🧁 7 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (18–19 October)

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Hi DILFs!

A lovely chap called Anthony emailed me the other day to say nice things about this newsletter (feel free to do the same), and he told me he’s Artistic Director of the Wimbledon International Music Festival – which happens to be running next month.

For three weeks, the festival rolls out concerts, talks and workshops across classical, jazz and folk – plus some evenings that pair French or Spanish music with the appropriate wine. There are also the more left-field offerings, like pianist Jonathan Ferrucci playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations while the audience looks at projected photos of him doing yoga. (I promise I haven’t made that up.)

The most relevant event for us lot, however, is the Family Concert on Sunday 2 November, called Stan & Mabel and the Race for Space. Music-loving dog Stan and his feline companion Mabel are joined by all their animal friends from the School for Wild and Dangerous Animals as they search for a safe place to call home – picking up a working knowledge of the orchestra along the way.

It may not be the most true-to-life tale on earth, but just go with it: it’s fun, educational (pitched at ages 3–12), and comes with a full orchestra playing Mozart, Elgar and Tomlinson among others.

Aaaaand Lovely Chap Anthony™ has offered one lucky reader FOUR tickets to see Stan & Mabel and the Race for Space. There are two performances on 2 November – one at 12:00 and the other at 15:00 – and the winner will get to choose between them.

To enter, just answer this simple question below:

Anyone with the correct answer will be entered into the draw, and the winner picked at random.

And now for the goings-on this weekend…

Enjoy!

Jeff xx

1: Step inside a gallery of haunted landscapes, anxious shadows and woodcuts that glare back at you

Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (and daily until 22 March)
British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
FREE

If the British Museum is sweating a bit, I can understand why. While some of its peers have been rolling out ridiculously cool and wildly successful exhibitions – Flowers at the Saatchi, Tim Burton at the Design Museum, pretty much everything at the V&A – the BM’s recent efforts have landed with less of a bang. (Yes, it gets the Bayeux Tapestry next year, but babysitting some of Macron’s embroidery is hardly the kind of move that makes you one of the cool kids.)

Which might be why the museum is now reaching for something a bit more zeitgeisty, a bit more pop-culture-adjacent. Nordic noir is what they’re calling it: a neat way of saying, "You liked the Nordic noir of books and boxsets – The Killing, Wallander, The Bridge – so here’s the art-world version." The label has been retrofitted onto works that already existed, which is a jolly clever way of making them feel part of a cultural moment.

The British Museum’s interpretation of Nordic noir in the art world is – if I’ve understood correctly – all about darkness, melancholy and the sort of brooding unease that makes you wonder if the furniture has started plotting against you. Parts of the exhibition are dedicated to what I’ll call “general anxiety”: murky figures, haunted landscapes and post-war paranoia. Edvard Munch, who never saw a shadow he didn’t want to turn into a psychological crisis, is here. As is Mamma Andersson, whose landscapes look like somewhere you’d rather not be after dark.

And then there’s the more overtly political stuff, like feminism, Sámi rights, Cold War dread and – most recently – climate change panic. Olafur Eliasson chips in with a watercolour made using actual glacial meltwater, which is the most Nordic thing imaginable short of serving it with pickled herring.

It’s all quite small-scale and intimate: everything here is a “work on paper”, which means prints, drawings and watercolours, all neatly framed and tucked behind glass. No mist machines pumping out the scent of pine forests, no trapdoors dropping you into a fjord, and no AI-generated Viking shouting “Skål!” every time you move. Just you, a frame, and a very uneasy-looking woodcut.

Will it pull in the punters? I hope so: the Egyptian mummies and Rosetta Stone could do with five minutes’ peace.

Find out more: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nordic-noir-works-paper-edvard-munch-mamma-andersson

While you’re there…

👍️ You’re close to two historical and beautiful squares in London. The Bloomsbury Squares website provides lots of background (and information relating to cafes, events, etc.) about Bloomsbury Square and Russell Square.

2: Discover how pop-up theatre and a gentle soundtrack can turn paper into thunder and snowflakes

The Goose and Mrs Frost
Saturday 18 October, 10:30–12:30
Chats Palace Arts Centre, 42–44 Brooksby's Walk, E9 6DF
£15 per person
Age guidance: 3–8

What this show lacks in number of on-stage actors, it makes up for in number of moralistic messages. I don’t know how it can cover “the changes in the seasons, working together to make amends, and the transformative power of kindness” in a 50-minute solo show, but I’m not going to worry because… what exactly am I going to do – voice my concerns with production and tell them to weave the “kindness” message into an encore instead? Right, exactly.

And anyway, it sounds fantastic.

