24 Hours in London with Kids

Friday, September 22


London is always a good idea, even when you have a short amount of time. As Kevin and I have previously spent time in London (want to see what a travel post in 2012 looked like? haha, blast from the past right here!), we decided that this trip we would just spend 1 day in London with the kids before we flew to Italy to meet up with my family. 

Lucky for us, some of our dear friends Matt and Esther live right in the heart of London and welcomed us into their home. We had a whirlwind few hours introducing our kids to this grand city, and here is what we did! 

We took the underground to Green Park, which is the closest stop to Buckingham Palace. We walked our double stroller right up to the gates of Buckingham Palace and let the kids peek at the guards. They thought the guards were hilarious! While it may seem insignificant, I'm really thankful my kids were able to see the Palace while the queen lived there. It feels special that they experienced her in office before she passed away. 

From Buckingham Palace we walked through St. James Park so the kids could see some of the sites we had studied in homeschool before we left...namely Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It always takes my breath away to see such iconic sites right before my eyes. What a gift travel is, and then to see it through the eyes of my children is a double blessing! We also squeezed our entire family in to one of those iconic red telephone booths which was quite a feat, haha!  

We walked across the bridge (which is an iconic spot for a picture!) and the kids soaked in the sites of the London Eye (and asked to ride it about 100 times, in which we said "no" because it's quite expensive! haha). Right past the London eye is an incredible park and playground called Jubilee Gardens. We let the kids play there for quite a while. Wow, what a view from this playground! 

Then we took the underground back to Islington where we were staying with our friends and ended the evening with delicious food and friendship at their house! It was a short but very sweet trip! 

However, stay tuned because my mom and I are taking my kids back to London this October and we plan to do more kid related things in London:) 

As usual, if you have anymore questions on traveling with kids, don't hesitate to reach out via comment, email or IG (@hope_engaged)























Bourton-on-the-Water with Kids, Cotswolds England

Tuesday, August 1


I'm convinced Bourton-on-the-Water is the best home base when traveling with kids in The Cotswolds. Besides being an absolutely adorable little village, it is overflowing with kid friendly things to do.

Bouton-on-the-Water sits on the River Windrush, and has the most adorable little bridges throughout the village. In the summer, when we stayed there, kids were creek walking as the water is very shallow. Every evening we walked down to the green on the river and had a picnic. It was so dreamy. 

The Cotswolds with Kids




Without a doubt, the Cotswolds in England is one of my absolute favorite places in the world.

I'm not sure it it's the honey colored cottages, the quaint villages that exude charm at every twist and turn, or the friendliness of the people, but every trip I've taken to the Cotswolds has been magic:)

The Cotswolds is actually a region in central south-west England, not an actual city. It is characterized by rolling hills, and the golden colored Cotswold stone that sets each village apart. For much of its illustrious history, the Cotswolds has been known for its wool, which brought the wealth much of the city was built upon. Today, you can still see sheep dotting the hillsides in the region! 




On this trip, our family stayed two nights in Burton-on-the-Water! You can read more about our time in Bourton-on-the-Water here (including the link to our Airbnb Cottage!) What a gorgeous little town and extremely kid friendly (which is why we picked it). We could walk all around the little hamlet and we picnicked along the green by the river a few evenings in a row. The river, flanked with many stone bridges around the city, was shallow enough for kids to walk around and play in. You can read more about why Bourton-on-the-Water is great with kids here. 





Bourton-on-the Water is also centrally located to the many places we wanted to explore with the kids. Some of the things we did in the area...

1) Explored my favorite Cotswolds town of Stow-on-the Wold. See our time in Stow here.





2) Visited Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park- this lovely park has tons of animals to feed and see, playgrounds galore, trampolines, and little trails to walk around. My kids loved it! They didn't want to leave. Open 10:30am-5pm, you can purchase tickets at the door. 




4) Spent a morning in Lower Slaughter (a wonderful little hamlet to walk around with kids). You can see see our time in Lower Slaughter here! 




You can read about 5 of my favorite Cotswolds villages with kids right here! 

We've taken the kids to the Cotswolds a few times now, and actually love it so much we are headed there in October for a few days to do some more exploring:) If you're been following along on IG, you know that I'm currently writing a children's book series. My second book is set in the Cotswolds, so it's been really fun doing research and meeting new friends there!

If you have any specific questions regarding taking your family to the Cotswolds, don't hesitate to comment, email or send me a message on IG (@hope_engaged)! I'd love to help you!