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Get your game on without losing valuable cocktail time Got an insatiable competitive streak, but also like a good night out on the cocktails? Well, you no longer have to choose between a night at the local squash club and a drink with your mates! Work your way through our pick of the capital's finest activity bars. Flight Club Bloomsbury, Islington, Shoreditch, Victoria These venues, in Bloomsbury, Islington, Shoreditch and Victoria are marketed as ‘Social Darts’, as if regular darts is an endeavour of athletic prowess performed in sterile sports clubs. But Flight Club does manage to take the sport into a more boozy environment by eschewing the crusty, beer-trodden carpets and Scampi Fries normally associated with darts and replacing it with design-led bars offering brunch socials with bottomless pizza and extensive cocktail lists. Flight Club Swingers The City & West End Both Swingers venues offer a trip back to the roaring 20s - The City branch in the shadow of The Gherkin recreates an English countryside golf club, while the West End branch by Oxford Street lays out a quintessential British seaside town. Whichever you choose, you’ll be greeted with crazy golf on steroids. Huge ferris wheels, helter-skelters, lighthouses and windmills are amongst the obstacles you’ll have to navigate if you want to hit par. Cocktail lists follow the course themes, with The Happy Giilmore, Mulligan Mule and Ferris Sour being our picks. Swingers Junkyard Golf Shoreditch Where Swingers opted for quintessentially British themes, Junkyard Golf went full Hacienda for their courses and put the crazy in crazy golf. If you’ve ever wanted to combine a round of golf with a rave in a disused fairground, this is the place for you. Their London courses are - rather inexplicably - named Dirk, Bozo, Pablo and Gary, and take in an abandoned warehouse, dystopian tropical wasteland and disco-tinged scrap metal shop as well as the aforementioned fairground. The disco lights that signal your successful putts will put you in the mood for a drink - and cocktails like the Bubblegum Sunset and Tropics and Ting are as subtle as the rest of this wild venue. Junkyard Golf Cafe Kick and Bar Kick Exmouth Market & Shoreditch Table football is the great leveller, as can be seen at both Kick venues, where men and women, young and old can be seen frantically clutching at handles while screaming “no spinning” at their opponents. Cafe Kick in Exmouth Market was a frontrunner for the games-bar trend, opening way back in 1999 - two years before its Shoreditch sister-venue. Both use mismatched wooden furniture, pleasingly washed-out colour ways to create the feel of a European cafe, and menus offering jersey oysters, bagels and charcuterie boards (Cafe Kick) and burgers with craft beer (Bar Kick) have helped these venues to stand the test of time. Cafe Kick Bar Kick TOCA Social The O2 Arena, Greenwich Peninsula Surprisingly, TOCA Social is the first venue to have brought the world’s most popular sport into the nightlife realm, and they’ve done so with a hefty dose of fancy technology. Players aim for targets on a screen, splitting atoms, uncovering their opponents’ faces by smashing away blocks and racing against the clock to score points. The food here is ‘created by a Michelin trained creative chef’ - though we’re not told who - and themed cocktails include the Wred Card, Mezzi, Lionel and The Floor is Guava. TOCA Social Draughts Hackney & Waterloo There’s no doubting the fact that Draughts is a Mecca for board game lovers. It’s as much a library of games as it is a bar to hang out with friends - they currently have over 1,000 games on their vast shelves - and if you don’t find something you like, well… you can’t be that much of a board games fan. Their two venues (Hackney and Waterloo) boast kitchens serving pleasingly hipster fare including a smorgasbord of tacos, Korean Fried Chicken, halloumi fries and loaded nachos, plus Hackney, Brooklyn and 3 Weiss Monkey beers, and you can even dive into their cocktail list while plotting your next Pandemic move. For the London history buffs amongst you, the Hackney venue is well worth a visit, if only to snoop around the former F Cooke's Pie and Mash Shop building which became its home. The owners moved from arches in Haggerston to the splendour of their new gaff (pictured), after promising to retain the Grade II listed building for future use. Draughts Tanuki Gaming Deptford Tanuki Gaming is adjoined to the brilliant Badger Badger in Deptford, which triples up as a bar, restaurant and workspace - so if you really want to convince the boss that you’re working from home, you can always tag yourself in next door before browsing the shelves for your next board game fix. It’s not quite as extensive as Draughts, with 400 games to choose from, but they make up for it in laid-back cool and delicious Yakitori food from the kitchen. Tanuki Gaming Puttshack Bank Joining the bulging market for boozy crazy golf courses is Puttshack, from the people behind Flight Club. They claim to be tech-infused mini-golf, which relates to their actually-quite-clever ball-tracking sensors that create and track bonus points in each game and also keep your score automatically, which is of increased importance after a cocktail or two. Speaking of which, the courses have drinking stations at every hole. Special offers here include Brunch Club, which gives you a 2 course brunch, mini-golf and bottomless bubbles. See, we told you automatic scores were a good idea. Puttshack Electric Shuffle Canary Wharf Proving that there’s no game in the world that can’t be improved with a bit of electricity, this is where you’ll find Electric Shuffleboard. For the uninitiated, shuffleboard is effectively curling without the need for ice - players send ‘pucks’ down a polished wooden table towards a scoring zone, where different sections win varying points. The electric element of this offering is mostly just screens and sensors tracking the game, rather than the gameplay itself, but it’s a wildly addictive game that anybody can play. Both the London Bridge and Canary Wharf venues offer industrial sci-fi vibes, so you’ll get the added bonus of feeling like you’re playing in a Star Wars film set. If you’re not up for shuffling, tables are available just for food and drinks, and both are worth your attention; big sharing platters and a lengthy cocktail list make Electric Shuffle a great destination for a get-together with friends. Electric Shuffle The Four Thieves Clapham The Four Thieves offers up a relatively sane Tap Room for beer-lovers, an all-weather Gin yard out back and a menu of sourdough pizzas that are worth the visit alone, but it’s the thoroughly insane Moonshine Raceway that earns them a space on this list. The neon-lit racetrack allows up to ten drivers to control cars using full-sized