It’s staged as a kind of paper theatre, so instead of big scenery changes you get cut-outs, pop-ups and puppets doing the work. It’s all about Mrs Holly Frost, who runs the weather from her cottage in the clouds – when she bakes the sun shines, when she hangs up the washing it rains, and when she shakes out her bedding the snow starts to fall. Whole seasons appear from folded paper, which is probably the most low-maintenance special effect you’ll ever see.

The story is told mostly through visuals, so even very young children can follow what’s happening. A specially composed soundtrack runs alongside, giving the paper sets and puppets more atmosphere than you’d expect.

It’s gentle, handmade and just the right side of peculiar.

Find out more: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/luminous-tales-presents-the-goose-and-mrs-frost-tickets-1477106518359

3: Introduce your kids to galloping overtures and cartoon soundtracks in one of London’s loveliest churches

Family Classics at St Martin-in-the-Fields
Saturday 18 October, 14:30 (and also on Saturday 1 November, 14:30)
St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 4JJ
£12.50 per person
Age guidance: suitable for all

Crikey. Well I never. I think I might actually believe in the power of prayer.

I’ve been mentally pleading with… god, maybe? The universe? Cilla Black?… to get St Martin-in-the-Fields to do something like this. It’s such a lovely venue, with an equally lovely (if wildly overpriced) cafe, and I’ve always been flabbergasted that it hasn’t copied the Barbican, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall or Wigmore Hall by putting on more family-friendly orchestral performances.

And now it’s happened, after YEARS of what I thought were one-sided chats in my head about my perfect day within a quarter-mile radius: an exhibition at the National Gallery, lunch at Marugame Udon on Strand, a short concert at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and a cuppa and cake in the Crypt cafe. I’ve peaked. I’ve officially peaked.

The concerts themselves are a zippy 45 minutes, filled with bite-sized pieces children will actually recognise: Morning Mood from Peer Gynt (aka the “sunrise” music from every cartoon ever), In the Hall of the Mountain King (you’ll know it when you hear it), plus chunks from Carnival of the Animals, Peter and the Wolf, and the William Tell Overture. If your child doesn’t start galloping when that one kicks in, check for batteries.

Next I’ll be praying for a daytime pop disco with all the atmosphere of a Girls Aloud concert – but with Pom-Bear available at the bar and decent baby-changing facilities in the bathroom. It’ll happen. I can feel it.

Find out more: https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/calendar/family-classics

While you’re there…

👍️ Cafe in the Crypt is an underground, brick-vaulted canteen-style cafe below the famous St Martin-in-the-Fields church; it’s lined with historic tombstones and I’m beginning to realise that this description is making it sound much more spooky than it is. I also think I’ve used up my quota of hyphens for the year.

In reality, the cafe is beautiful, atmospheric and cosy – with not a ghost in sight (or sense, I guess). The food is homely, hearty and any other comforting words you can think of – but please don’t for a moment be tempted into thinking I also mean “cheap”. (The sides in particular are extortionate. I once went with a friend over Christmas, and it cost him £4 for a side of two underweight pigs in threadbare blankets.) If you go for cake and a cuppa rather than a full meal, you may still think, “HOW MUCH???” but at least you’ll have a home to live in next month.

👍️ The National Gallery’s newish exhibition, Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists, is meant to be fab. It features works from pointillism masters including Seurat, Van Gogh, Signac and Pissarro, and I’m so keen to make it there soon. Let me know what you think if you get to it before me!

4: Climb aboard a double-decker for sandwiches, puns and vintage Care Bears with a spooky twist

Care Bears Halloween Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Saturday and Sunday, 12:30, 15:00 and 17:30 (and various other days until 1 November)
Departs from Victoria Coach Station, 164 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 9TP
Adults £45, children £40
Age guidance: 5+

Every Saturday morning for the past two months, my three-year-old plonks himself on the sofa while I jab the “search by voice” button on the remote and enunciate “CARE BEARS NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE” into its speaker like I’m summoning a spirit. YouTube then serves up the one and only OG Care Bears playlist, and the two of us settle in to watch the same episodes I watched on Saturday mornings as a kid.

Most people aren’t watching OG 1985 Care Bears. They may have dabbled in the 2019 reboot, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, but the fact the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 tells you how well that went down.

No need to worry: 2025 has been officially declared the Year of the Care Bear. There’s a new film on the way (admittedly not until 2027, for the 45th anniversary), and in the meantime the brand is going big on licensing. We’re talking arts-and-crafts kits, toys, beauty sets, “Make-A-Care Bear”, clothing, and an app promising “talkative, digital companions” in which each bear has its own personality. There are also “elevated collaborations with fashion houses, chocolatiers, artists and sculptors, creating halo moments that shine a spotlight on the brand’s cultural reach”. I was with them up to that point; now I feel like I need a shower.

