welcome!

Truthfully, I missed writing. And I figured with such a long time away, it was time for a fresh start. So, welcome to the new blog (promise almost everything’s the same- just a much-needed upgrade)! And I decided to start things off with a post dedicated to one of my favourite cities. Enjoy!

I may be biased, but a summer in London is somewhat unbeatable. As a born and raised Londoner, all my summers have been spent in this big, beautiful city. I’ve been lucky enough to travel and spend parts of my summer holidays in wonderful places abroad but some of the best parts of the June to August months are when I’m back home. In the past couple months, I’ve been repeatedly told that this summer will probably be the best one yet, as it’s my last year of school- with my A-Levels having finished on June 14th. It is undeniably my longest summer ever, stretching from the warm nights in the middle of June to the cooler more bearable September days. I wanted to use this post to share some of my favourite summery London activities that I will definitely be doing this year, have done in previous ones and in ones to follow. As a small disclaimer, I know for a fact that these experiences are available in other cities- this is just my list of the ones you can find in London if you’re looking :)

My favourite, undoubtedly so, has to be open air cinemas. Especially in the summer as it’s one of the safer seasons where it doesn’t rain quite as often as it normally does (despite recent weather) in London. There’s just something so much more fun about sitting outside in the cooler evenings with a picnic and enjoying one of your favourite films rather than being inside during these warm months. My personal favourite outdoor cinema providers are Luna Cinema, Adventure Cinema, Screen on the Canal (although closed for now) and the Rooftop Club. I will say that ticket prices are steeper than that of a regular cinema experience but I do believe it is a worthy summer event that’s fun to do with friends or family even just once- which seems to be a tradition my mum and I have done the last 3 years. This summer however not only have my mum and I done our annual outdoor cinema outing, but I recently watched Top Gun: Maverick with a group of friends to celebrate getting our A-Level results and my dad and I went to the Rooftop Club in Peckham to watch his favourite movie: You’ve Got Mail. Both were amazing experiences… until we got soaked at the Top Gun showing about halfway through the film, but it was fun nevertheless.

My second recommendation on how to spend a summer in London is simply just relaxing in one of the many green spaces around London. All my best friend and I have done this whole summer is get coffee, walk to our favourite park and lay there chatting or reading for a good couple of hours. One of the many things I love about this city is how spoilt for choice I am for parks and small green areas even in just my local area… and coffee shops. I will say I am in no way, shape or form a coffee expert but I do think I’ve found some decent cafes and coffee shops in London. My personal favourites are Elsewhere, Sweet Carolina, Daisy, Monmouth Coffee Company and Kuro Coffee. In addition, some of the best parks in London I think are Brockwell Park, Hyde Park and Primrose Hill.

Thirdly, this is a newfound hobby of mine. Pottery painting. I don’t know what it is about this activity but I’ve grown to really enjoy it. Some great locations to do this is at Your Creative Space in Earlsfield and Art4Fun in West Hampstead. The experience includes selecting an item to paint and then painting whatever you want on your clay canvas. It then takes a couple weeks to be fired and then voila, you’re free to take it home and use it for decoration or everyday use. Pottery painting takes place indoors so this activity is not limited to summer, I just think this is a great idea to do with friends in the summertime- as I did first try this back in January and doing it again in July just felt more fun… not sure why. I think I automatically associate fun creative activities with the summer as it’s always a much more cheerful time of year. Anyways, pottery painting in my opinion is a great activity to do, once again, with friends or family as you can chill and paint whatever you desire- whether you have artistic talent or not.

I know summer is coming to an end, which is why I wanted to publish this now as a way to inspire ideas of how to savour these fleeting summery days as summer is always my favourite time of year. Plus, as mentioned I don’t necessarily think these ideas are limited to summer- just sometimes more enjoyable in the warmer months such as the Rooftop Club or pottery painting which is available all year round. Hope you enjoyed <3