steering wheels, resulting in a raucous demolition derby where it’s acceptable to laugh at people’s terrible drunk driving. If you’ve ever harboured a desire to become a professional race driver, this is a great way to see if you can handle the pressure in front of a baying mob of onlookers. Four Thieves Bounce Old Street & Farringdon Ping pong, once limited almost exclusively to child-friendly all-inclusive resorts in Spain, gets a new lease of life courtesy of Bounce. There are plenty of traditional tables for the purists amongst you, but just like many others in this list, the Bounce head honchos have enlisted the help of technology to reinvent this game for a new, late night audience. Projectors with sensors turn the tables into high-tech computer games for ‘Wonderball’, and players can choose from a list of different challenges. If you’re on a party vibe, then fear not: Beer Pong players get special tables of their own. Bounce Sixes Cricket Fulham & Fitzrovia The quaint, genteel sport of cricket gets a late-night makeover at Sixes, which claims to be the world’s first cricket/entertainment venue. It’s no surprise that this cricket experience launched in the well-to-do area of Fulham (expanding to Fitzrovia soon after), and you’re probably more likely to witness a boarding school reunion here than a raucous stag do, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Step into the nets, pick your skill level and get swinging against a robot bowler. The comforting thwack of willow on leather is accompanied by the aroma of BBQ meats, which can be washed down with the kind of cocktails you’d expect from a cricket venue - expect Yorkshire Tea, Tanqueray Gin, Belzasar Rosè vermouth, champagne and English garden herbs to make appearances. Sixes Cricket Club London Shuffle Club Shoreditch The London Shuffle Club offers a more classy, relaxed setting than the steampunk industrialism of Electric Shuffle; with deep blues and pinks covering the walls and hanging baskets surrounding the playing area, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this for a fancy members’ club. This venue boasts two kinds of shuffle - the table top game and ‘lanes’ (which is played on the floor on a larger scale, even more like curling) - so there’s plenty of action for the players amongst you. If the sun’s out, try and grab one of the two outdoor lanes to get your tan on while playing. Even if you’re just there for socialising, this place has it all: A sun terrace, covered outdoor seating, pizzas, cocktails and even a Bottomless Shuffle Brunch. London Shuffle Club Shoreditch Balls Shoreditch Shoreditch Balls takes the whackiness down a peg or two from its crazy-golf competitors, and it’s not entirely unwelcome to be able to play without feeling like you’re in the midst of an acid trip. Here, the ‘grass’ is green, the pins are flags and the zaniest obstacle on the course is a loop-the-loop, which feels pleasingly reassuring and calm. Elsewhere in the venue, expect Shoreditch to do exactly as Shoreditch does: exposed brickwork, distressed walls and the obligatory neon sign or two. Shoreditch Balls feels more like a cocktail bar with a golf course than a place dedicated to hardcore putting. Shoreditch Balls Roof East Stratford If your WhatsApp group has descended into arguments about what sport to play, there’s a simple option: Head for Roof East, where there’s something for everybody. Baseball batting cages, archery, crazy golf, lawn bowls, corn hole AND ping pong all get their own, dedicated spaces at this whacky rooftop venue that really comes alive when the sun is shining. Some are free to play (Jenga, cornhole, beat the bar and ping pong), while others are premium offerings that might require booking in advance, and there’s a host of street-food offerings to keep you fed and watered while you wait your turn. Roof East Boom Battle Bar Wandsworth For those south of the river who want it all, Battle Bar in Wandsworth won’t let you down. Set in a cavernous venue with enough neon lights to give you a winter suntan, Boom boasts no less than SEVEN different activities to see you through the evening. The Bavarian Axe Throwing is understandably an alcohol-free affair, but once you’ve flung some deadly weapons across an enclosed space, you can settle in to a night of gaming-with-grog. Ping Pong, Beer Pong, Shuffleboard, American Pool, AR Darts and Crazier Golf are on offer here, and all of it comes with a hefty dose of booze if you so wish. Boom Battle Bar Have we missed your favourite? Let us know in the comments below! Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Drink in the atmosphere of your favourite movie scenes, from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to Hitchcocks' Frenzy and Bridget Jones' Diary It's almost impossible to sneak into Elstree Studios with a crate of Stella and they're incredibly sniffy about taking corkscrews into Harry Potter World, so where can you relax with a good beverage on the set of a famous movie? Well, as it happens, there are plenty of options - and we've picked the very best of them for you right here. ZEITGEIST @ JOLLY GARDENERS Prince Road, Lambeth Snatch (2000) The Jolly Gardener didn't prove to be much of a jolly spot for three masked 'assassins' when they came face to face with Bullet-Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) inside this South London pub. Known as The Drowning Trout in Guy Ritchie's popular gangster flick, this was where Tony's quiet pint was interrupted by three men, unaware they had 'replica' written down the side of their pistols. The result, as is the way with a Guy Ritchie movie, was a verbose dressing-down and a fair amount of blood. Bullet Tooth Tony at The Jolly Gardeners THE ANCHOR Bankside Mission Impossible (1996) What do British people do when they've completed a seemingly impossible task AND saved the entire world? Head to the pub for a quick pint, of course! And that's exactly what Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) did in the first Mission Impossible movie. His choice of boozer was a particularly popular one - The Anchor on the bank of the Thames has a beautiful terrace that gets ram-packed during the summer months. Dating back to roughly 1770 in its current guise, although a pub has stood on this site for much longer, the building has seen it all, from pirates and smugglers to two devastating fires - although despite its obvious flammability it managed to escape the Great Fire of London and was supposedly where Samuel Pepys sat and supped a pint as he watched the city go up in smoke. THE SALISBURY 1, Grand Parade, Harringay The Long Good Friday (1980) Harringay's beautiful old pub, The Salisbury plays a starring role in The Long Good Friday. It's here that gangland associate Colin (Paul Freeman) is ambushed by the IRA and the mob violence hits its peak. Despite the movie focusing on 1970s