Are you able to ever have too many doughnuts? It’s a query I used to be severely contemplating as we reached the half-way level of a really enjoyable donut strolling tour of London with youngsters.
evaluate/incorporates affiliate hyperlinks*
In the event you’re questioning what a donut tour entails, it’s two hours discovering a few of London’s lengthy historical past as you stroll round Borough, Southwark and alongside the Thames in the direction of Tower Bridge… punctuated by stops to choose up a number of the metropolis’s finest donuts.
Some of the uncommon strolling excursions of London with youngsters, it’s presently the one UK location from the Underground Donut Tour, which has comparable experiences in Chicago, Boston, New York and Miami – its first location abroad, London has since been joined by a tour in Dublin too.
And our information Dan (together with trainee information Bhavani) was a mine of knowledge and trivia alongside the way in which – to not point out offering helpful donut suggestions.
After a long time residing within the capital and visiting London with youngsters (from my very own childhood to exploring with my daughter), you may suppose that there’d be nothing new for me to find on a strolling tour of London.
However with 1000’s of years of historical past alongside the banks of the Thames right here, there’s at all times one thing new to seek out out about my residence metropolis.
Beginning by St John’s Bakery, close to Borough tube station, we munched via our first of 4 doughnuts of the tour – my choose: raspberry jam, my daughter: chocolate – and discovered how the serene church reverse had hyperlinks to the riotous medieval Southwark truthful.
And that’s riotous by 14th century requirements, not by fashionable ones, in order that they’d have been indulging in far quite a lot of candy treats… proper up till the Puritans got here to energy and stopped all of the revelling.
They’re nonetheless uncovering extra proof of London’s historic inhabitants too. Deliberate constructing work close by revealed the stays of a Roman ‘mansio’ – the equal of an ultra-luxurious ‘lodge’ for high-ranking Romans visiting Britannia.
By the point we reached our second of the donut retailers, Doughnut Time, we’d additionally noticed the oldest pub in Southwark with a reasonably extra fashionable view of the Shard behind.
Be ready for a a lot harder selection right here, by the way in which, though the biscoff-flavoured David Hasselhoff is at all times one among our favourites.
The George Inn was as soon as (most likely) Shakespeare’s native, whereas Charles Dickens definitely stopped in for a drink, and Chaucer’s pilgrims might effectively have handed via on the way in which to Canterbury.
Alongside the road close to Borough Market, yow will discover extra slender historic buildings squeezed in between the more moderen additions – look out for the Grade II listed facade of the outdated hop elements, whereas the grandiose Hop Alternate lies only a road away, reminders of London’s lengthy brewing historical past.
And across the nook, Borough Market itself, one among my favorite locations to browse and nibble in the entire metropolis. Regardless of having stopped at two donut locations already, the scent of all of the wonderful meals was making us ravenous.
Evidently my good intentions to only have a chunk or two of every donut and to tempo myself have been already crumbling within the face of temptation! A phrase of advice: for those who’re additionally planning this strolling tour of London with youngsters, it’s effectively price establishing some floor guidelines – particularly because the tour runs earlier than lunch!
The market itself is the location of donut cease quantity three at Bread Forward bakery, which had a number of the most eye-catching flavour mixtures and decorations – honeycomb & salted caramel received out over rhubarb & custard, or a tempting coconut coated concoction (but it surely was a close-run factor).
if in case you have area for lunch afterwards, there are road meals stalls galore, in addition to all of the market stalls inside to browse. By some means we discovered abdomen area for a couple of cheese samples as effectively (and I couldn’t resist some to take residence).
Borough market itself has its personal lengthy historical past. It’s thought there was a market round this space for a thousand years, and the primary documented point out dates again to 1276 – when, as Dan identified, the Byzantine emperor nonetheless dominated a lot of what’s now Turkey and Greece.
Wandering across the streets close by, we handed the ruins of Winchester Palace, the previous residence of the Bishops of Winchester, which was as soon as the location of a marriage between a Scottish king and and English princess.
Across the nook, the Golden Hinde, the reproduction of the Tudor galleon which Sir Francis Drake sailed world wide – and the place we had our personal reminiscences of sleeping on board as a part of the Evening Voyage, in addition to our latest Escape from the Golden Hinde.
With another sugar rush forward, we weaved our means alongside the Thames, discovering the story of why Norwegian king and saint, Olaf, is commemorated close to London Bridge – and what that has to do with a nursery rhyme.
Plus the story of a really Victorian scandal, the place a mathematical miscalculation and a few surprising flashes of ankle meant the platforms at London Bridge station needed to be rebuilt.
Whereas the doughnut tour doesn’t cowl an enormous quantity of distance, it’s a superb reminder that peeling away the layers of London’s historical past means you’ll be able to at all times uncover one thing new, with quirky details galore.
And as we headed to our last cease close to Tower Bridge, a last reminder that this specific tour wasn’t simply filled with enjoyable trivia, it was – after all – filled with donuts, with our fourth candy deal with from Crosstown Doughnuts.
As ever, the toughest half was attempting to determine between a number of the fabulous flavours – peanut butter & blackcurrant, Sri Lankan cinnamon or blood orange have been only a few of the choices on supply that day. Choices, selections…
A very good job actually that I had my 10-year-old alongside for the journey, as we solved the issue of how to decide on by having eight separate flavours between us over the course of our donut tour of London.
And the reply as to if you’ll be able to ever have too many doughnuts? Clearly, it’s no – however I made a decision which you could have too many doughnuts earlier than lunch. The answer? Convey a pair residence to save lots of for later!
Must know: Donut tour of London with youngsters
Guide tickets for the Underground Donut tour of London right here – grownup tickets price £55, little one tickets price £33.84, together with the price of 4 donuts plus drinks (espresso/tea and water).
The tour runs 4 days per week, at 10am on Thursday to Sunday, and begins at St John’s Bakery close to Borough tube station.
It finishes at Crosstown Doughnuts in Extra London Place, not removed from London Bridge station, and the tour primarily takes place round Borough Excessive Road, Borough Market, Southwark, Bankside and London Bridge.
For extra issues to do close to Tower Bridge with youngsters, take a look at my high picks
The tour lasts roughly two hours however is versatile. We spent round two and a half hours, together with a while to browse Borough Market and style cheese – if you need to end promptly, the guides usually verify initially however in any other case, allow them to know.
Even higher, go away a while free afterwards to go again to Borough Marketplace for lunch (if in case you have room!)
In the event you’re taking the Underground Donut tour of London with youngsters, as I used to be, it’s price setting a couple of floor guidelines earlier than you set off. The doughnuts aren’t small, and consuming all 4 in a single go is a problem even for an grownup abdomen: they’re all boxed/bagged and also you do get a bag to hold them residence in so there’s no fear that they’ll be wasted!
In the event you don’t fancy doughnuts, take a look at a number of the different strolling excursions of London with youngsters, together with different concepts for a meals strolling tour, London points of interest and extra family-friendly issues to do in London right here.
Disclosure: This submit incorporates affiliate hyperlinks – any purchases you make are unaffected however I’ll obtain a small fee. My tour was free for the needs of evaluate, courtesy of Viator: the selection of tour and all opinions (together with which flavour donut to attempt to whether or not it is best to eat 4 earlier than lunch or not) are my very own.
Pictures copyright MummyTravels
