As you may or may not have gleaned so far, we are fans of budgeting as much as possible. 

Today was no different, so below, you’ll find an example of a day out that did not break the bank and was still thoroughly enjoyable. In fact, I loved every minute!

Now, normally we visit Greenwich, park up in an underground car park which charges £3+ an hour and eat ourselves silly at a nearby chinese restaurant. After patting our stomachs, claiming for the 100th time that we have no idea how we ate as much as we did and then waddling around the grounds of Greenwich University to while away the remaining time on the car park ticket. There may be occasions where we will wander around Greenwich market and chide ourselves once again for not eating at the very many delicious looking food stalls. 

So with being frugal in mind and the aim of seeing more of Greenwich than ever before, we set out this morning at 6:30am! The sun hung in the hazy sky setting the tone of grey for the day. My dress and converse combo sat on the fence of wrong or right outfit choice. The drive into Greenwich is an hour from our home and honestly we love the fact we can drive into this part of London and not be charged by the congestion zone. Be careful though, you may be subject to a charge under the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, so should you fancy following in our tire tracks, check this beforehand. We approach Greenwich along the A12 from Colchester and head under the Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel. I wouldn’t say it is a scenic route by any means, you catch a glimpse of the Olympic Park, O2 arena and Emirates Cable Care, so buckle up and sing to the radio to pass the time. 

Now, tip number one: on a weekend you can park on Charlton Way, SE10 8QY, for free! This road runs along the top of Greenwich park and as long as you get there early enough you will be as close to the park as you’ll ever get without paying for parking. You literally park outside the walls of the park itself. Arriving at 07:45am, we were the tenth car from the gates.

There is something about a walled park that screams Royal London to me and it is mornings like these that make me drag my body out of my beloved bed. That and a meal deal with a caffeine hit! We will often grab a meal deal from our Tesco petrol station to fend off the morning hunger monster and at £3 it cannot be sniffed at!

With this in our bellies and caffeine flooding our veins, we head into the park. Flooding the park’s very own pathed veins were early morning runners and dog walkers. By any standard, lots of dogs running, playing and wagging their tails sets us up for a great day. 

We turned right as we entered the park and head towards Greenwich Park Pond. There aren’t too many signs in the park, but on entry there is a huge map, so click that phone camera to stay on track. The pond is a pleasant walk from the street and as the sun was barely over the surrounding wall, it felt very secluded and as if we were disturbing its morning routine. Baby birds swam on the mirrored surface while fish jumped to catch the early morning bugs. There are two small fountains in the centre of the expanse of water and it created a lovely backdrop of sound to the waking day. A large heron flew above the trees below settling on a branch and settling down for what looked like a nap. Surrounding the pond are very old trees. Chestnut trees whose trunks twist up and spiral towards the sky, pine trees whose low hanging but long branches create a sneaky snug away from the crowds and the mighty oaks all make for a sight you do not expect against the backdrop of Financial London. 

From the pond we made our way across the park to the Rangers House. It is actually located outside the park and you need to exit and follow the wall around to find its front gates. Netflix subscribers may already know this house and I hope that Bridgerton viewers will most definitely recognise this building. Arriving early, we found ourselves the only people clinging to its gates and found out that tomorrow (31st July) they will be filming there for what we can only assume is the next series of Bridgerton! Obviously this is only a guess but there were loads of flowers and shrubs off to the side ready to dress the scene and we all know this adds up to a very safe guess.

Dragging myself away from camping out overnight for a glimpse of those beautiful costumes, we set off across the park once more towards the tree lined avenue that stretches from the entrance gates to the sprawling vista of the London skyline. At 8:30am there were only a handful of people around with their furry companions and the odd tourist leaning against the tall railings of the Royal Observatory and its meridian line. 

Tip two: On the wall surrounding the observatory courtyard is the Shepherd Gate Clock, if you turn right and head around the fences and through the black swing gate you will be able to straddle the meridian line for free. Lots of people pay entrance to the Royal Observatory just to take that Instagram worthy photo not knowing you can do this for free only a few metres away. There are pretty awesome views of the 02 arena from here too! Budget busting eh?

Continue along this walkway until you meet the main road that leads down and through the park. It is much quieter than the middle route that takes you down the narrow and steep path past the Maritime Museum. The tree lined path you find will lead you steadily down the Greenwich slope and out through the beautiful St Mary’s gate. 

You will now be in the electric beating heart of Greenwich. We arrived here at 09:10am and needed a seat to rest our waking bums and coffee to stir our slumbering minds. We stopped in at Grind on Nelson Road and was immediately blown away by the decor. There is an industrial greenhouse vibe that I am absolutely loving right now and we are planning to take pieces of it for one of our bathroom transformations. And the best thing… dogs are allowed! There is a gorgeous bar, large glass enveloped space and an outdoor courtyard where you can sip your delectable coffee under the morning sky. 

Stopping only for coffee, we were involuntarily led to order food by our eyes and drooling mouths when the table opposite us received their food. We ordered buttermilk pancakes with chantilly cream, red fruits and seeds. It felt like a complete indulgence and against our rules of keeping to a small budget so we shared the one dish between us. It was a beautifully light, fresh and zingy treat which we took longer than necessary to eat just to drag out the moment in the beautiful space just that bit longer. Cost of drinks and food: £20 inc service charge. Cost of being spontaneous and doing the happy food wiggle: priceless. Oh and, by now you may need to pee, the toilets here are awesome. I’ve never ever been in a toilet that has a voiceover and David Attenborough at that!

