"What London Walks would you recommend for children?"

You want the proof of the pudding? Take a look at this. Those two happy little kids skipping along beside the guide – let alone the little girl and her mum (and what the mum says) at the end of the film – what's to add to that?

Well, we can add this. It's an absolutely brilliant tip about what works for kids – and for parents! – on London Walks. And for that matter, on other London outings. It's spun gold this.  It's here.

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Okay, granted, the film's not the whole story. And the "walks for kids" question is one we're asked a lot.The wide-ranging answer usually goes something like this (this is how I put it in a recent email to someone who'd popped that very question):

"Generally, it should be said that the walks are pitched at adults rather than youngsters – but there are quite a few that do work for kids.

"The Harry Potter walk is of course the no-brainer, or as close as you're going to get to one in this category.

And beyond Harry Potter? Well, another London Walk that springs to mind as being really kid-friendly is the Saturday night Ghosts of the Old City walk. What's special about it is that it's guided, on alternate Saturday nights, by an actress and an actor, and weather-permitting he always does it in costume – and she sometimes does. And they are very very "effective". Shaughan is, as the San Francisco Chronicle put it, "deliciously spooky". And Angela – head to foot in black and behind a black veil – is wonderfully mysterious. And of course she has that great – indeed famous – voice (hers is the voice the National Gallery used for its taped "commentaries on the paintings). And it's all the richer – and all the more intriguing – for coming from behind that veil. And while I'm at it, the Ghosts of the Old City walk also goes on Tuesday night and that one "works" as well. Works because of the guide: Adam. Same principle. He's great with kids. Likes kids. Is a bit of a kid himself. Has a young daughter, so he knows the score. Etc. Oh and he's in a bit of a costume as well. On that Tuesday night Ghost Walk he's known as "the man in black". 
 
Other London Walks that I think are quite good for kids are Angela's Old Palace Quarter Walk, which goes every Monday morning. (And, indeed, in the Summer 2010 London Walks programme the Old Palace Quarter Walk will also take place on Friday afternoon – and the Friday afternoon outing is also also fronted by guides who are great with kids.) I think the general principle – apart from having a guide who likes children and is comfortable with them and goes out of his or her way to include them – is that walks where there's quite a bit to see – where there are lots of visual "hands ons", so to speak – are usually a better bet than walks where things have to be carried for the most part by the story telling. And some of the visual "hands ons" are pretty special on this pretty special walk. You've got that secret passageway they go along at the beginning of the walk; and the child thief bar; and boot scrapers and link extinguishers; and the lion door knocker that Winston Churchill looked at when he was a child; and the only chance a child will ever get to be a gas lamp lighter; and a former stables; and shops that are like the inside of a toy chest; and a hidden, real duelling ground; and real soldiers (guarding St. James's Palace) – and quite often we catch the up-close-and-personal changing of the guard ceremony there, which is always fun. Well, you get the idea. And finally, Angela is the most brilliant guide (hop on over to the Ripper page and scroll down a ways and you'll see exactly what I mean). Plus she's a mum. And she's tiny.

I think another one that works for kids is the Historic Greenwich walk (it goes on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings). It of course starts with that wonderful boat ride, which is always fun. And Greenwich is so compact the walk down there is eezy peezy time-wise – and there's a great deal to see.

Ditto the Old Westminster Walk (which we do every Tuesday and every Thursday afternoon and every Saturday morning).

And indeed the Along the Thames Pub Walk. Now don't be shocked. People do bring youngsters on that one. It's the one pub walk we do where it really is okay to bring them...okay because the first pub has a marvelous riverside terrace (indeed, if it's low tide they can go beachcombing!), the second one is right next to a delightful and funky old (and extremely kid-friendly) cafe...and the one we end at has a great yard (the pub is the last remaining galleried coaching inn in London and the yard was the coachyard). The pubs aren't the reason for bringing the kids on that one of course – but the point is they can be accommodated on that walk because of the terrace, cafe and yard. The reason for bringing them on that walk is that it's a great walk – I can personally guide 52 different London Walks and that's my favourite walk of all! There's a great deal on it that appeals to all ages – e.g., the stunning replica of Sir Francis Drake's 16th-century ship The Golden Hinde, the great views across the river to London, the brilliant replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, etc. Indeed, everybody is also taken with – repelled by but taken with if that's not too much of an oxymoron – the shrivelled corpse in the iron gibbet at the Clink Museum. It ain't real, by the way...well the gibbet is, but the victim isn't. But it's awfully realistic!

