March 26, 2019

Two London Playgrounds Not to Miss with Kids

When we were in London we knew we wanted to try a few parks. Not only are parks a great way to balance sightseeing with kids by giving them some time and room to run around and burn energy, we had also heard that London has some pretty fantastic playgrounds in general.

The two we visited were both amazing and set in the most gorgeous of locations. We visited St. James’s Park Playground, which is in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, and the Diana Memorial Playground, which is set in Kensington Gardens near Kensington Palace where Prince William and Prince Harry reside with their families.

Both playgrounds were absolutely gorgeous, clean and designed with the best play areas for young children. And both had coffee shops for mom and dad. How great is that?!

St. James’s Park Playground

St. James’s Park is a large park across the street from Buckingham Palace, where the Queen of England resides. It’s open to the public and is a great place to walk through to see cherry blossoms, view a gorgeous lake and simply take it all in.

The boys loved this spider structure and climbing up to ride it. I loved that there was a natural area for them to explore.

The playground is located in the southwestern corner of the park, with the closest proximity to Buckingham Palace. We stopped at St. James’s Park Playground after viewing Buckingham Palace and a full morning of sightseeing and it was the perfect respite for the family.

Sand areas are always a huge hit with our boys and this one was especially great because it was large and there were so many elements to it. The bridge to walk across or crawl under (or both!), rocks to climb and burry and a lever system to lift and move sand.

We were there in the late winter/very early spring time before most of the trees had filled in and we had views of the palace from nearly every vantage point in the park.

There was also a great play structure area that challenged their strength and agility. They loved the rope to climb up an incline and the various bridges to climb across.

Connor also loved to watch the ducks swimming in the pond and try to get them to come to him. Spoiler alert: none of them came! Surprise, surprise!

We loved that this park was gated off and we could let the boys explore freely.

After you are done playing, make sure to walk east and go across the bridge over the lake to get a great view of Buckingham Palace.

Diana Memorial Playground

The Diana Memorial Playground is probably the most famous park in London. It’s definitely the only one I’ve heard about before going! The playground is located in the western corner of Kensington Gardens, near where Princess Diana used to live.

Named after the late Princess Diana, the park opened in the year 2000.

I have been fascinated by Princess Diana ever since I did an autobiography book report on her in the 4th grade, a few years after her death. So I was eager to check out the playground and see how it lived up to her generosity, cheerfulness and charisma.

We visited this playground after attending church on the other side of Hyde Park and enjoyed a lovely walk through the park and the gardens to get to the playground.

This park definitely lives up to its namesake and its reputation. It is definitely the best park I have ever taken my kids to. You enter through a gate, with a security guard no less, and are completely transported into a world of nature play and inspirational fun.

You first enter through the gate and on your left are swings and on the right, the coffee shop, but straight ahead you can’t miss the pirate ship. It’s this amazing, shipwrecked pirate ship with a mast that older kids can climb up, a captain’s room, quarters underneath the deck that kids can climb down into to dig in the sand or play in the shade.

Next to the pirate ship is a water play area, that was turned off while we were there given the weather, but it looked to be a super fun area when the water is turned on! If you are visiting in the summer, make sure your child is wearing clothes that can get wet and dry quickly, or bring an extra pair.

There are no fewer than seven individual play areas that are each fantastic. The favorites among my boys were the pirate ship, the agility play equipment and the musical instruments.

Straight back from the pirate ship is the agility area that again, is designed to peak children’s physical interests with balance, climbing and strength.

The playground is designed wonderfully with plenty of trees and nature in between each play area, which somewhat disguises how massive the playground is, but I imagine it also provides much needed shade during hotter months.

We loved going through the various tunnels and pathways to get to different play areas.

Connor’s very favorite area was the music area that was cornered away at the very back of the playground. He loved the different instruments and exploring the different sounds they made.

As you circle back toward the entrance there is a camp area with teepees and animal structures, though those were fenced off while we were there.

Behind the camp area, there was a large sand area. There were various machines, as my son called them, to play with the sand and a couple little sailboats to play with.

Oh and of course, this playground also has a coffee shop! Can American parks please catch up on providing snacks and drinks? Some businessman could make a lot of money investing in a few playground cafes!