After a morning of discovery, head back towards Brompton Cross and call into Daylesford on Sloane Avenue to assemble a picnic from its organic farm shop. Choose from seasonal salads, freshly baked bread, cheeses, fruit and something sweet, then make your way into Kensington Gardens for a slower afternoon beneath the trees. It is a wonderfully easy way to create a day that feels like a proper London adventure without travelling far from the neighbourhood.
Art You Can Walk Through
This summer, the area around the Serpentine offers two free outdoor installations that invite families to experience art and architecture in a far more playful way. Presented in Kensington Gardens, Jesús Rafael Soto’s Pénétrable BBL Jaune is formed from 4,000 suspended yellow tubes hanging from a steel framework. From a distance, the strands appear to shimmer and shift. Up close, visitors are invited to walk directly through them, allowing movement and touch to complete the artwork.
Nearby, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 has been designed by Mexico City based LANZA atelier. Entitled a serpentine, the structure takes inspiration from the traditional English serpentine, or crinkle-crankle, wall. Curving brick walls respond to the surrounding landscape, while a translucent roof allows light and air to move through the Pavilion. The result is somewhere between a building, a garden and a place to gather, offering a moment of calm as well as plenty to inspire young designers and builders.
Both the Pavilion and Soto’s installation are free to visit and remain in Kensington Gardens until 25 October.
Back to Brompton Cross Round off the day back in the neighbourhood. Jak’s Café on Walton Street is a relaxed option for families, with an extensive all-day menu spanning pizzas, pastas, salads and grilled dishes. For an evening meal, Volta do Mar on Draycott Avenue offers the flavours of the Portuguese speaking world in a relaxed setting, with a charming outdoor terrace that is particularly inviting on a warm summer evening. Alternatively, stay at Daylesford and enjoy something seasonal in the café before heading home.
More to Explore This Summer
There is plenty more within walking distance if you want to plan another day:
Discover the story of suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh and the women who shaped her life in The Last Princesses of Punjab at Kensington Palace, until 8 November.Take a free journey through the real science behind Star Trek with the Star Trek Warp Trail at the Science Museum, until 13 September.
Explore more than three decades of filmmaking, props, costumes and design in Wes Anderson: The Archives at the Design Museum, until 16 August.
Whether you come for dinosaurs, design, space travel or simply a picnic in the park, Brompton Cross places some of London’s best summer experiences within one very walkable neighbourhood.
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