London, The Salisbury was actually used to depict Northern Irish pub, Fagan's. While it's definitely gone upmarket over the years, its interior has been left beautifully untouched, allowing it to be used as a London pub in the movie, Chaplin. THE CARPENTERS ARMS Cheshire Street, E1 Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) This tiny pub in London's East End is an unlikely venue for a basement car garage and armoury, but then Fast & Furious movies aren't afraid to play fast and loose with believability. It only makes a few fleeting appearances in the movie, though it also makes a return in the closing credits for a 'Hugh Janus' joke, which is reason enough for a visit. But why would you choose this pub as an unassuming boozer where weapons are secretly stored? Well, it used to be owned by the Krays back in the 60s, and they ran their criminal empire from inside. So, there's that... THE BLACK PRINCE 6 Black Prince Road, Kennington Kingsman: Secret Service (2014) The Black Prince is the location for one of Kingsman's most brilliantly ridiculous scenes, setting up Harry Hart (Colin Firth) as a badass tough-guy with a cut-glass British accent and a penchant for expertly tailored suits and good manners. Future Elton John, Taron Egerton is also here, playing rude boy 'Eggsy,' who's left astounded by the umbrella-wielding tough guy in his midst. The Black Prince is a classic pub in Kennington, South London, serving traditional pub grub. Check out The Black Prince in Kingsman (Warning - violence) YE OLDE MITRE 1 Ely Place, Holborn The Deep Blue Sea (2011) and Snatch (2000) Hidden down an alleyway in Holborn, Ye Olde Mitre is one of London's hidden gems, and it's been hiding for a while - since 1546, to be exact. But it might be recognisable to fans of The Deep Blue Sea (not to be confused with Deep Blue Sea, which features a gigantic shark and precisely zero cosy pubs). It's here where Freddie (Tom Hiddlestone) and Hester (Rachel Weisz) have a lovers tiff. But that's not all. Guy Ritchie is a man who knows his London pubs and he chose Ye Olde Mitre as the local boozer of jeweller, Doug The Head (Mike Reid) - and you might notice that during a scene here, Ritchie himself makes a cameo, reading the newspaper in the background. Not a bad day's work! See Ye Olde Mitre with Mike Reid and Guy Ritchie in Snatch See Tom Hiddleston lose his cool at Ye Olde Mitre in The Deep Blue Sea THE ROYAL OAK 73 Columbia Road, Hackney Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), The Krays (1990), Legend (2015) and Goodnight Sweetheart (1993-1999) The Royal Oak is one of our favourite pubs in London and we can happily confirm that you won't fall in love with an orangutan in any of their cocktails. Yep, this is where the gang wait for Eddie to return from his card game with Hatchet Harry in Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Stand by the bar and you might recognise the spot where Rory Breaker spits a mouthful of tequila over a patron's head and sets him on fire - all because he changed the channel on the pub's TV. It's still very much a proper boozer, but heavily gentrified - you won't need subtitles for the Cockney Rhyming Slang in here. Curiously, despite a dearth of pubs in East London that were frequented by Ronnie and Reggie, the Royal Oak featured in the film The Krays despite not having any known links to the real-life gangsters. It's the pub that gets turned over by rival gang, The Maltese Boys. It was later given a starring role in another movie about the twins, Legend, when it became the Blind Beggar (which still exists in Whitechapel, but has undergone a transformation since Ronnie murdered George Cornell there in front of a room full of witnesses). That not enough for you? Fine! It's also the spot where Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) finds a time portal that allows him to travel back to wartime Britain in Goodnight Sweetheart. Rory Breaker at The Royal Oak in Lock Stock (Warning - Violence) Nicholas Lyndhurst at The Royal Oak in Goodnight Sweetheart The Royal Oak in The Krays The Royal Oak in Legend (Warning - Violence and swearing) THE COACH Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Having finished off Mission Impossible with a quick pint, it seems Tom Cruise was eager to build a swift beer into movies whenever he came to London. And who could blame him? In Edge of Tomorrow, Bill Cage (Cruise) heads to the Coach and Horses for a swift livener. It closed down in 2015 but thankfully found a new lease of life three years later as The Coach. It's been given a hefty makeover and is now a hotel, pub and restaurant. It's well worth a visit - hard-to-please critic, Jay Rayner said it was "like greeting a much-missed old friend." Tom Cruise nurses a pint at The Coach in Edge of Tomorrow JAMAICA WINE HOUSE Saint Michael's Alley, Cornhill Wilde (1997) The Mrs has gone out to a wine bar tonight. Jamaica? No! She went of her own accord. That's a perfect way to set up a paragraph about wordsmith and legendary wit, Oscar Wilde, right? Well, it's done now so we'll move on swiftly. The odd-looking Jamaica Wine House is where Robbie Ross (Michael Sheen) lends heartbroken John Gray (Ioan Gruffudd) a shoulder to cry on. It's got a long and storied history, having been established in the 1600s with strong links to the sugar cane plantations in the West Indies and Turkey (which brought about its original name, The Turk's Head). Nowadays it's been renovated and boasts a restaurant amongst its four rooms. THE LAMB Leadenhall Market Brannigan (1975) Leadenhall Market's grand, Victorian splendour has played host to many films over the years, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Hereafter and Love Aaj Kal. But you're here for the drinking, not the shopping, and that takes us to the market's delightful pub, The Lamb Tavern. The Lamb played host to The Duke himself, John Wayne, on the set of Brannigan. Wayne plays a no-nonsense Chicago cop who comes to London in pursuit of a fleeing gangster. He gets into a fight (as John Wayne tends to do) in the Lamb Tavern. It's certainly not one of The Duke's best films but it is one of the best boozers in the area. John Wayne gets fisty at The Lamb in Brannigan (Warning - violence) THE GLOBE AND NELL OF OLD DRURY Covent Garden Frenzy (1972) Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 thriller, Frenzy focuses on Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), who gets fired from his job in The Globe before becoming entangled in the hunt for a serial killer. As he and his girlfriend Babs (Anna Massey) go on the run, he also overhears city gents excitedly talking about 'The Neck-tie Strangler' in the Nell of Old Drury (pictured). The movie was shot when Covent Garden was still a fruit market, but even though the apple stands have turned into Apple stores, these two pubs have remained largely unchanged. They're