Anyway, that's a few reccies for you walks-wise.
 
And what about some of the Explorer Days? Surely some of them would also be to your children's taste. The one to Richmond & Hampton Court of course springs to mind. As does the Oxford & the Cotswolds trip. I'd be very surprised if that one wasn't also more or less right for them. I remember being very interested by my first visit to a "university town" when I was a youngster – probably because I sensed that I was getting a sneak preview of my own future.

I have to say I think it's as much a question of the guide as the content. We had a "herogram" in a while back about several of the walks in relation to the writers' grandchildren. She sang the praises of all of the guides, but the really striking thing about the letter was that Hilary's Christopher Wren's London walk (we've since renamed it - it's now called Old London) came in for special praise vis-a-vis the writer's grandchildren...how super Hilary was and how interesting she'd made it for the children. Now on the face of it, you'd think if there was any walk that wasn't right for a couple of kids it would be Christopher Wren's London...but Hilary managed to bring it off. More than bring it off – she clearly turned up trumps! Let me see if I can find that note.

Here's what she says:

'I have just returned from a week in London with my two grandchildren, J.J. and Suzanne (ages 10 and 9 ). Today I am going through all the memorabilia/ tickets,cards,etc. I am on my way to buy binders for scrapbooks for each of them.
 
'I am writing to you to tell you how much your walking tours enhanced our visit to your lovely city. We had such a good time with all the tour guides, and they each made my grandchildren so much a part of each tourI can't begin to thank each of them adequately.

We went to Windsor/Eton with Chris Green on Monday and that was the beginning of a fantastic week. Chris went over the list of walks with me on the train to Windsor and made suggestions of which tours would interest J.J.and Suzanne.

We loved the tour of Christopher Wren's London on Tuesday with Hillary Ratcliffe (?) She really took the children under her wing and pointed out things that they could relate to. We ended up at St. Paul's for evensong And sat in the choir loft with the boys' choir. Fantastic!!!
 
The next day we went to Shakespeare/Dickens London with Jean Haynes who Quoted from so many poets that I wake up at night aware of her words. Wonderful!
 
Later that day we met up with Helena and met an old friend from the Windsor tour. We went on the London Walk and learned so much about the places where we had already wandered on our own. ( We had picked up your brochure at St. Martin in the Fields on Sunday when we first arrived).

On Thursday we went to Greenwich , again with Chris, and were in for another delightful day. My son came in on Thursday evening and we took off on our own on Friday , but I just wanted you to know how your tours and guides added to our trip. I wish we had had another three weeks to really 'do 'the city. It was a marvelous experience.
 
My daughter and son-in-law are planning to go to London this summer and I have already given them your summer walk schedule. I thank you so much for your expertise. One very satisfied tourist, Peggie O'Neill'
 
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Me again. David, I mean. Writing this.

And just in case anyone's been "tracking" London Walks and Harry Potter and has glommed onto the fact that our Harry Potter "Walk-situation" changed dramatically as of late April, 2010 and indeed is curious about the whys and wherefores – well, here, for the record, is the full disclosure. (As per the tenses, this was written "in the days of" the Winter 2009-10 London Walks programme.)

In the Summer 2010 London Walks programme – which kicks in on April 23rd and runs through October 31st – Alan will be going back to his first love (and field of expertise and indeed some direct, personal involvement, some first-hand experience!): the world of London Espionage. In short, he's turned out another cracker – called Eye Spy London (it'll run on Tuesday evenings) – to join his Saturday afternoon Spies' & Spycatchers' London Walk in the Espionage Walks stable. 

Richard's City of London Harry Potter Film Locations Tour – it's called Harry Potter in London – will take place at 2 pm  on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of the month from BankTube, exit 3.

 

And his Westminster Harry Potter Film Locations Tour – yes, it's called Harry in Westminster – will take place at 2 pm on the 2nd and 4th* Sunday of the month from WestminsterTube, exit 4.

Anyway, hope this helps.