Back on the street we turned towards the vintage market and chose to take an early morning stroll to look at the offerings. I dare say there are items for the more discerning eye which were completely lost on me. But it’s definitely an experience. 

The same can be said for the National Maritime Museum. Tickets are booked online for free which classes this as tip number 3! Booked free or with donation is down to you. We booked free with the idea to donate when there. We took a short hour to wander the halls of this magnificent building. The discerning eye again fled the scene here for me but the world map on the mezzanine level and the huge propeller and the Tarbat Ness light are not to be missed. (We are going to Tarbat Ness Lighthouse in Scotland later this year so that was a serendipitous moment for sure.) There is plenty enough to see in this huge exhibition space and if you have any interest in maritime history I think it is a perfectly well put together space for a great day out. It also helps that all exhibition rooms are air conditioned! Hello from an exceptionally happy girl to a port in the storm that is a British summer time. Just for that I folded a £5 note into the donation box as we left. 

Are you keeping up so far. 

Free parking. 

Wandering a park. 

Cheeky indulgent coffee and treat £20.

World famous museum (free +£5).

It is 11am. Not too shabby eh?

From here, we walked to Greenwich market itself. We regularly visit and never try any of the food and although we were completely game to try what took our fancy, we were not hungry in the slightest! We wandered slowly, glancing around and willing our stomachs to wake to no avail. We bought a very sweet and lemony juice drink from one of the vendors (£3) to inject some bounce back into our step. I could feel the food coma taking over my body and needed its advance to slow. Was it a costly expense? Absolutely. Cheaper than the food we had intended on buying? Absolutely again!

The food stalls range from £5-9 per dish. They come in a range of sizes and are all cooked fresh. The meals on offer here stretch around the globe in their geography and I cursed myself again for not waiting to eat. 

It is a short walk from the market to the grounds of the University and we have paused here many times to watch the world go by. The area is stunning on its own but should you need more than history to whet your appetite you may be amused to know that there have been more than a few hollywood productions filmed right here! Pirates of the Caribbean, Thor, Cruella, Les Miserables and Netflix’s The Crown, to name just a few. It’s not everyday you can walk onto a film set. After you’ve stepped through historical London, backtrack to the river and follow it east until you come across the Trafalgar Tavern. 

This was a new addition to our Greenwich visit today and hidden by the University though it is, I wondered how we ever missed it. Hundreds upon hundreds of flags are strung here and there. Criss crossing between trees shedding their shadows on the cobbles below. It is an awe-inspiring place and with bench seating against the railings of the Thames we are making our way back here as soon as possible. It is also dog friendly here, so we may have to nag a dog for a day-out treat too!

Feeling the burn of the midday sun we started our slow walk back towards the waiting car and its air conditioning. We stopped briefly on the benches at the bottom of the hill. For the first time we sat looking up at the hill rather than down from it. It was sad to look out and see the dusty field that has been starved of moisture by the summer sun. The lush Greenwich green I am used to has all but dried up. I sat hoping for rain to return soon. Behind us the Queens house gleamed in the sunlight and its 200 metre long herbaceous border was an enormous contrast to the rest of the park. Bright greens framed the pinks, whites and purple flowers and I found myself transfixed by the juxtaposition. I may have sat a tad longer than needed as we still had the steep hill to climb that runs below the observatory. 

On my itineraries while working for study abroad I used to give the students 30 minutes to get from Greenwich market to the observatory owing to the walk and slog up that hill. I wondered if my tired feet would meet their match as we took the criss-crossing path across the desert land into the shade of the chestnut trees that lined the pathway. An early autumn was scattered on the ground where the trees had forsaken their crispy and dying leaves. I wondered if we’d experience a merging of seasons until winter. 

So here it was, the beginning of the steep hill. Mr W remarked that he bet it was a bitch to walk in the rain. Although made of pressed pebbles, rain would make it very slick and I was grateful for the summer’s heat. The pathway is almost a right of passage for all visitors to the park and this means it is busy. Going slowly is the only option and for that I am semi-grateful. Too slow and your body does not thank you. From the bottom to the top I timed us at a measly 2 minutes so whilst the heat did not help it is certainly much easier than I imagined. Although most of my imaginings come from others experiences and remarks made online. So take it from a big girl, this is not as scary as you are led to believe!

Now, we did not achieve the chow down we yearned for today, but if you did buy food from the market or bought a budget saving picnic I believe ‘copping a squat’ at a space on the hopefully returned grassy area below the statue of James Wolfe will be the cherry on the cake of a splendid day. Is there anything better than tasty food with a skyline view?

Take your time and drink it all in. The people in the below landscape. The red buses pass here and there. The history. Dogs playing. A good doorstop sandwich and even a cup of tea. With all its English eccentricities I asked myself if the aim of the day was to slip into a Jane Austen novel and wondered if it would be such a bad thing if true. Aiming to be or not the day felt organic and simple. Enough to please the eye and plenty to make the soul happy.

Slowly walking Blackheath Avenue back to the car, I added up the cost of the day. £28. This will cost more if you succumb to the food and the trinkets sold by the traders in the markets. It’ll cost less if you take a picnic. If you take anything away from our travels today, may it be this: you are the writer of your own story. Your budget is yours to make. Your story is not determined by how much something costs nor how many things you see and do. It is defined by how you feel in your heart and mind. It is defined by how the sun feels on your skin and what pulls your eyes across a scene. Money cannot buy the time we spend watching the sun chase the clouds in the sky nor can it replace the time we lose worrying about how much something is going to cost. There are free experiences out there hidden between expense and twinkling lights. They are there for the taking.