The Top 5 Things Londoners Love To Do In The Sun

Londoners versus the sun

If you have ever been to London or know anyone from the city, you will know that Londoners only have two states of being when it comes to weather:

• Being uncomfortable that it’s cold and the sun hasn’t come out.

• Being uncomfortable that it has.

All jokes aside, London is a great city in all weather conditions. But now that the sun has come out and we’re experiencing anything above 10 degrees, you can expect Londoners everywhere to break out their cargo shorts, birkenstocks and sometimes too much of their birthday suit.

5. Picnicking

If there is one thing we can truly commend Londoners for, it’s their ability to make the most of every single patch of grass available

The more dedicated will arrive early to make sure they get a spot with some shade but many of us will happily sit in the blaring sun for hours. In all honesty, can you blame us? We need to make the most of the natural Vitamin D while we can

Some of the most popular picnic parks in London:

Clapham Park

Richmond Park

Regent’s Park

Hyde Park

Hampstead Heath

Victoria Park

4. Hunting for ice cream trucks

The days of careless childhood may be long buried and forgotten under “adult” responsibilities. One thing you can be sure of, however, is that every person in London, young, adult or anything in between, will be on the hunt for brightly-coloured ice cream trucks

The best thing about ice cream trucks is that they are always on the move, so looking for them will get you moving too! After a few weeks the true Londoners among us will have made a mental note of all the routes and popular places to go.

* It’s also worth noting that every supermarket will have sold out of ice cream by 3pm on most sunny days, so this is also your only option if you fancy an ice cream. Sorry!

3. Selling out fans & paddling pools

You might think we’re joking, but we’re absolutely not. Homes in London do. Not. Have. Air. Conditioning.

So when it’s hot Londoners turn to cooling off in more “old fashioned” ways.

Black Friday who? You have not experienced true shopping desperation until it’s 20 degrees in London at noon and you’ve been to 14 different shops to try and find a fan, only for there to be none in stock, anywhere.

Paddling pools are also a popular item for the lucky Londoners with gardens, and even some of the more daring ones without.

2. Pedal boating

Pedal boating is one of those real joys in life. It’s also one of the joys in life that seems totally silly before you try it for the first time. We’ve all been that person walking around Regent’s Park judging all the people paddling on little blue boats in the blaring sun – but we promise it’s actually a lot of fun!

A few parks in London, such as Hyde Park and Regent’s Park, offer pedal boat rides for a reasonable price, and it makes for a fantastic couple of hours out in the water, soaking in the sun, and burning some of those ice cream calories as well as your skin.

1. Barbecuing

At the very first signs of Spring, Londoners start to stock up on barbecue supplies. One of the greatest things about this habit is that everyone is involved whether they like it or not, and you won’t see anyone complaining about it either. If you’re having a barbecue, you’re getting to eat the food. If you’re not, then you still get to smell it!

Barbecues are taken very seriously in London, in the sense that it doesn’t matter how you do it, so long as you’re doing it. You will see everything from beautiful built-in brick barbecues in back gardens to expensive stand-alone barbecues and improvised bits of strategically-shaped tin foil.

We suggest walking through London with a full stomach in order to avoid getting “hangry” whenever you get a whiff of someone’s BBQ party that you were not invited to.

What are your favourite things to do in London in the sun?