A Day Out in London Bridge

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I’ve lived in London for a few years, but haven’t actually ever gone to a specific area to spend time and explore! Dann and I went out to the London Bridge area, with a budget in our pockets, looking to do whatever we stumbled upon. It was a long day out, and we ended up doing a mix of tourism and finding smaller gems that are within the area. If you want to do a day out in the London Bridge area, but unlike us, don’t live nearby, there are loads of hotels near the Shard to pick from.

Hash

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We landed in London Bridge at around 12:30 – the perfect time to get lunch. Loads of people talk about the Borough Market, but that’s only open for half of the week. It was not open when we were in London, which was fine as there are so many other food options dotted around. Both Dann and I are a big fan of street food and saw a place with a big sign that said ‘Cheeseria’ which sounds lovely! This venue basically has its front of house staff cooking a bunch of food outside their shop, which you can grab and go. While waiting in line, you can look at the Southwark Cathedral, which is right next door to it.

We both ordered Mac n Chicken, which is a side of mac n cheese with some lovely fried chicken on the side. We added some pesto to ours and Dann added a dab of mustard. Along this little side alley, there were a few other similar places to eat and Hash also had pulled pork, several sandwiches, and other cheese-related food.

The Golden Hinde

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Once our bellies were full, we went to The Golden Hinde. This is a big boat, sitting in a sort of alleyway by London Bridge. The Golden Hinde is a recreation of the boat that Sir Francis Drake’s ship, which you can walk around and explore. Once you get onto the ship, you start to see how low the roof is of the various areas inside a ship. There are all of the basic rooms from the captain’s chambers to the location of the cannons. Deep in the main belly of the ship, there’s a huge fishing net where people can write the meaning of the ocean on cards and then place them on the net. This was interesting and I filled out a card before going forward to explore some more.

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The Golden Hinde has tours that happen periodically throughout the day. While we were on the ship, they told the history of the voyage of the ship on a huge map. This was really informational and funny; the storyteller was great. The next tour was showcasing how the cannons were loaded, but we didn’t feel like kneeling in that area again, so we hopped off the ship.

Winchester Palace

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Walking away from The Golden Hinde, Dann pointed out that there was just a random ruin of a wall along the path. This turned out to be an English Heritage site called Winchester Palace, the palace that was the townhouse of the Bishops of Winchester. It had been destroyed, mostly, but a wall and a bit of the foundation remained. There is a plaque telling you all about the palace and how it was used for big feasts and wine storage. There are a lot of little things dotted around London Bridge, as England has a long history which can be stumbled upon when walking around there.

Bird & Blend Tea Co.

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We found ourselves wandering down a road of little shops, two of which really caught our eye. The first one was Bird & Blend Tea Co. Outside, they have a menu of a bunch of different teas, lattes and lemonades. In their window, you can see loads of different teas and tea leaves. They were giving out samples, both on a get your own little cup of these various flavours of tea and with one special latte, which one of the employees brought over to us when we entered.

This tea shop has lots of different flavors and everyone seems to know so much about tea! Not only do they have tea, but they also have loads of tea-related stuff like tea lip balm and special teaspoons. You can take any of the different teas off of the shelf and smell them before buying. We got a couple of drinks; a strawberry lemonade for me and a raspberry ripple matcha tea for Dann. We also grabbed some tea blends (Watermelon Splash and Key Lime Pie) before heading off. Bird & Blend Tea Co also do tea workshops where you can learn about the history of tea and create your own tea, which seems like an interesting event to attend!

Neal’s Yard Dairy

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Neal’s Yard Dairy was just across the way, which is basically a shop full of cheese. Also handing out samples of various cheeses to anyone wandering around the shop, we couldn’t walk by without taking a look inside. This is a very speciality cheese shop, with huge shelves full of cheeses. These cheeses even said the names of the workers who created them. They also had some other little, gourmet items like jellies and oils. We were really impressed by the wheels of cheese and the way they were presented in this small shop, dominating the back wall and counter space. A cheese lovers dream, I’d say.

Monument to the Great Fire of London

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In between a bunch of buildings, we spied a monument. This turned out to be the Monument to the Great Fire of London. You can actually walk up this and stand at the top, although it is 311 stairs. That’s a lot of stairs – all swirling together, getting more narrow as you get higher. We did want to enjoy the view and decided to make the trek up the monument’s stairs to see the top. It was a big, long walk, but well worth it when we got to the top. The breeze was refreshing and it felt good to really get all the way up these steps. You can see a lovely view of London, but there are a lot of buildings all around it. When we did make our way back down, at the bottom, we got a certificate that said we had done the big climb to the top.

Hay’s Galleria

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We then walked along the London Bridge and looked over at the Tower Bridge, before heading towards Hay’s Galleria. It turns out that the Christmas Market lasts until January 5th, so we grabbed some dinner there, but as it wasn’t that great and the market is going away really soon, I’ll just skip past that part. The market did continue into Hay’s Galleria, which is a really lovely building with tons of shops all on the outside. The Christmas decorations were still up, despite it being January, but that added to the awe. Hay’s Galleria is a great place to jump into if it starts to rain in London Bridge, or if you just want to sit down for a bit and enjoy some great architecture.

General Sights

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Another thing to mention about the London Bridge area is just the amount of lovely buildings and art dotted around. Notably, the Hop Exchange building is really breathtaking! It almost looks like a fake building front or a bit of art. There were some cool graffiti dotted around, as well as a bunch of colored lights. Walking around with a camera, you can find tons of interesting things to take pictures of. The view from London Bridge, of the Tower Bridge, is not to be missed and is a big site for most. There is a lot of other things to do in London Bridge, but this was what caught our eyes as we walked around.

*The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, but all views are my own.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!