both perfect spots for an after-work pint in the hustle and bustle of one of Central London's most buzzing areas. THE GLOBE TAVERN Borough Market Blue Ice (1992) and Bridget Jones' Diary (2001) Another double whammy here, and a great excuse to visit one of Borough Market's loveliest pubs. While the beers are poured on the ground floor, technically all the movie action happened upstairs - in an apartment shared by Renée Zellweger and Michael Caine. Movie legend Caine was the first to lay claim to the top floor as Harry Anders. In Blue Ice, Anders lives in an apartment above Borough Market and even makes a daring escape out of one of the top floor windows. That might have been a little easier today, as the expanded train line passes perilously close to the top of this old drinking spot. But once Michael had cleared out his belongings, it was the turn of Zellweger's Bridget Jones. Inexplicably able to afford an SE1 apartment on a writer's wage, she can be seen throughout the film trudging through Borough Market, and we recommend you do the same, before finishing off with a sundowner outside The Globe. Whatever you do, don't get all fighty on Bedale Street outside, please. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Nothing is what it seems in this page-turner of a restaurant Our story begins with a candle being lit at the table. But this is Restaurant Story, so in keeping with the other ten courses in our four-hour feast, it was not what it seemed. The signature dish is a candle made from beef dripping, which pools into a saucer and is presented with Parker House, beef fat balls to mop it up. It’s a nod to the father of Story's Chef Patron Tom Sellers - who would eat bread and dripping every Sunday - and a reminder of the chef's proud, working class roots in Nottingham, within the narrative of this very different, fine dining world he now dominates. There are no menus in this unique, Bermondsey restaurant, which gained its first Michelin star within five months of opening in 2013 - when Sellers was 26 - and its second in 2021. And the ever-evolving, seasonal tasting menus tell Sellers’ own stories as well as the tales of British food in eccentric, creative and (crucially) delicious ways. The experience starts with a series of ’Foreword Snacks,’ but we’re not talking Doritos and salty nuts. These were some of my favourite dishes and included the now-famous ’Storeos’ - smoked eel mousse, sandwiched between squid ink biscuits, dusted in vinegar powder and presented as perfect little Oreos in branded tins. They reference Sellers' obsession with Oreos while working at the three-Michelin-starred Per Se in New York. Other memorable ’snacks’ included the rabbit sandwich - pressed rabbit legs, coated in polenta and fried with pickled carrots and tarragon emulsion - harking back to his memories of rabbit hunting with Daddy Sellers and cooking up bunny stews. And we can’t omit the Paddington Bear, a slightly more progressive take on the Peruvian bear’s favourite sarnie - cardamom-scented French toast with clementine marmalade and an avalanche of melting, foie gras shavings. What follows are a series of ‘Chapters’ - Childhood, Garden, Sea, Land and The End. We won’t spoilt the surprise or talk you through verse and chapter of each, endless dish. But stand-outs included the sashimi grade, raw scallop slices in elderflower vinegar with horseradish milk, dill oil and dill ash coated cucumber balls. Desserts always bring out the childlike playfulness and nostalgia in Sellers as well as his diners - from soft toffees in edible ‘plastic wrappers,’ fizzing candy-floss filled with frozen custard, miniature milk bottles in a tiny crate filled with rhubarb, custard and sherbet, to the ‘three bears porridge’ - one is too sweet, one too salty, and one just right. The restaurant itself is a £2 million new-build on the site of a Victorian public lavatory and Sellers’ time in Copenhagen clearly had a huge influence on the warm, Nordic interiors. It was recently refurbished, with a dazzling ceiling feature of swallows taking flight by Michelle McKinney, alongside new marble, with damask, Timorous Beasties wallpaper, which distract from its unusual location, on an island, between two busy roads. Sellers recently asked 14 celebrity friends (including Gordon Ramsay, Jason Atherton and Angela Hartnett) to provide songs that inspire them, and Rudimental arranged them into a playlist that moves from Bowie and Elton John to MGMT, Stormzy and Massive Attack, for an unexpected soundtrack to the experience. There have been gimmicks, which push the boundaries of the story concept a little too far - like inviting customers to bring and inscribe a book of their own to become a part of the 'Story' themselves. But we can forgive this, along with the eye-watering bill - £185 for a 10 course taster menu - because the experience genuinely is a delicious story that you retell to anybody with ears (and a game stomach) and we look forward to his next chapter. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

We put ourselves in the driving seat for a weekend in the Sussex countryside. Nestled amongst the trees at the end of a small dirt track in East Sussex lies a symbol of man's triumph over adversity; the result of one father's stubborn refusal to swerve from an impossible dream. It is a bus. A big, green, double-decker bus. Fans of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces will know of Adam, the devoted father of a teenage girl, who dreamed of building a mobile home they could use to disappear to the Cornwall coast every summer to enjoy surfing holidays and lazy evenings by the lapping waves. Only his plans were slightly more ambitious than a classic VW camper van. We watched as he waited in the car park of a McDonald's Xtra service station for the arrival of a dilapidated 1980s West Midlands Metro bus with drab, orange and burgundy markings to chug its way around the corner and into their lives. He walked television's most chipper architect through his ambitious plans. George gently pointed out the water features that flowed through the windows into puddles on the floor and nodded knowingly as Adam admitted he'd be doing all the work himself. It was the kind of nod that regular viewers of the show know all too well. It says: "This one's heading for a breakdown." Whether he meant the bus or its new owner was anyone's guess. But Adam would prove triumphant. "The transformation is breathtaking," purred George as he returned to see the bus in all its glory. Rooms - three of them, to be exact - now sat where sulking teenagers once slumped on their way to school. A kitchen replaced the luggage rack. The back seats - once the hallowed ground of the boys from the year above - had become a soft-furnished dining area. There was even a log burner, for Christ's sake. Thankfully for us, one part of Adam's plan that failed