London is a fantastic place to eat out with your kids, as long as you know where to look. Wander along the main tourist thoroughfares of Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and Regent Street and you could quickly enter panic mode as the time creeps nearer to dinner time, and the ‘I’m hungry whines turn to I’m starving and you’re searching in vain for a decent restaurant.

The answer is normally to head down a side street, or alternatively, call up this blog on your smart phone. Here are my recommendations:

I’ve been itching to get to the English countryside for months now and finally had the opportunity to do so when we had grandparents in town in September. Given the sheer number of flights going in and out of London, it’s often less expensive to fly into Heathrow (or other London airports) than other European cities (this applies to flights from major North American hubs as well).

Once our tickets were purchased, the real challenge begun. The English countryside is vast and has an unbelievable array of extraordinary things to see and do.

What do you do with a long weekend in the fall from London? Grab the kids and head up to York for 4 days of vikings, ghosts, food, ruins, music and a whole lot of fun history.

York is a small city, the center of which is contained in a walled circle, and is the best preserved non-capital medieval city in Europe. Many of the streets are narrow with timbered buildings (“as London would have looked before the fire,” my kids pointed out.)

LEGO must be the one toy ever invented that is just as much fun to play when you are 33, 43 and 53 as it was when you were just three? It’s the only toy that I will happily play with my kids for hours. Which is why we were all excited at the prospect of immersing ourselves in a land of those little bricks for the day.

Most of Britain’s theme parks are little more than permanent fairground structures and best avoided, with two exceptions: Blackpool Pleasure Beach, because it is deliciously tacky to the extreme; and Legoland Windsor, because it bares no relation to any other UK amusement park.

When you only have 3 days in a big city like London, mild panic is a distinct possibility on your last day when you take stock of all that is left to do.

My advice: Don’t fall into this trap!

Read London with Kids: Day 1 and London with Kids: Day 2 to catch up on recommendations for the first 48 hours. Major attractions missing from our holiday …

If Day 1 in London with kids is about an introduction to London’s royal heritage and iconic sites, an ideal Day 2 is one where you roll your sleeves up and dig into a neighborhood.

The best way to really learn about a place in a meaningful way is to go on a walking tour with a professional guide. Not all guides are created equal, but the good ones give you perspective you can’t get on your own.

72 hours in London will go by very quickly — there is quite simply too much to do in and around the city with kids to even make a dent in that long list of attractions you should experience.

My first tip is the most important. Forget about what you should see – stick to an absolute priority list and count on the fact that you will be back at some point. London is big. Seeing London takes time. Rushing through London detracts from the experience and impact.

Nestled in the beautiful Kentish countryside is Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife (of six) of Henry VIII. An easy hour drive from south London, Hever is a favourite with my children, not least because it has an amazing water feature.

They also love the fact (as do I) that Anne and Henry are there, strolling around.

Let’s get one thing straight, before you visit under the assumption that you are about to wonder for miles under a tree-top canopy. The New Forest is not a strictly speaking a forest and it’s definitely not new.

If you take a horse, bike or just your feet on a wander through any of the 150-odd square miles that make up the New Forest, you’ll find the forest areas broken up by heather-covered heath ground and cute thatch-cottaged villages and laced by streams, brooks and rivers.

I do feel sorry for our Royal Family sometimes. They just don’t look as glam as the stuff of fairy tales. I’ve already warned you not to take your kids to a British royal residence when the owner is in. They will get the shock of their lives if Queen Elizabeth II is on a walk about. Our royal Octogenarian prefers a headscarf to a crown most days, teamed with a sensible jumper and skirt and nice sturdy shoes. No glass slippers, ball gowns and tiaras for her most days of the week.

But on April 29 …