The Sneaky Magpie

Another extremely busy weekend, juggling lots of tasks and managing to do some fun things too.

On Saturday morning I met a friend for her first bike trip in London, we started lightly on a 20 minute ride to Dulwich Picture Gallery. The gallery is in such a lovely spot and the works displayed are just the right mix of old masters, as usual there is a very good representation of the Flemish golden age which I adore.

As we started quite early we decided to go to Brixton and have a lunch at Franco Manca, we got there just past 12.00 to get the last table, few minutes later the queue was 20 people long. Franco Manca’s pizza is legendary and I heard many opinions by the locals blaming Claphamites for invading the place. Well, I visited with a local so I guess that’s ok? Anyway, the pizza is amazing and dirt cheap, definitely worth waiting for.

Back home for a brief moment and hubby and I were out of the door heading up to town to do a spot of shopping. Oxford Street was heaving so we got what we needed and quickly moved away to the quiet Kaffeine for some refreshments. They had some rather delicious carrot and lemon marmalade.

Sunday started early again, we met up with friends for breakfast at Gail’s, the morning was glorious with sun shining, market stalls unpacking and a pleasant company.

Back home to do some important mortgage paperwork, dull but it got done. Then we were off again, this time to Battersea Car Boot Sale, we had a clear idea of what we wanted and pretty much stayed focused. We have a long list of birthday gifts to get and a couple of people definitely would appreciate something vintage. A beautiful tile for my mother in law, a bag of figs grown in Balham for us (they were delicious!) and a sleek Denby dish for a friend (tried to haggle but the woman kept saying ‘it’s Denby, it’s the last piece of Denby I have got, no discount, it’s Denby!’ she was lying, there was a Denby jug just next to it, oh well).

On a way back home M smelled steak. Le Pot Lyonnais is a restaurant I pass twice daily on my way to and from work and it always looks tempting in the evening with tables on the pavement. So we gave it a go and I must say it was a proper French fair of steak frites and poulet.

So a lot of nice things but also a lot of mundane tasks like washing, house cleaning and grocery shopping. I need some rest now!

Having friends with little children makes me plan things that can excite both: adult and kids’ tastes. With the weather being so glorious the most essential part of the plan has got to be an outdoor space, and lots of it.

One of my favorite places in London is Horniman Museum with its Victorian dark displays, stuffed animals which have seen better days and all kind of curiosities. The museum is surrounded by gardens, meadows and it has got a small animal enclosure for kids.

We set off with plenty of spare time and got there really fast, I was pleasantly surprised it was only a 20 minute cycle from my house. I always imagined it to be far away.

Having a spare half an hour we headed to Dulwich Picture Gallery, we didn’t have enough time to visit it but instead we strolled through the garden which would not feel out of place in a Jane Austen novel.

It felt so romantic and I was half expecting to see Elizabeth Bennet reading a letter under magnolia tree.

From the tranquility of the gallery grounds to a mayhem of toddlers pointing at stuffed monkeys and owls. After repeating animal names for a bit and trying to teach a 2 year old the word ‘cuttlefish’(it’s been a while since I saw kids getting so excited!) we settled for an afternoon tea in a charming glass house.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the fish scale detail of the roof.

Then it was time to explore the garden and burn off the Victoria sponge, the blossoms make everything look so pretty.

I have no idea what tree this is but I love it.