to come to fruition was his desire to take the Big Green Bus on family adventures. Too big, too slow, too cumbersome. But his family's loss was our gain as we visited it in its new home, on a plot of woodland in the rolling fields of East Sussex. We leave our car at the edge of the plot and cart our belongings a short way down the track to where the bus now rests. A deck has been built around the base of our accomodation, complete with deck chairs and outdoor dining furniture. A log-fired hot tub waits at the end of a short path into the shrubbery and a firepit offers all the fun of camping without having to do any ghastly camping. It's serene, beautiful and bizarre. We have brought our children with us, and they immediately climb into the driver's seat exactly as a child should. They pull at the steering wheel and ask for our tickets in a joke that will not get old for two whole days. We use the outdoor shower within the first hour of our visit, not because our journey here has been treacherous and sweaty, but because a horse from the adjacent field saunters over and pokes his head through the fence. It is the first time any of us have showered with a horse. But it is the early evening when the space really comes alive. The gentle flickering of the festoon lights hanging from the top deck and into the trees make a beautiful backdrop for a dip in the hot tub as the campfire burns, the sun dips behind the trees and we pop the bottle of local sparkling wine Adam has left us in a welcome pack. We could imagine spending hours in the hammock by the flames, if it hadn't become apparent that our children would never sleep in such an exciting new place and the quiet of the surrounding farmland is broken by their screaming at the hilarity of still sitting in the driver's seat. On our second day, we get to really put the Big Green Bus through its paces. We start with a beautiful, crisp morning, cooking breakfast on the ample indoor kitchen and exploring the woodland collecting pine cones to throw on the fire. And then our camping trip goes... British. The heavens open, wind swirls around the bus, causing it to shake not insignificantly. It is in moments like these that you realise you're staying on a bloody bus. Remarkably, it becomes cosier in inclement weather. The rain hammers down on the metal roof and it gives us an excuse to light the log burner, which circulates warmth and the homely smell of a real fire throughout the bus. The excitement of being on board means the children are perfectly happy being cooped up for a whole afternoon and even the dash to the hot tub feels more like an adventure than a hardship, though our wine gets watered down at an alarming rate. We experience the kind of tiredness that only city people can feel when faced with fresh air and silence, and fall asleep in a rocking bus, to the patter of raindrops above our heads. With our stay over, we pack our car and wave goodbye to Adam and Sally, his dog, to eke out our weekend by a few more hours with a visit to Raystede Animal Welfare. It promised a lot - goats, chickens, chinchillas, parrots - but by the time we arrived they were all sensibly sheltering from yet another incoming storm and left us alone to traipse through a balding of furious ducks as we dashed back to the warmth of the on-site cafe. It's a lovely place, but probably best left for sunny days. We decide to thaw out in Adam's recommended local pub, The Roebuck in Laughton. It's a beautiful country pub with hearty, British dishes and a wine list you'll want to slowly work your way through for the rest of the afternoon. You'll need to book a table, as it quickly fills up with the kind of locals who are of retirement age, but you suspect were able to draw their pension at 40, such is the wealth of the area. But it's impossibly friendly, and the locals all make an effort to talk to us, completely unprepared for the 30-minute, Big Green Bus diatribe our children are about to unleash on them. www.biggreenbus.co.uk The Big `Green Bus, Laughton, East Sussex BN8 6JQ Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Grudgingly Sharing South East London’s Hidden Gem There aren’t many places for a family to enjoy a butterfly house, aquarium, 16 acres of stunning gardens, alpacas, a merman, gorillas and a giant, overstuffed walrus for less than a chippy tea. So thank chuff for Horniman Museum and Gardens. The brilliant, South-East London attraction is one of the capital’s hidden and most eclectic gems and is a huge hit with kids of all ages, as well as grown-ups. The vast gardens are completely free, dog-friendly and have some of the most breathtaking views across London and a variety of trails and activities. Children can make a racket on giant instruments in the Sound Garden, explore the Bee Garden, Wildlife Garden, play in the Meadow Field, picnic in South Downs Meadow and check out the living fossils in the Prehistoric Garden or visit alpacas, goats and sheep on the Animal Walk. The museum is also free and includes the wonderfully weird and fascinating Natural History Gallery, packed with taxidermy, skeletons and fossils including Forest Hill's most famous resident, The Horniman Walrus - generously stuffed by Victorians who had (clearly) never seen a real walrus before. There are floor to ceiling specimens, from a dodo, platypus to Bornean orangutang. And the Nature Base allows kids to stroke a fox, watch harvest mice and see hundreds of honey bees in a special hive. One of its most unusual exhibits is its 19th century merman, also known as the Japanese monkey-fish. These bizarre specimens were made in Japan to appease the western obsession with the Feejee Mermaid hoax and were regularly sold by unsavoury rogues as real creatures. You can also buy tickets to the steamy and tropical butterfly house, to have hundreds of psychedelic-winged butterflies fluttering around your heads, within a pint-sized jungle. The ticketed aquarium (£2.50 for children and £5 for adults) houses 15 aquatic environments from around the globe, ranging from the British pond to Fijian coral reefs. Our four-year-old was mesmerised by the poison dart frogs, seahorses, multiple Nemos (clown fish) and elegant jellyfish. And our baby enjoyed licking the glass and looking at the colourful blobs darting about. There are also a slew of exhibitions, both free - like Hair: Untold Stories and Intimate - as well as ticketed, like their current exhibition, Cats and Dogs, a brilliantly executed, interactive show. The childrens’ excited shrieks were testament to the success of the games and simulations, which put them in each animals’ paws to understand them better. Under threes are free for this exhibition, while child tickets are £4.50 and adult tickets are £8.50. We must also give a special mention to the cafe, which does not provide the usual, tourist cafe fare - vacuum packed grease with a cameo of muffin