St James’s Park
We visited St James’s park today with our two year old. It’s a lovely spring day in March and we arrived by 10am. I like to go into Central London as early as possible as it is quieter on the public transport and at the tourist attractions and parks.
What is there for toddlers?
The first thing Ethan wanted to do was chase the piegons. He currently loves doing this and managed to scare away all the piegons where we were sitting. My husband and I bought ourselves a cup of coffee and sat down on a bench in the warm sunshine while our little one burned off some steam and scared all the piegons away. We then went to look at the lake which is normally full with ducks and birds, including black swans and pelicans. Unfortunately it is being drained in March and April as they are cleaning the pond for the first time in 20 years! It was a shame as it’s normally great to see the birds. (If you’re interested normally they feed the pelicans at 2.30pm everyday). However, he loved looking at the machines which were doing the work. There was still a couple of white swans on the remaining small strips of water and a few birds hovering around.
We then headed for the playground. The playground has a lovely sandpit which is extremely popular with the babies and young children. Ethan (who is now 2 and 3 weeks) loves making sandcastles at the moment.
The playground also has swings which are great for babies and small children and a slide which is probably best suited for about ages 20 months and up. There are also wooden caterpillars which you can sit on, a seesaw and a bridge to walk over.
Overall, a great little playground.
We then had an ice cream and made our way back through the park. We actually spent an hour and a half in the warm sunshine of St James’s park.
Toilets and babychanging
There are toilets which are only opened for small children and babychanging right next to the playground. There are some more toilets for adults about 5 minutes away from the playground.
Eating and drinking.
There are lots of kiosks dotted around the park selling tea, coffee, snacks and ice cream. There’s also a restaurant called Inn the Park.The main restaurant is open from 5pm but there is also a self service cafe open throughout the day which is family friendly and serves sandwiches, drinks, snacks and all kinds of refreshments.
Website
St James’s Park