Really this blog post should be about transport but I'll save that one for later.
We decided to go see some flowers as Dude likes to smell them and look at all the different types so headed off to Regents Park. Dudes never been before so was a nice change from our normal activities when we visit London.
We took one of the many accessible buses into London itself. We stayed in North London and luckily there is a bus that runs right from where we stay to Trafalgar square, going through Camden Town (Handy for London zoo) Russel Street (British Museum) and Warren Street where we got off to get to Regents Park.
The paths in the park are all hard surfaced and was really easy to push him around. Mostly flat. I think there's a slight hill in some parts but must of been easy to manage the wheelchair or I'd have remembered.
Dude loved looking at (and taking tons of pictures of) the flowers. We stopped off at The Honest Sausage cafe where the food was pretty good. They used, what we call, proper sausages and bacon in their sandwiches/rolls and we all enjoyed them. They even gave us free hot drinks with our food which was a bonus. Prices are around £4-£5 a sandwich, which is to be expected in central London, but in my opinion it was worth it. Obviously eating outside you do have to keep an eye out for thieving pigeons as one family found out! The wooden tables don't allow for wheelchair access to them but there are some metal table and chairs under their sheltered area which you could get a wheelchair too. The entrance to the shop is level, though with lots of people in may become difficult to turn and exit, I do suspect that people will move though.
We decided we'd take dude on the boats before he gets to big and heavy to lift. There are steps down at the entrance for the boating lake but the staff directed us to a gate abit further down which made it step free. Getting on to the boats isn't step free and they don't have any accessible boats, but the staff were very helpful and even lifted Dude to and from the boats. They wasn't even bothered when he decided it would be fun to blow their whistle and flap like mad whilst they were lifting him.
All children are required to wear life jackets and the staff make sure the children are seated whilst they prepare the boats for them. There's an option between pedal or rowing boats. Since I have bad knees and it would be impossible to hold Dude up and pedal we opted for the rowing boats. He loved his half hour on the lake and we have now got very special memories. We're unlikely to do anything like it again (unless we find an accessible boat) as he's just getting too big.
We ended the day by taking a walk to the rose gardens.
Regents Park - thumbs up to the boating lake staff for there awareness to disabilities.
Park and Gardens - lovely accessible walk with lots of benches around to take a rest.
The Honest Sausage - accessible and good food, though watch out for the pigeons
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