or cruelly-butterless, processed ham baguettes. All vegetables used in their dishes are grown in the Horniman Gardens and everything is fresh, delicious and features high quality ingredients. The pre-packed kids’ lunchboxes are in another league - even the lollies are made with real fruit. What a time to be alive. It's a mystery why it's a hidden London gem, but the locals who fill it each day would probably prefer it to remain that way. Horniman is insanely free/cheap and has the most eclectic and lovingly put together offering, so apologies to its local fans for this piece. The Horniman Museum & Gardens, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Fancy slipping into your swimming costume and heading to Manchester? It might not be as crazy as it sounds... MANCHESTER could soon become Britain's premiere beach destination, thanks to a new indoor beach and waterpark complex. Therme Manchester is ready to submit revised plans to Trafford Council this summer, for a £250m resort next to the Trafford Centre, and the CGI pictures make it look like a tropical paradise. The sprawling new destination could boast 20 pools, 35 water slides thermal bathing and a wellbeing spa, and the plans even talk of intriguing 'living water slides', which look to be encased in vines or tropical plants. But the headline-grabbing attraction will undoubtedly be the year-round beach, where guests can build sandcastles, relax or bathe in the warm, lapping waves. We can't promise suntans, unfortunately - that'll still be dependent on Manchester's weather - but a beach with zero chance of rain is reason enough to make the journey to the North West. Should the project get green-lit by the local council, construction is expected to begin in 2023, with the park being ready to open by 2025. It's not Therme Group's first venture into indoor beaches - they own a huge indoor waterpark in Bucharest, which opened in 2016. And if that's anything to go by, we're packing our trunks in preparation for a trip to Manchester in 2025. More images: Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Luxury Indian restaurant Colonel Saab promises a feast for the eyes and stomach London is not short on food pairings - usually with wine, beer or assorted spirits. But luxury Indian restaurant, Colonel Saab will become the first to pair food with… art. But do not fear, you won’t be tearing canvases from the wall to mop up your Butter Chicken. We’ve dined at this eclectic and palatial, Holborn restaurant, so have high hopes for the unique Food and Art Pairing experience, which launches on 24 May. Colonel Saab's founder, Roop Partap Choudhary will personally take diners on a culinary journey across India, with a nine-course tasting menu of dishes and carefully paired and curated art collected by the award-winning entrepreneur and his family across the continent and lovingly brought to London. Roop’s father, Colonel Manbeer was given the honorific name Colonel Saab - shared by the restaurant - and the extensive menu is inspired by places he was stationed in the army, from local lunches in the tents of Rajasthan to British-inspired Indian breakfasts in the Officer’s Mess and stunning banquets hosted by Indian nobility and Maharajas The art-festooned restaurant was meticulously crafted as a love letter to Roop's family and India, with a treasure trove of eclectic and museum-worthy Indian art and artefacts collected by his family on their travels. Roop spent a year retracing his father’s footsteps across India by train, bus and car with Indian food royalty, Karen Anand (Dishoom) to curate contemporary twists on dishes passed down through the generations of people they met, with many regional specialities appearing for the first time on a London menu. And for this event, Roop and his team will pair extraordinary art including 17th and 19th Century Tanjore paintings, the Maharaja of Patiala’s Asprey drinks bar, pure silver Gujarat temple doors and a canopy of ornate chandeliers from Firozabad with dishes which tell the stories of those regions and people. The multi-sensory experience of India will also incorporate drinks. A Masala Dabba - or spice box - of artisanal gins, whiskies and rums based on Indian botanicals has been created with the Diageo mixology team, along with innovative cocktails by celebrated mixologist Antony Bertin, designed to complement the food and named after Choudhary's family members. Roop said: “We are passionate about food, art and India so this event combines all three and brings them to life, in a multi- sensory experience which will take you across the vast continent and its diverse and beautiful sights, tastes and fragrances, showing the powerful roles food and art play in India." The nine-course menu will cost £150 per person and includes progressive dishes, from Pulled Charcoal Lamb with Jeera Aloo and Biryani to Chicken Chettinad with Malabar Paratha and Chocolate Silk Cake, Thandai Crumble, Candy Floss and fresh berries. The vegetarian menu includes Gutti Vankaya, Andhra-style Eggplant Curry and Cauliflower 65, South Indian curd rice with fruit sorbet. Each mouthful promises to bring the continent and its rich history to life, with stories and insight about the carefully paired art and artefacts, from a stunning, carved temple door from South India, to handwoven Persian carpets and precious decanters and crockery from the palace of the Maharaja of Faridkot. One of the highlights of a dining experience at Colonel Saab is listening to the staff bringing the art and artefacts to life, so we are loosening our belts and eyelids in preparation for this feast for the eyes and stomach. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Skip straight to the wine! Highbury natural wine maestros TOP CUVÉE are bringing back the Easter egg hunt that doesn't waste your time with eggs. Sure, chocolate's good. But you know what's better? Wine! And that's why last year, Highbury natural wine experts, Top Cuvée managed to pull off London's biggest Easter egg hunt without any actual Easter eggs. And the good news is that it's back for 2022! The premise is simple: On April 17, you gather a team of friends to head out into Clissold Park to hunt for hidden QR codes that reveal prizes you'll actually want, from London legends including Yard Sale Pizza, coffee roasters Dark Arts Coffee, Dalston's Supa Ya Ramen, chophouse Blacklock and homeware brand Earl of East. Five golden eggs stacked full of prizes will also be waiting for you in the park, and if that's not enough, there's also a grand prize of a 3-month natural wine subscription, which means by the time everyone else's chocolate eggs are a distant memory, you'll still be chugging back the rewards of a fine day's Easter hunting. But be warned: Competition will be tough. Last year, 388 teams took part - a total of around 750 participants. You've got two weeks to select your team and