Tuesday Ten || 10 Unusual Things To Do In London This Weekend

While a lot of people are looking forward to celebrating Valentines Day on Sunday with their partners, I’m not normally the biggest fan. It’s not because I’m normally single, I love seeing my feeds full of cute things my friends have been up to, but because it’s normally my birthday weekend and makes getting everyone together nearly impossible. So while doing my research for what to get up to this weekend, I thought I’d share ten unusual things to do around London that are both couple and singleton friendly.

1. Marvel at the lights at the Magic Lantern Festival. Chiswick House is playing host to the UK’s first ever Chinese Lantern festival. There are over 50 different lanterns, all crafted by hand including a 60 metre long dragon. If you can’t get in this weekend though, fear not, it’s open daily until March 6th. Tickets can be booked here.
2. Celebrate Chinese New Year in the West End. Although Chinese New Year bought in the Year Of The Monkey yesterday, the main parade takes place on Sunday the 14th. So if you fancy spending your Valentines with dancing dragons head along to Shaftesbury Avenue were festivities start at 10am.
3. Visit the Creme Egg Cafe for some eggxtremely unusual treats. If you head down to Soho, Cadbury’s has taken over a 3 floors in Greek Street dedicated to the cult chocolate egg.  The first two floors serve the eggs four different ways, including in a Creme Egg Toastie, with the top floor being turned into a ball pit. I’m not sure what my inner child is more excited about..
4. Stop and smell the roses orchids at Kew Gardens. This month, Kew Gardens have turned their Princes of Wales Conservatory into a little piece of Brazil full to the brim with orchids and other tropical plants to bring a little bit of Rio’s carnival to Kew.
5. Bring out your competitive side at Draughts. London’s first and only board game cafe is the ideal place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. With over 600 games and a huge range of wines, craft beers and ciders you could easily spend all day there, although if you’re as competitive as me and my friends, it may be wise to avoid choosing Monopoly.
6. Take a pedal boat ride at Alexandra Palace. Or if that’s not up your street, there’s always pitch and put golf, ice skating or just enjoying the grounds with a glass of Pimms or too!
7. Sing your heart out at the Prince Charles cinema. Princes Charles Cinema is well known for shaking up a night at the movies with events such as quote alongs, mystery movies and pizza and beer nights. This weekend is no exception and offers two opportunities to join in with classic movie soundtracks. Friday is Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sunday is Moulin Rouge. Tickets are £16 and available here.
8. Visit a city farm. When I moved to London, I thought my days of being able to visit chickens, cows, goats and sheep were over. How wrong I was! The city is home to a handful of city farms were you can pet the animals, see rare breeds and even buy fresh produce. While I can’t tell you I’ve visited them all, I can say that both the ones at Vauxhall and Surrey Docks are fab. Great for anyone with kids, or who’s just a bit of a big kid like me!
9. Take a different kind of city tour. If there’s on thing London isn’t short of it’s tours and tour busses. However, they’re not all open top bus rides full of tourists like you may think. There’s everything from haunted pub tours to spotting sites from the Harry Potter books – check out Groupon, Best LDN Walks and The Londonist for tickets.
10. Rock out at the Ice Bar. As I mentioned in my #IceBarRocks post a few months ago, Ice Bar is quiet possibly one of the coolest venues around. While your time actually in the Ice Bar itself may be limited to around 30 minutes, the cocktail bar and Central London location makes it an ideal way to start your Saturday night. Tickets are available to book here.

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