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A Family Visit to the Tower of London with Kids

One place LP has wanted to go for such a long time is the Tower of London so when we spent a weekend in London earlier in the summer it was top of our list of places to visit with the children. We have actually been to the Tower of London as a family previously but as LP was only four at the time she doesn’t remember it.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London

What is the Tower of London?

The Tower of London has stood on it’s site, near Tower Bridge, on the north bank of the River Thames since 1066. The main castle, known as the White Tower, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and the whole site has evolved many times during its thousand year history. It has acted as a prison, an armoury, a public records office and even home to the Royal Mint for a time too.

More famously, it now houses the Crown Jewels in the jewel house with exhibits dedicated to each of the Tower’s many uses through the ages. The whole site is part of the Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage site.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London
A Family Visit to the Tower of London

We only spent a couple of hours at the Tower of London but managed to walk around the grounds inside and went into the White Tower to look at the exhibitions. The children were in awe of the whole place, knowing instantly that they were in a real, historic castle and one full of so much history.

The Tower of London teaches you so much about Henry VIII and his ancestors like Henry III and learn about Lady Jane Grey who was executed on Tower Green just a stone’s throw from the Bloody Tower. It was a prison to many people – Sir Walter Raleigh included.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London

We got to see Yeoman Warders – Beefeaters – and the children loved their uniforms and how official they all looked. They’re such a huge part of the Tower of London and such an iconic part of London. It’s lovely to see them walking around the castle during your visit.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London

The children’s favourite part of the Tower of London was seeing the Crown Jewels. This was the busiest part of our day out, with huge queues to get in to see the Crown Jewels and then a queue filing past them to the outside but, they are well worth the wait – even if photographs aren’t permitted.

Is the Tower of London child friendly?

The Tower of London is a fantastic day out. It’s easily accessible, has so much to learn and has plenty of toilets and baby change facilities too. There are places to grab drinks and snacks as well as the New Armouries Café but you can also take a picnic too.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London

The Tower of London is such a great family friendly day out and we really only scratched the surface. We saw the main parts of the Tower of London but there were also free Yeoman Warder tours we could join guided by Beefeaters and so much more to see around the tower too. It’s definitely worth venturing into London for.

A Family Visit to the Tower of London

Author

  • Donna Wishart

    Donna Wishart is married to Dave and they have two children, Athena (13) and Troy (11). They live in Surrey with their two cats, Fred and George. Once a Bank Manager, Donna has been writing about everything from family finance to days out, travel and her favourite recipes since 2012. Donna is happiest either exploring somewhere new, with her camera in her hand and family by her side or snuggled up with a cat on her lap, reading a book and enjoying a nice cup of tea. She firmly believes that tea and cake can fix most things.

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