Cultured Kids #64 Linkie : February 2021

Welcome to February 2021 edition of Cultured Kids, feels once again as day 176,542 of London lockdown  ! What have we been up to in the last months? Back in December we have been super lucky, on the 12th travel was allowed and we made it to Seychelles with a 48 hour private negative PCR test and no quarantining requirement once back (FCDO link in here for updates).  3 weeks in Seychelles felt super safe and blissful: all Seychellois are wearing masks and following well the distancing, whilst the hotels we stayed with have adapted gracefully and safely to the new pandemic realities. Special mentions to Four Seasons and Hilton Labriz Seychelles where one could quarantine beautifully, work remotely and re-charge so much needed batteries.

CulturedKids February 2021 – Italian Gardens Hyde Park

Once back to UK, January 2021 has been packed : family loss, tones of work and more recently kids and us positive with Covid – London sadly has been very liberal with masks still not worn everywhere in shops, food deliveries and so on. Thankfully we are now well on the mend however mourning pretty much every other day our loss of rights, liberties and cultural options.

Cultured Kids Fukushima Garden in the snow

Cultured Kids Langley Park Arboretum

London lockdown no 3 feels to many of us the hardest, especially when this long tunnel has little light in sight. It also feels surreal how France and Italy manage to keep schools and restaurants open for lunches, whilst all is shut in the UK. Skiing in Switzerland and Sweden has been possible safely since December, Italy will also open the slopes February 15th whilst holidays have been made illegal in UK  – there is little consensus and little makes sense to so many of us.

Cultured Kids Osterley Park

Cultured Kids Leighton House Garden

February half term is around the corner – thanks once again to National Trust who kept their gardens open and helps us hugely to keep mentally sane. Our favourites less than 30 minutes drive from Kensington are Ham House and Osterley Park. Snowy days were also the recent treats and we loved building snowmen by Italian Gardens of Hyde Park and catching snowflakes by Langley Park’s Arboretum.

Cultured Kids – Ceci n’est pas une pipe

Cultured Kids – Snowman Hyde Park

Once again Holland Park is simply not feasible for distancing at week-ends and especially at playgrounds there are hundreds of kids playing happily but literally next to each others. What else felt safe and we love? Strolls in desserted Mayfair and Belgravia, grabbing hot chocolates from Rococo Belgravia, lobster rolls and punches from Hideaway Mayfair and soaking in Mayfair architecture and the street art.

Cultured Kids – Streetart Mayfair

Cultured Kids – Temporary Retention Site Streetart Mayfair

We loved reading all the articles linked on January #CulturedKids , connecting with you all safely and getting to read about your realities and trips. My lovely partners in crime Vyki Museum Mum and Megan at Truly Madly Kids favourites have been Catherine’s exhibitions worth travelling for in 2021 (fingers crossed will be allowed soon!) , Chimptrips Week-end in Rye and Red Phone Box Travels family day in Istria. Many congrats!

How is the third lockdown treating you and what are your plans for half term? We are so looking forward getting back our museums and galleries, distanced concerts and cultured celebrations, who knows perhaps even sunshine, ski and travel!