emphasis on the casts. You can pop into their London Bridge studio, or the team will come out to your house if you live within the M25 in London (home visit included in the price). Check their website for more details.

-Courtney

And… if you can get it all at 20% off… even better! For this weekend only, enjoy a special spring shopping discount of 20% off when you shop in store or online. Just enter SS510 at check-out, or mention it in store. Valid from today until midnight Monday 24th May.

By the way, how cute is that white blouse (pictured left)? So summery, so pretty. I want one for myself!

-Courtney

Once you have ‘picked your own’, there is a great farm-shop to stop off at on the way home to top up your supper-menu with a cheeses, meats, fish and bread.

Garsons have plenty of additional activities on throughout the Summer to entertain families — the make-your-own-scarecrow competition (which go on display in July), a chance to watch the heavy horses pulling the fields the old-fashioned way, an exhibition of vintage tractors (we will definitely be going along to this!), a food fair and a birds of prey display.

Esher is just over 20mins from London Waterloo (and the farm is a short taxi ride from the station or a 40min walk).

To find a pick-your-own farm near you in the UK, try this helpful site.

-Mo. x

You see Metrotwin is a site powered by British Airways to offer reviews of all the best things to do in the London and NYC.  It is a fabulous resource if you happen to be travelling to or even if you live in either of the cities.

You can check out the Babyccino Kids London Address Book here and the NY address book here.

Enjoy! Mo.x

The Food Stork is a UK company which delivers fresh and delicious made-from-scratch food directly to the home. The service was originally designed for new mums to help maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet after childbirth… but it’s been 10 months since my baby was born and I still think the Food Stork is quite handy (obviously not for every meal, but it is nice to have some options in the freezer).

All the Food Stork meals are freshly prepared and ready to heat up, or can be stored in the freezer to eat later. They also offer a good selection of kid’s meals, all salt and additive free.  And delicious cakes and biscuits too!

-Courtney

However, I am a loyal ONLY-in-the-shower singer and NEVER-in-public (even after one too many!) so I spent these evenings laughing at my friends’ renditions of a Dolly Parton classic, while secretly wishing I had the guts to get up and belt out my best ‘Love Cats’ (see I even worked out which song I’d  sing).

But now there is Lucky Voice Home — sign up on their website to get 50 free song credits and your computer turns into a glamorous karaoke machine.  Buy the Lucky Voice Party Box and you get a (brilliant pink) mic and a mixer for the ultimate experience.  So, so, so much fun!  I just sang Vogue, whilst writing this post (well I needed a pic).

And now they have supplied their technology to the charity Sing Up.  The aim of Sing Up is to help children find their voice through singing; they do this by promoting singing in schools to help with learning and build stronger communities.  If you sign up to their website your kids can listen to over 300 children’s favourites and you can see what learning these songs promote or you can Sing and Share some of those songs via Lucky Voice. We just sang ‘Alice the Camel’ (which helps teach basic numeracy).

To find songs on the Lucky Voice website that your kids might like type ‘Sing Up’ into the ’search songs’ box.

-Mo. x

Since moving South I have often heard of the place ‘Cupcake’ (in Putney and Wandsworth) in association with descriptors such as ‘haven’ and ‘God-send’.  And so last week I asked whether it was OK to come and check it out (Cupcake is a members only club and I’m not a member …. yet!).  The minute I walked in I felt a sort of happiness come over me. This didn’t feel loud (from noise or from an interiors-carnage) — no this felt like being in a (stylish) friend’s living room… only a bit bigger and with a bar to order lattes, brownies, babyccinos or something for lunch — perfect!

And that’s not all.  There was also: a Snug — a cosy room with a few more toys and a ball-pool for the kids, a Creche — ofsted registered where members can leave their children for up to 4 hours (of which 2 can be off-site), a Gym and Studio with the typical equipment, a special ‘lounger’ where Mums and (especially) Mums-to-be can lie down for a comfort power-snooze, and lastly (and this is where it gets really good) an array of treatment rooms.

Cupcake was deliberately set up to support women in that most fabulous life transition from ‘lady with only herself to worry about’ to ‘Mum with baby/children to worry about’.  After speaking to Mums they found that they wanted a place where they could: have some me-time, re-tone their bodies after pregnancy, have special ante-natal fitness classes during pregnancy, have bespoke spa-treatments, have a chance to talk about the new challenges in their lives and to learn ways to deal with them, and most importantly meet some like-minded Mums –  all in a welcoming, child-friendly environment (not much hey!).

