The best family days out in London and beyond rated by kids and teens
Published: 30th November 2016
Lucy Cooke, also known as “the Spielberg of Sloth movies”, is a zoologist, National Geographic Explorer and TV presenter. She grew up in Sussex and when she is not travelling the world she splits her time between East London and Hastings.
She is also founder of the Sloth Appreciation Society — an organization that promotes a deeper understanding of the sloths’ slow lifestyle – and has written A Little Book Of Sloth, Life In The Sloth Lane, and The Truth About Animals, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society prize and the AAAS young adult science prize.
As a documentary producer, Lucy worked on the docuseries Meet The Sloths for Animal Planet. Her hosting credits include National Geographic’s Freaks And Creeps, as well as the natural history programs Nature’s Boldest Thieves and Animals Unexpected on the BBC.Lucy also regularly appears on Radio 4 with her Power of…series.
I’ve collaborated with TED-ED to animate 3 bizarre ancient theories about bird migration based on a chapter from my book, THE TRUTH ABOUT ANIMALS…
I have always loved the Natural History Museum. I remembered when I first was taken there as a small child I was just overwhelmed by the history of the building and the historical importance of all the creatures stuffed, pickled or otherwise that were in there. I was just amazed by the diversity of life. It was just incredible.
I still do love the Natural History Museum. I think it’s a wonderful place.
I’m very lucky because I live on Broadway Market which means I’m spoilt on Saturdays when there is a fantastic farmers market that sells not only amazing organic good quality ingredients but also sells food from all around the world.
You can get Korean burgers and Vietnamese buns, just everything really. And the great thing is, I wake up in the morning and it’s right there waiting outside my door.
A perfect Saturday would be spent meandering around the stalls and eating too much.
In the summer time, you can’t beat Hampstead Heath. You can get lost on Hampstead Heath and forget that you’re in London spotting woodpeckers and ancient trees. I find it amazing that on one of the planet’s busiest cities, there’s such a bucolic idyll and it’s completely free.
If the weather’s nice enough you can take a dip in the women’s ponds and go for a swim under the trees. It’s a totally magical experience.
An 8 and a 10 for London Zoo from Jack and Oscar
I’d have to say London Zoo. The reason I love going is because everybody always wants me to show them a sloth.
Kids always want to know more about sloths. The brilliant thing is that at London Zoo they have a pair of sloths and Marilyn, the female sloth, had a baby back in 2017 year. So London Zoo had their very own baby sloth which is one of the cutest animals on the planet. I love showing kids the sloths because it’s a really funny thing but sloths have an extraordinary effect on people.
They are so many animals at the zoo, but when people see the sloths, they just lose it! There is just something very special about them.
Going to the cinema is one of my hobbies. There was a time when London didn’t have that many good independent cinemas, but now there feels like there’s been a renaissance in independent cinemas
It’s really exciting for me because I love supporting independent local businesses. I’m a big fan of any of the Curzons or the Picturehouse cinemas. And I really love the Screen on the Green because it’s near me.
I went to a really fabulous cinema for the first time the other day in the Brunswick Centre. They have a dedicated documentary cinema, The Bertha Dochouse. As someone who has made documentaries for twenty something years, it makes me really happy.
If you have time take the bus to learn your way around London
When I first came to London, I would have said bus because I had all the time in the world. I was trying to learn my way about the city and the bus is the best way to work out how to connect the dots.
Since then, there have been times when I have been totally addicted to taxis. However, there just seems like there’s so much traffic now, and a I partly blame Uber for this, that the fastest way to get anywhere has to be the Tube.
London is a series of villages. They’re all quite different. It’s really fun to probe the outer areas not just the centre of town.
So come to places like Hackney or Hampstead and you’ll get a great sense of the different flavours that London has to offer.
