Woodland walks and takeaway treats: 9 great ideas for half-term in lockdown London
As we approach another half-term under restrictions, it’s tempting given the temperature to hunker down indoors, but brave the cold and step outside, for now more than ever we need the spirit-boosting effects of the great outdoors, whether that’s in wetlands or woodlands or urban landscapes.
Let’s look on the bright side – last summer London was declared the first National Park City in the world. An astonishing 33 per cent of it is public green space, with eight royal parks and around 3,000 more non-royal parks to explore. And with cafés and restaurants given the go-ahead to serve takeaways, that family walk with a warming hot chocolate is still possible.
Yes, we may be restricted to staying within our local areas, but there are still things to do, if you look hard enough. Here are ways to get outside and make the most of our great city this half term.
Pick up takeaway treats from Borough Market
Blessed are the cheesemakers and sourdough bakers, for they shall remain open – one ray of sunshine amid the lockdown. Head to Bermondsey, the capital’s artisan heart of al fresco eating and drinking, where innovative chefs and producers are creating some of London’s most delicious food. Borough Market (boroughmarket.org.uk) traders are selling their wares as usual on weekdays and Saturdays, with many of the shops and restaurants around the market hall serving takeaways. Cooking keeping you going during lockdown? Stock up on store cupboard delights such as pretty tinned sardines and decadent balsamic vinegars from Spanish deli Brindisa.
At weekends, follow the sizzles and scents to Ropewalk alley, home to Maltby Street Market (maltby.st; opens 10-5 Sat, 11-4 Sun), where cuisines range from Venezuelan to Ethiopian. Warm your hands with Craft Coffee’s single-origin espressos (they serve tea too), then seek out Finest Fayre’s gooey-centred Scotch eggs. Note that some much-loved traders have chosen to shut during this lockdown so check before you visit.
Insider tip: Bored of Borough? Seek out Bermondsey’s latest foodie hub Spa Terminus (spa-terminus.co.uk), hidden away in the railway arches of Dockley Road.
A subterranean green trail through north London
Walk the three-mile length of Parkland Walk (parkland-walk.org.uk), a former railway line which connected Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace, and now a green-canopied nature trail sunken below street level. Start at Muswell Hill, where the first section takes you down to Highgate Woods. Once you’re out of the woods at Highgate Station, rejoin the trail just after The Boogaloo (the bar is closed, but they’re still broadcasting 24/7 on BoogalooRadio.com), which runs past abandoned platforms and through Victorian tunnels painted with bright street art.
Step out in the West End with Ian McKellen
Group tours are out, of course, but some may anyway prefer going under their own steam. On the self-guided Theatreland tour, you’re steered around the West End by the resonant baritone of the lord of the boards, Sir Ian McKellen, whose insider knowledge of London’s theatres and stage doors shines a whole new light on a part of the city most natives think they know inside out. Download Theatreland self-guided tour at voicemap.me – it’s free to download, but consider making a donation to London’s struggling theatres.
Insider tip: Shakespeare performances are off for the time being, but you can tune in online to the RSC’s new family-focused series: Michael Morpurgo's Tales From Shakespeare. The former Children's Laureate has updated five classic plays, including Macbeth and The Winter's Tale, and placed characters in contemporary settings. Each play is suitable for children aged six to 16. For adults, check out Soho Theatre On Demand (sohotheatre.com) for the best of new theatre, comedy and cabaret streamed straight to your living room.
A secret folly (and zoo!) in Hampstead
There can be few pleasures in London more spirit-lifting than a good old yomp across Hampstead Heath (at least, few free pleasures). Head to the top of Parliament Hill for one of the best views of London, or delve into woodland up towards Kenwood House which feels like one of the few places you can really get lost in nature in London. Here, on Hampstead’s West Heath, you may happen across the Pergola – which feels like discovering the Secret Garden. This fanciful Victorian folly, with its colonnaded walkways and stone staircases, was created by Lord Leverhulme and Thomas Mawson at the turn of the last century as part of the landscaped Hill Garden. In springtime it is absurdly pretty, covered in wisteria; but there’s an ineffable romance to it on misty winter days, when it feels wilder and you may have the place to yourself.
