Summer Abroad with Kids :: 10 Reasons Your Kids Will Love London’s Borough Market

In the summer of 2016 our family set off to spend 8 weeks in London. We would explore the city and live like locals, renting a flat in Westminster. This was a far cry from our beach home in Florida and took a little adjusting to. We thrived in our new home away from home and had a jolly good time with many adventures along the way. This post is one installment in my series: Summer Abroad {with Kids}.

One of the top to-do items on the list for our first week in London was to visit the Borough Market. I knew we’d want to stock up on some groceries, but it would also immediately give us a chance to be immersed in everything London.

Before you head out to the market with your kids I have a few tips for you.

1. GO EARLY! I’m not kidding. We were there at 10:15am and it was perfect. By 1:30pm I was ready to get out of there because it was just too crowded to try to navigate the area with kids.

2. Take a reusable tote bag to carry all your purchases.

3. Bring cash.

Honestly, the kids loved the market and we’re already planning a day to go back. Here’s my Top 10 Reasons Your Kids Will Love London’s Borough Market.

1. Lots of Fresh Fruit – Not just fresh, but already cut up and ready for you to enjoy. Most of the stalls also had a fork for you so you could enjoy your fruit right away.

2. Live Lobsters – I’m not going to lie, I didn’t even point out the live lobsters to the kids because we’re from Florida and they’ve seen lobsters before. But they still spotted them and loved looking at them through the glass.

3. Your Choice of Fresh Juice – In addition to the fresh fruit, there’s also a plentiful supply of freshly squeezed juices. Pretty much any flavor combination you can imagine is available.

4. Ice Cream – Creamy and sweet and delicious describes the ice cream the kids had at the Borough Market. Don’t be fooled by that sassy stare in the picture. She loved the ice cream, she hated that I made her stop eating it long enough to get a picture.

5. A Chance To Try New Things – One of the things I loved most about the market was that you could sample such a wide variety of foods. My son tried some wheat grass juice (that he decided he didn’t like) and then both kids tried some wild boar sausage (that they loved).

6. CHEESE – My kids love cheese and they loved sampling all the different varieties available at the market. We ended up buying a few different varieties to bring home to our flat.

7. Sweet Treats – In addition to the ice cream, my kids also sampled cookies, brownies, macarons, chocolates and so many other sweets. We did purchase a few to bring home, but even the samples were enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

8. You Never Know What You Might See – I mentioned that the kids tried some wild boar sausage that they loved, but we also saw zebra burgers, ostrich eggs, ground crocodile and many other specialties that we’ve never seen in the States.

9. See How It’s Made – My kids loved watching the grilled cheese booth toast and scrape the gigantic wheels of cheese, but on certain days there are also cooking demonstrations you can watch as well.

10. It’s Fun for the Whole Family – The Borough Market really didn’t disappoint when it came to family fun. There was something for everyone to enjoy.

So let’s hear it parents… have you taken your kids to London’s Borough Market? What was their favorite part?