Amazingly that’s just what Cupcake has achieved.  They offer a wide variety of spa-treatments (and have the largest selection of specialist Pregnancy treatments in London) and have a really broad spectrum of classes, seminars and kids activities.  Whilst there I attended a puppet-show (which my children loved), but I love the sound of ‘Brainstorm in a Teacup’ where women have a chance to discuss business ideas to help each other find answers to any worries or hurdles they have come up against (I do find having children brings out an entrepenerial streak in many women!).  There is also a packed fitness-class schedule and talks which cover typical concerns e.g. “Establishing Good Sleeping Habits” or “Finding the right Childcare”.

What struck me most about Cupcake was how everyone knows each other.  The fact that it is a members club means you get to see the same people there and immediately a community is formed.  All the people working there know everyone (including the children) by name and it therefore feels so much more personal.  I can’t believe that my birthday has just passed otherwise Cupcake membership would definitely be on my wish-list.

For details on membership or the treatments available (which are also open to non-members) you can e-mail Cupcake at: mumcierge@cupcakemum.com.

-Mo

Apart from being a huge space to run around with fascinating trees, flowers and plants, there is also a dedicated indoor children’s area called Climbers and Creepers.  All the zones have an educational element relating to plants and their habitat and have been so cleverly thought out to cater for a really wide age group (quoted as age 3 – 9 but there are great touchy-feely bits too which are good for babies).

On the other side of the gardens is the Treetop walkway (designed by the architects of The London Eye) which is 18 metres up in the air and 200 metres around — giving you an opportunity to see the tops of the trees and those who inhabit them.  At ground level there is a tunnel with an exhibit giving insight to what happens under the trees (good for any bug and creepy-crawly enthusiasts!).

The duck pond in front of the Palm House (near the Victoria Gate) is great for spotting all sorts of water birds and they even have an explanation of the different species with sound-buttons to hear their different calls (fondly called the ‘quack-board’ in our house and it is always the first thing my 3-year-old wants to go and play with — our favourite is the call of the Eider).

And this is just the start of the fun, with Badger Sets, an aquarium and greenhouses* full of exotic plants, trees and plant life (The Evolution House exhibits Stromatolites, which are the oldest living organisms on the Earth and we see them as small bubble eruptions in a sandy pool of water at the entrance — coooooooooool!)

Kew is also well equipped for fuel stops with plenty of cafes and restaurants all serving good children’s options (they do those clever lunch boxes where you can pick 5 picnic-esque bits to make up a lunch, and in every box there is a pack of seeds to take home and plant).

So why has it taken me so long to write this post?  Kew has been working on a new outdoor children’s playground for outside Climbers and Creepers.  They had some issues with planning permission (it was meant to be up and running in the Autumn of last year) so I wanted to wait to be able to tell you about it and when it would be ready.  Well we went to Kew last weekend and it is well and truly underway (see pics).  It will be launched in time for the Easter holidays on 2nd April. It is called Treehouse Towers and looks a whole lot of fun for up to 300 children — a properly exciting place to let off some of that chocolate-easter-egg-energy!  We are very excited about its launch and will definitely be heading down there to try it out.

Have fun.  Mo. x

* Note the greenhouses at Kew are not your ordinary greenhouses — they are possibly the most beautiful greenhouses in the World! The Palm House has 700 panes of glass and is considered the most important Victorian glass and iron structure in the world. And The Temperate House is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the World — pretty impressive stuff.

I’m a huge fan of Swedish kids clothes shop P.OP (Polarn O Pyret) which sells playful and colourful kids clothes and a small selection of maternity wear.  Think lots of stripes and lots of colour.  They have 4 shops in and around London (Brent Cross, Westfield, House of Fraser (Oxford Street) and Kingston) but a further 10 or so stores around the rest of the UK.

Next up:  Zara Home (no, not Zara Kids):  A very small selection but I love their quilts and blankets for kids and they always have a tiny rail with really sweet sleep-wear/snuggly-wear. I have had some great finds there.

I find so many good kids birthday presents from Paperchase particularly these children’s writing sets, which are so sweetly designed. They often do melamine plates and trays and sets of fun snackpots, which are perfect for kids’ dinner time and eating on the go.

Long before having children I had a bit of a Muji-addiction.  I always find something there — it certainly indulges my stationery habit.  It is also a great place to head for souvenirs as they do these sweet little bags of miniature wooden cities and London transport (black cabs, red buses) in a bag (but I’ve only seen these in-store not on-line).  What some may not know about Muji though is that they are great for (what I like to call) ‘fat-tops’ — cleverly designed tops that fall over your bump during pregnancy or, as in my case, my post-baby chocolate-bump. Note there is usually more of a selection in store then online.