One collaboration that makes a lot of sense is with Brigit’s Bakery – the people behind the Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour, the Paddington Bear Afternoon Tea Bus Tour, the Paw Patrol Afternoon Tea Bus Tour… you get the gist. Their Care Bears version is limited-time and Halloween-themed, which basically means sandwiches called things like “Eek-tastic cucumber”, and cakes like “Spooktacular chocolate brownie” and “Trick-or-Sweet Bear’s orange macaron”. In other words: normal afternoon tea with puns.

The bus itself does the usual Brigit’s Bakery thing: you trundle past London landmarks while an on-board entertainer runs Halloween games and surprises. Everyone goes home with a limited-edition Care Bears Halloween travel cup – which sounds like the sort of freebie to start a tantrum over, but I can confirm from experience that Brigit’s Bakery travel cups are genuinely prized treasures in the under-10s market.

Find out more: https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/care-bears-halloween

5: Try your hand at block printing and take home a paisley design on your very own bag

Family Day: Paisley - A seed-shaped traveller
Saturday 18 October, 13:00–13:30, 13:45–14:15, 14:45–15:15 or 15:30–16:00
William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, E17 4PP
FREE (but please book a time slot in advance)
Age guidance: 5+

Sometimes a collaboration makes so much sense you almost forget to be suspicious. (Unlike, say, Airbnb offering an overnight stay at the Louvre.) This one really works, though. Liberty of London and William Morris go way back – to the 19th century, when Arthur Liberty commissioned Morris to design textiles that are still part of the store’s classics today.

Morris was determinately persisting with hand block-printing and natural dyes while everyone else was moving to chemical shortcuts, and Liberty was one of the few commercial outlets that tolerated – even celebrated – his preference for such painstaking methods. The result was prints like Strawberry Thief, which took about twelve geological eras to produce and is still one of their best-known designs.

That Liberty/Morris connection is the backdrop for the William Morris Gallery’s new exhibition, Women in Print, which celebrates the women who’ve been designing Liberty fabrics for the past 150 years. William Morris himself obviously wasn’t a woman, but he made space for them to haul textile printing out of the domestic sphere and into serious art with a paycheque. His daughter May Morris pushed it further, founding the Women’s Guild of Arts, and then Liberty’s female designers walked straight through the doors they opened.

To launch the new exhibition, the gallery is running a family day with artist Zahra Amber, who’ll introduce kids to one of Liberty’s most recognisable patterns: the Paisley motif. Its history runs from Persia to Kashmir and then across Europe, and Liberty has made it one of its signatures.

Children will hear the story behind the motif and then get to try their hand at block printing themselves – the same technique Morris stuck to when everyone else was cutting corners. Instead of just looking at fabric behind glass, they’ll be inky-fingered, stamping patterns onto paper and onto a drawstring bag they can take home. William Morris would probably approve – although he’d insist on natural dyes and a three-week turnaround.

Find out more: https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/event/family-day-paisley

While you’re there…

👍️ Check out the inspo for the family activity – the Women in Print exhibition, which looks at the history of fabrics at Liberty of London. You’ll see iconic patterns from acclaimed designers who “have been – and continue to be – at the heart of Liberty’s creative innovations and ongoing relevance today”. There’ll be garments, fabrics, original designs, film and historic photos to take in.

👍️ Deeny’s Cafe at the gallery looks AMAZING. Instead of the bog-standard salads, flimsy sandwiches and overpriced cakes, this place focuses on what we actually want to eat: toasties. And the toastie ingredients are insane.

6–7: More and more!

Comedy Club 4 Kids
Sunday 19 October, 12:00 and 14:30
artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, N12 0GA
£13.75 per person
Age guidance: 6+

“Since 2005, the Comedy Club 4 Kids has been getting the best stand-ups and sketch acts from the international circuit to do their thing for an audience of children and their families… but without the rude bits!

A decade later, the company has expanded from one London residency to being countrywide, running shows and workshops all over the UK from Peebles to Portsmouth, even producing a book on how to write and perform stand-up.

The show is family friendly, but without any patronising idiocy. In fact, it’s just like a normal comedy club, but it’s on in the day, kids are allowed in, and thus there is a higher than usual chance of heckles like “why is that your face!?”

Anansi & The Lost Sun
Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 and 14:00 (and various other dates and times until 2 November)
Puppet Theatre Barge - Little Venice, opposite 35 Blomfield Rd, W9 2PF
Adults £15, 21​–16 £12
Age guidance: 3+

“Anansi and the Lost Sun is a West African Tale told with puppetry, spoken word & traditional West African music.

‘Darkness covers the face of the land.
Lion needed someone to bring back the Sun.
Who will succeed?
The Powerful Eagle?
The Clever Monkey?
Or Anansi and his mates?’

The ‘Anansi’ stories are humorous, lively, and community-led stories that traveled with enslaved African people to the Caribbean and then to the UK with the Windrush generation. They are part of our multicultural British heritage and have a universal appeal to all people.”