London Travel Forum

Has anyone ever stayed at Craven Gardens Apartments on Bayswater Road?
Also what is there to see with 2 12 year olds in and around Birmingham besides Cadbury.

How far around Birmingham?

The Black Country Living Museum is in Dudley, has loads to see and do and is an excellent place to visit for children and adults. Make sure you try the chips (and the beer):

http://www.bclm.co.uk/

Warwick Castle is not too far away, and is a superb experience. ?although tourist-focused it relly has made a good job of presenting the castle as it was in Medieval and later times:

http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/

Both places are easily accessible by public transport as well as by car. Train times and info here: www.nationalrail.co.uk

Local bus info (for Dudley) here:

http://www.travelwm.co.uk/bus-information/

There is also Dudley Zoo and castle:

http://www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/home.htm

and Drayton Manor Park (if you have a car):

http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/

Or Twycross Zoo (a bit further, but a good place):

http://www.twycrosszoo.com/

The official Birmingham tourist info site also has lots of ideas for children in the city:

http://www.visitbirmingham.com/family/

The Thinktank Science Museum would be well worth a visit:

http://www.thinktank.ac/

What a shame you did not post 1 week ago we were in Bayswater for 5 days and could have looked for you.Any other queries about the area?

thanks for your offer...we are trying to decide whether to stay there or 45 minutes away where we have some family...How convenient was the area for sightseeing? Could you walk anywhere? Is it in zone 1 for the tube?

A very good free place to go in Birmingham is the Gas Street Basin - this is the junction of Englands canal system and I think 4 canals join here. There are colourful canal barges moving around and there are seats where you can just sit and watch the activities going on.

Batswater Road is in Zone 1. Bayswater Tube station is on the Circle and District lines.

Tube map here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/downloads/tube_map.html

Whether you feel you could walk anywhere depends on a)what you want to see and b) how far you are prepared to walk. You will see far more whilst walking, of course, but it does eat up your time.

Have a look at google maps to get a streetmap of the area, so you can wok out what you could walk to. Or put the apartments postcode into www.streetmap.co.uk to find out exactly where they arein relation to everything else.



Have a look at google maps to get a London streetmap, and decide whether the location is walkable for you. .

Hi again,
We have walked around the area only 2 weeks ago. You can walk to Paddington and Paddington station in one direction.
You can cross Bayswater Road and there you are in Kensington Gardens /Hyde Park so that leads to many delights.
You can cross to Knightsbridge and there is Harrods and then tube it back easily to Queensway or Lancaster Gate (change at Holborn )

You can walk to Marble Arch and Oxford St. Maybe a 2 yr old will need a bit of a hand.

Bayswater is not exactly upmarket but it is handy and there is a good hairdresser Jon at HQ Hair also a healthy food shop ?Pret just before the shopping centre.(Movies on top floor too ) Many cheap souvenir shops with countless toys. The internet cafe I prefer is the one on Bayswater Road as it is open with easy access ...maybe a tiny bit dearer.

The "hop on" bus picks up on Bayswater Road and regular buses go that way too.

We are comfortable in this area and have never had a problem.
Hope this is helpul Marg

Thank you all, especially Marge.

I should add that Bayswater is very busy at times(people rather than traffic as it is off the main drag) and though downmarket no one has ever bothered me and I have walked back to our hotel at night on my own.But I am always mindful.

What I wanted to mention is that in one of the Cravens (there is a Terrace and a Street close by) there is a laundrymat and a few little shops closer than Bayswater itself. At Bayswater there is grocery store and a chemist. Marg