Seeing as I live in deepest, darkest Wales and getting anywhere exotic is both time consuming and expensive, I decided to make the most of my trip east and spend an extra day in London on my way home.
One of my dearest friends had a free weekend and was able to meet me for brunch and spend the day exploring with me. Being based at opposite sides of the country, we don't get to see each other anywhere near enough, so it really meant a lot to be able to have a whole day together.
We met at King's Cross and headed straight over to the Granary Building, in the hope that we would bag a table at Caravan for brunch. We were in luck! Despite it being a Saturday morning, we were seated almost immediately and settled in for a long overdue catch up.
Despite not living in London, I have a very long list of places in the city that I'd like to eat and Caravan has been near the top of that list since it opened last year. Hey, how can a girl resist a place with a dedicated brunch menu!? A brunch menu that's served nearly all day on the weekend?? (Side note: I have never understood why so many places finish their breakfast and brunch menus at mid-morning - surely on the weekend no one wants to rush out and have breakfast at the crack of dawn? It's a meal to be savoured after a lie in and having spent a little bit too long in your pyjamas...!).
It was a sort of foregone conclusion that I'd choose the coconut bread with lemon curd cream cheese and strawberries, while my friend went for a slice of blackberry tart. I also had a freshly squeezed juice, which arrived quickly and really hit the summery spot. My coconut bread was tasty, though if I was to be critical, I'd say I had rather too much of the lemon curd cream cheese, which was delicious, but made the toasted bread quite wet. The texture wasn't my favourite and I think using the bread to make a coconut french toast (with the same cream cheese on the side) would have been a better choice. It was still a lovely fresh breakfast though. And the milk came in a mini milk bottle! Swoon!
My favourite thing about Caravan though was the atmosphere. It was so lovely to be in such a vast space, but to feel cosy and part of a relaxed, happy group of people at the same time. We weren't rushed at all, despite it getting close to lunchtime by the time we were finishing and it felt as though we could have stayed perched on our table all afternoon.
But there were other things to see! After admiring the incredible artwork that adorns the Granary Building and its neighbours (that silver stripe is incredible!), we set off on a walk along Regent's Canal. I had absolutely no idea that this canal existed, despite having seen it many times whilst at Camden Lock. We followed the path all the way to Camden, heading into the market for a quick explore and a hot chocolate, before getting back on the path and walking all the way to Paddington, where I would be catching my train back home from. We passed London Zoo! We passed house boat communities and beautiful houses in St. John's Wood! I even got to my favourite stretch of London, Westbourne Grove (though sadly too late in the day to hotfoot it to the Hummingbird Bakery for cupcakes). I saw parts of London that I'd never seen before and it was thrilling to see the city from such a different perspective. If you're looking for a different way to spend your time in the city, this was an easy walk, with plenty of places to stop for refreshments along the way!
Caravan, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square (off Goods Way), London N1C 4AA
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