On this subject I do love Comptoir des Cotonniers – very flattering clothes! Quite a bit pricier then Gap but really very lovely (also have a tiny ‘girls’ collection from age 6 — I’m seriously wishing the years away so my daughter is old enough for it, cute! cute!)  Feel a bit of a cheat with this one though as it’s originally a Parisian brand.

A great stop for well-designed toys and kid’s furnishings is Habitat.  Their wooden London Bus is a long-running classic but I also love some of their newer toys like the Tito (pictured here).  They also do fab bits and pieces for a kids room — we recently got a bright red wagon for storing toys in, which we love.

Last but not least, if you happen to be passing The White Company (or The Little White Company) then it’s always worth popping in.  I particularly like their pyjamas but they also do cashmere baby cardies and classic toys and nursery decoration.

All that shopping might make you hungry and on a London High Street you are never far away from a Carluccio’s (Italian), Wagamama’s (Japanese) or Giraffe (International) — which are all well set-up for kids.  If sushi is your thing, then I adore Itsu, but it’s not so buggy /high-chair friendly.  For a sandwich-on-the-go … you can’t beat Pret-a-Manger (who now do cute kids bags).

Enjoy. Mo. x

We carried on our journey to the zoo which was a perfect-sized animal treat for pre-schoolers.  Donkeys, Otters, Chickens, Pigs, Meerkats and Monkeys to name but a few — all really close up and the zoo is small enough to be a distracting hour or so without it being overwhelming.

During the Summer months the park also has a boating lake and a land-train that can be picked up from outside the Adventure Playground.  A really fun family day out.

-Mo.x

They have stores in Dulwich & Covent Garden (which would be perfect if you happen to be taking a trip to Benjamin Pollocks as per my last post), but they are also sold in some pretty lovely other places:  Liberty, Selfridges, Fortum & Mason (to name but a few) and of course you can buy them online from their site.  I find the Miss Hope’s Jolly Mixture a very exciting treat and the Sugar free Gummy Bears a good one to ensure the children don’t bounce off the ceiling with too much sugar!

-Mo. x

Recently I had a reason to re-find that store, and the magic hasn’t left the place!  Benjamin Pollocks is a delightfully old fashioned place (originally established in the 1880s) in the Covent Garden Piazza.  I must warn you — it isn’t buggy friendly as you have to climb a narrow staircase to reach it and the shop is small and crammed to the rafters with toys, but worth the trip indeed.

The toy theatres are beautiful gifts for slightly older children (I think my kids may be more interested in ripping and chewing their cardboard constructions!) but they also have a good selection of other ‘oldy-worldy’ toys and games.  I ended up getting Hopla for my 3-year-old and these darling counting flashcards for my daughter.

If Covent Garden is too much of a trip, they do also conveniently sell some of their wares through their website.

-Mo. x

NUI Organics is a New Zealand-based company selling a beautiful range of organic wool baby clothes — so soft and so cozy.  I love the cardigan with extra big hoody (pictured) and the simple wool dress with big wooden button. I just really love the natural colors and simple shapes of the whole range.

You can find the NUI Organics range at Elias & Grace in London (some pieces currently on sale!), or you can order online.

-Courtney

We often park up at Pembroke Lodge* (a lovely canteen/tea-room which used to be the residence of our Prime Minister, Lord John Russell in 1847), and from there walk north to King Henry VIII’s mound, where on a clear day you can see 12 miles to St. Paul’s Cathedral! Or we head east across the road to the ponds.  *Note: Pembroke Lodge tends to bring out freshly made (warm!) scones at around 3pm daily, served with cream and jam.  There is nothing nicer than a sweet-treat after a bout of fresh air, I find.

On the other side of the park we love the Isabella Plantation which blooms with majestical (excuse the flamboyant language but if you’ve seen it you’ll understand) rhododendrons in May and is full of secret lakes and coves (perfect for treasure hunting and exploring).  There is so much space and things to climb up and over that my son just can’t get enough of it.

Of course any big park is going to have a big playground and Richmond Park’s playground just so happens to be a hop, skip and jump from Petersham Nurseries, which as Courtney mentioned is a fantastic restaurant. You can drop in to the cafe for a slab of cake and a cuppa without booking, which makes for the perfect treat after a long spell on the swings (my love of cake may become a bit of a feature in my posts).

If visiting the Park for the first time then the Royal Parks website has some great tips for planning where to go and what to see and do.

Mo. x