implement a strict training regime that'll see you walk off with the wine. Don't waste it. Sign up to go hunting! Check out Top Cuvée Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Dream jobs don't exist... or do they? The 'Sandwich Grammys' has announced a new way for you to earn a crust. It's awards season, in case you hadn't noticed. Will Smith has been busy, Chris Rock has been unusually quiet and Tayla Park has been inexplicably dressed as a dinosaur. But we Brits know how to throw a glitzy bash, too, and you could find yourself right at the centre of one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies in the land. The Sammies - The Grammys of the sandwich world - returns to London for its 27th year and they're looking for a sandwich aficionado to join their esteemed judging panel. It's good, honest work. You'll have to soldier through no less than 24 sandwiches - not in one sitting, we hasten to add - all created by the UK's finest and most innovative 'Sandwich Designers' (yes, that's a thing, apparently). Alongside a judging panel of food industry experts including celebrity chef Theo Randall, you'll wield the power to crown the maker of 'Britain's Best Butty.' But with great power comes great responsibility, and you'll need to possess certain skills in order to take your seat at the top table. Jim Winship, director of The British Sandwich & Food to Go Association who organise the event, advises: "Superior tastebuds, along with a demonstrable obsession with sandwiches, are key attributes of our ideal candidate. “We do advise the successful applicant to wear comfy clothes on the day, as we have a lot of sandwiches to get through!" So, fellow sandwich obsessives, now is your time to shine! Fetch your elasticated trousers, unbuckle your belts and brace yourselves for the role you were born to do. Applications are open until Friday 15th April and the winner will be announced on Friday 22nd April. Not only will you get the chance to munch all 24 of the finest sandwiches in Britain, but you'll also be invited to the awards ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday 5th May, where Theo Randall and comedian Jo Caulfield will announce your chosen winner. So keep the date free - and maybe buy a party outfit a size bigger than normal, just in case. Find out about British Sandwich Week Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Calling all Thrill-Seekers - Shark, Park and Mardi Gras Thorpe Park dusts off the Christmas cobwebs and reopens ahead of the Easter break in an explosion of beads, feathers and sequins with brand new Mardi Gras and Carnival events. If you want a taste of the Big Easy, you can check out our 24 Hours in New Orleans review and head to the Deep South for some extreme, rosary and hand grenade action. OR you can stay closer to home and visit Thorpe’s thrill-seeking island from 19 May - 19 June, when it launches its Spring celebration of Louisiana, with an avalanche of beads, authentic Mardi Gras street-food and live entertainment, alongside adrenaline-charged rides like Nemesis Inferno, as your legs dangle beneath 750 meters of twisted track. From 22 July until 28 August, the party continues, when the resort debuts its Carnival experience, including a brand new stage show with entertainment they’ll be revealing soon. The themepark is also reopening its deliciously quirky, Thorpe Shark Cabins. Dive into the jaws of a huge, model shark to enter your nautical home for the night - each stay includes two days of theme park entry in a peaceful spot, three minutes away from all the action. Later this year, the resort’s Oktoberfest returns (2 - 25 September) with Bavarian beats, German treats and more lederhosen than you can shake a Brätwurst at. This is followed for the duration of October by the 21st birthday of its award-winning Fright Nights, unlocking your darkest nightmares and featuring its hit scare mazes, scare zones and moonlit rides, including the world’s first horror movie-themed rollercoaster, SAW – The Ride. Tickets for the 2022 season are now live and on sale on Thorpe Park’s website, where you can save up to 35% when booked in advance. Our personal favourites - to do before any kind of food has been acquainted with your stomach - are Stealth, which will fire you out at 80mph in under two seconds and the twisted Colossus, which boasts ten acrobatic loops. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

We do the egg-work to find 12 of the best experiences this Easter April is choc-full of Easter activities for the kids, with a fluffle of Easter bunnies vying for attention across the UK. We’ve saved you the egg-work and picked out the 12 best and most unusual experiences, from immersive hotels run by penguins and bears to ship-climbing, wizard workshops, Mad Hatter tea parties and Zog. Obviously, there are also plenty of chocolate workshops, egg hunts and opportunities to meet that wascally wabbit himself. Discover Children’s Story Centre - The 100 Story Hotel Stratford's immersive, sprog-storytelling Mecca is addled with amazing April events. Highlights include The 100 Story Hotel. Clive the polar bear concierge can take your bags. And fellow guests include lions, tigers, dinosaurs and bears. Some sausage dogs are having a party on the hotel beach. The porters are penguins. And the housekeeping team is headed up by a handy octopus. There’s just one problem – although the hotel is usually full of 100 amazing stories, one story has just gone missing. They need your help to follow the clues and find the culprit. Created with bestselling, multi award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, this world of play and storytelling has something for everyone aged 0-8. Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience For the first time since arriving in Greenwich in 1954, visitors will be able to climb the famous masts of the Cutty Sark this April. The Rig Climb Experience invites kids and brave parents to step up from the main deck onto the ship’s ratlines and climb up its top mast, as hundreds of sailors did during the Cutty Sark’s heyday. Once at the top, climbers will experience a controlled descent from the rigging. Participants will be rewarded with some of the best views in London, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and Tower Bridge. Audley End Easter Special Hop onto the miniature train - outside Saffron Walden, Essex - and ride deep into the enchanted Audley End woods to visit the Easter bunny in his woodland home. Along the route through the magical forest, kids can use I Spy sheets to spot bunnies burrowing in the undergrowth, colourful eggs and spring chicks. The train stops at the Easter bunny’s burrow, where children will meet the full-sized rabbit and his furry friends, who will give each child a special gift. The next stop is the Easter Trail, where families can wander through pathways to