Insider tip: A few minutes’ walk across West Heath brings you to Golders Hill Park and another surprise that’s great for kids: a pocket-sized zoo, which as well as many birds has ring-tailed lemurs, maras, and fallow deer.
Easy e-bike tour of London landmarks
Seize the opportunity to explore your city without the crowds by taking a trip around the London landmarks you would normally avoid, on quieter roads than you’ll ever see them again. What joy, pedalling through the deserted streets of Soho or Bloomsbury, or down an empty Mall to the unthronged gates of Buckingham Palace. Try the Thames Cycle Path, which takes you from the Tower of London to Big Ben along the north bank of the river, with views of the Shard, the Globe, the Tate Modern, Somerset House and the London Eye; or Cycle Superhighway 8 from Westminster, winding along the river via Tate Britain and Battersea Power Station to Wandsworth.
Insider tip: No bike of your own? No problem: hop on a Lime (li.me) or a Freebike (london.freebike.com; note, not actually free) electricity-assisted ebike.
Birds flying East
Walthamstow Wetlands (walthamstowwetlands.com), a 500-acre nature reserve, opened three years ago, and is home to a wide range of birds and other wildlife (there are bats in the tower, living alongside the area’s massive swift population). Even if you’re not bothered about birds, the reserve is a wonderful wide-open space to get some perspective on a walk. The café, set in one of the site’s listed historic buildings, is still serving takeaway food and drink.
Insider tip: For more of a work-out, combine the Wetlands with a longer walk along the River Lea, down through Walthamstow Marshes where cows graze in the meadows, through Hackney Marshes and to the Lea Valley River Park nature reserve in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Park.
A stroll around Kew Gardens
While the temperate and other glasshouses are closed, the gardens at Kew (kew.org) remain open, and anyway the wonders of Kew have always been found outdoors rather than in. Wander among the arboretum’s 14,000 trees, some of which date back to the 18th century; discover the grass garden; and walk across water on the Sackler Crossing, John Pawson’s gently curving bridge over the five-acre lake. Be sure to book ahead if you want to visit.
Insider tip: The restaurants are closed, but you can still fuel up on food and drink from a handful of takeaway pop-ups, including barista coffee, posh burgers and home-cooked hot food outside the Orangery.
Walk The Line through East London
The Line (the-line.org) is London’s first public art and sculpture trail, so named because it follows the Greenwich Meridian line from Stratford to Greenwich. Start at Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit, the twisted helter-skelter tower (and now the country’s highest slide, currently closed) beside the Olympic Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Park, and follow the Line down through East London, via works by artists including Antony Gormley, Richard Wilson and Gary Hume, all the way to the O2.
Insider tip: En route, East London roastery Perky Blenders x Goodvibes (wegotgoodvibes.com) are serving up warm welcomes and top-notch coffee blends out of their hatch on Royal Victoria Dock, along with locally made soups, snacks and lunches; while moored on the River Lea at Hackney Wick, beside the Olympic Stadium, is one of London’s best-loved places to eat, floating restaurant Barge East (bargeeast.com), serving buttermilk chicken burgers and, on Sundays, roast beef buns with all the trimmings. They have also recently launched a weekend produce market, selling organic fruit and veg, plus fresh bread and cheeses.
Pétanque in the park
We may not be able to go to France, or even to the French House, but we can still play pétanque. There are various boules pitches dotted around London’s many parks which are free to use – you just have to turn up with your own boules set. Find pitches on Primrose Hill, tucked away behind the children’s playground on Prince Albert Road (available during daylight hours); on Parliament Hill near the tennis court; in Queen’s Park; and in the optimistically named Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, home to the London Pétanque Club.
Insider tip: Worked up an appetite? On a quiet street in Primrose Hill, ace pub the Princess of Wales is operating a takeaway service (020 7722 0354; lovetheprincess.com).
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