spot springtime animals, nests and eggs. The Easter entertainment continues in the picnic field, where children can explore the adventure play area and visit the Easter story telling session on the stage. Eggsellent food and drink will be available at the Woodland Cafe all day with seasonal treats. Easter Chocolate workshops at Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace teams with luxury chocolatiers, Hotel Chocolat to offer children the chance to make and decorate their own eggs in a fun and interactive Easter workshop. Alongside the workshops, youngsters can meet the Easter Bunny, enjoy fairground rides, watch puppet shows and learn magical circus tricks in the Big Top. Conk the Clown will also be on parade as well as Punch and Judy shows, mini golf, trampolining and bubble blowing performances. And kids will also get the chance to search the Palace’s Formal Gardens in a traditional egg hunt. Small is beautiful, Miniature Art Exhibition This small but mighty exhibition opens in the heart of London this April, showcasing the work of 32 local and international miniature artists. On display will be 130 tiny artworks, creating a small-scale universes full of artistry and poetry – figures playing tennis on a watermelon or skateboarding down a ramp made from coloured pencils. This is a family-friendly event with kids' DIY workshops. Easter in Wonderland Jump down the rabbit hole to meet another legendary bunny at Elephant and Castle on 16 April for a free Easter event inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Castle Square will be transformed into Lewis Carroll’s dream world, with activities, workshops, performances, music and food for all ages. Visit the Rabbit Hole to join the White Rabbit Easter Bunny and Mad Hatter for a tea party. The Mad Hatter will be giving out ‘Eat me’, ‘Drink me’ and ‘Treat me’ vouchers to exchange with the traders. Activities include fairytale face painting, bunting making and biscuit decorating workshops. Pop-Up Bunny and Chick Petting Zoo at Hilton London Bankside For kids in search of the real Easter bunny, Hilton London Bankside will be hosting a Pop-Up Bunny and Chick Petting Zoo on 17 April, Easter Sunday. Between 9am and 1pm, families can visit the fluffle of rabbits and chicks under the careful eye of two trained handlers from Living Things, a five-star animal welfare company. The Petting Zoo is free to attend for those staying at the hotel, brunching at Hilton London Bankside’s neighbourhood eatery, OXBO Bankside or dining at its Distillery Bar The Distillery Bankside. Family workshops at Shakespeare's Globe Globe Theatre has a host of exciting family workshops this April. They include family sword fighting demonstrations and a Romeo and Juliet workshop. And there is something for all ages. Zog Quest and Playground at Warwick Castle & Knights Village Warwick Castle launches Zog and the Quest for the Golden Star: an interactive trail for budding dragons to meet the beloved dragon and learn essential skills, like princess-capturing, based on Julia Donaldson’s bestselling children’s book, Zog. Children can also take over the brand new Zog Playground, flying on a Dragon Wing Zip Wire, climbing up Princess Pearl’s Tower and sliding down Zog’s tail. Wizard Exploratorium Soho's magic-themed Wizard Exploratorium is a five-storey, geek wonderland, offering a 4D wand-making workshop, immersive trick shop and suitably magical afternoon tea encompassing tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Trail at Kew Gardens Eric Carle’s iconic book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is brought to life at Kew Gardens’ stunning trail, as children are taken on a transformational journey from greedy caterpillar to beautiful butterfly, through sculptures of juicy fruits and a cosy chrysalis. They can also explore the seasonal plants in the gardens, with tulips, bluebells, magnolias, and cherry blossom all bursting to life. Biscuiteers, Belgravia Easter Sessions Throughout April, Biscuiteers run Easter DIY icing sessions, giving kids the chance to make their own Easter creations, following a handy tutorial. The Kids Easter Icing Classes run for an hour and come with an Easter egg hunt. There’s also the School of Icing; a workshop, Icing Lates and a Spring Afternoon Tea filled with a host of sweet treats. Easter at Battersea Power Station, Battersea For brilliantly diverse and free entertainment this half term, head to the Grade II listed power station, which will be home to a petting zoo with rabbits, chickens, Pygmy goats, lambs and sheep, from The Mini Farm. Children can also take part in its Easter egg hunt around Circus West Village with unusual prizes up for offer. And there will be outdoor gamea and a maze on The Coaling Jetty. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter

Celebrated brewery drops 'B-Side' brew to celebrate day of music at its Greenwich HQ At a loose end tomorrow? Well, look no further than Meantime Brewing Company, who've combined excellent live music with a brand new beer drop in a move specially designed to make you hotfoot it to their Greenwich beer house. It's part of Record Store Day, which celebrates 15 years of vinyl worship this year and proceeds from the event will go to tip-top charity partners, War Child, who are currently doing stellar work helping children from war-torn Ukraine, so know that your money will make an immediate impact where it's needed most. Meantime Presents Record Store Day Live is a day-long event headlined by soulful singer-songwriter, Samm Henshaw, and Hak Baker, who's fresh off the back of a sell-out UK tour which culminated in a gig at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire and recently played The Roundhouse in Camden. Also performing are punk-funkers, Do Nothing and funk-soul act Sister Cookie - favourites of 6Music's Craig Charles. That's a lot of funk to go round. But it's not all about the live music. There'll also be DJ sets and the chance to bag yourself some Record Store Day merch and actual records (it is Record Store Day, after all!) at the vinyl fair, which will play host to local shops Peckham Soul and Dream House London. As is the norm, expect to find new releases, rare pressings and special, one-offs that might be worth a pretty penny in the future. But it's at a brewery, so there must be beer, right? Well, you're in luck! There'll be loads of the stuff. And just to make the day extra special, there'll be a fresh-brew dropping just for the occasion. Joshua Smith of Meantime gives us the lowdown: How about that? Wake up the next morning without the hangover-guilt, as every beer you sink means another donation to a worthy cause. You're a giver, champ, and don't you forget it! Tickets cost £12.50 (including that all-important War Child donation) and you can also buy B-side beer online. Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter