This year, we’ve been blessed with an amazing summer here in London. Stereotypical English weather, with rain every day? Forget about it! It’s been sunny and warm pretty much since April, with very few showers and several heatwaves. In fact, I feel like it’s been one of the longest summers in my life, and I’m actually ready for autumn. Because of the drought and hot weather, dry leaves are already falling from the trees like crazy. The weather took a bit of a turn within the last week, and I don’t even mind the cooler days. So, it feels like the perfect time to look back at the summer of 2025. Here are some photos from London and other parts of the UK!

Wildlife

One of my favourite things about London is that you can find a variety of animals living in this highly urbanised area. I remember the first time I visited Richmond Park and couldn’t believe that there were hundreds of large deer roaming around the park, completely unfazed by humans, and even cars. Now, I take London’s wildlife for granted, but I still thoroughly enjoy all of the animal encounters.

Grey squirrels and green parakeets are a common sight in most parks in London. I also enjoyed trying to photograph butterflies this summer, although they rarely cooperate. At the beginning of September, I went to Walthamstow Wetlands and spotted a heron soaking its feet in shallow waters, as well as a swan preening and flapping its wings.

Parks

London Parks are fantastic for walks, both long and short ones. The Italian Garden between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens is one of my favourite places in Central London, though it looks its best around late spring and early summer, when the flower beds are filled with colourful flowers.

Holland Park is also one of my favourites, and its Dutch Garden remains colourful most of the year.

And speaking of wildlife, I also visited Richmond Park, one of the most incredible places in London, in my opinion. I just love seeing groups of deer peacefully grazing or resting on the ground, judging your every movement. There are literally dozens of deer in Richmond Park, and walking around the park in search of the deer is like a treasure hunt. It’s quite easy to find them, actually, as there are so many of them!

One of the deer was really smart. He kept jumping up – which looked hilarious – to poke the tree branches with its antlers and get acorns or other delicacies to fall to the ground. Brilliant!

At the start of September, I visited Walthamstow Wetlands. It’s a nature reserve located in the north-east of London. Not too far from where I live, actually, but I had never been there before. Well, I will definitely go there again! It’s a nice, tranquil place for a walk, although some of the paths were closed due to last-minute works on the electricity pylons running through the site. Apparently, various species of birds can be spotted in that area, and some parts of the nature reserve are accessible only in the summer and others only in the winter. It will take me a few more visits to explore all of Walthamstow Wetlands.

Central London

Naturally, I need to include a few pictures from central London. I don’t actually go there very often, even though it’s just a short tube ride away. Central London is crowded all year round, but it’s especially busy during the summer. As much as I love London’s landmarks, I don’t particularly enjoy large crowds. Still, whenever I do go to central London, I love the views. I still can’t believe that my childhood dream of living in London came true over 6 years ago!

West London

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a mini day trip to west London. I live in east London, so going all the way to the other side of the city is a bit of an adventure.

I visited Marble Hill – a free to visit 18th century estate – and then spent a few hours exploring Ham House, a beautiful 17th century estate with stunning gardens. I highly recommend visiting Ham House if you have a chance. There will be a post coming to the blog very soon, all about my day in west London, so keep your eyes peeled!

Runs

If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen my posts about my New Year’s Resolutions for 2025. There are some fitness related resolutions on that list, including ones about running.

Back in the spring, when my New Year’s Resolutions were fresh and I was feeling motivated, I managed to run regularly for a few weeks. During that time, I saw adverts online for a 10km race in August taking place in my local park. There was a ballot for free entries, and I decided to sign up. Many weeks later, in the summer, I got an email saying that I was successful in the ballot and had a spot in the race! At that time, I was having various health issues and hadn’t run in about 3 months. There was still about a month to go until the race, and I hoped to be fit enough to participate.

A week before the race, my health was finally alright. I wasn’t prepared for a race, not having run for 4 months at that point, but I don’t give up easily. I completed a short run a few days before the race, just to remind my legs what exercise is. Then, on a Sunday morning, I took part in the race.

I loved the experience. I had never taken part in an official race, and I loved it. The event was organised really well and everything went smoothly. There were 4500 runners taking part! I completed the 10km race in 56 minutes 58 seconds, which, considering my poor health and lack of exercise for a few months, was a really good result!

I enjoyed the experience so much that I signed up for another run right away. It took place in the same park, a week and a half later. It was a smaller event, on a Wednesday evening. I managed to complete that run as well and finished the 10km in 55 minutes 46 seconds.

I got souvenir medals for each of the races and I’m really proud of them.

Exhibitions

One weekend, I accidentally discovered a new exhibition at the Japan House in London. I previously visited Japan House to see the food replica exhibition earlier this year. This time, they have an exhibition dedicated to pictograms, which includes some human-sized icons that you can take photos with. The exhibition is on until November 9th 2025, so you still have a chance to visit it. For more information, check out the official website.

Also by accident, I saw another interesting exhibition. A small one, as I only saw two pieces. Located near the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, there were some intriguing trees. One of them was cracked and painted with gold paint, and the other two had large rocks – I imagine fake ones – installed high up in the branches. They looked surreal, but intriguing!

Trips away from London

Naturally, I couldn’t not go on some trips away from London.

In July, I visited Manchester. I go there once every 2-3 months for business purposes, so it wasn’t a sightseeing trip. I did have a few hours of spare time though, and had a chance to go on a quick walk around the city centre.

I also went to Brighton one Saturday, and almost instantly regretted it. Don’t get me wrong – I love Brighton, it’s a lovely city. But I much prefer visiting it in the off-season. It’s been a long time since I last went to Brighton in the summer, and I’ll probably avoid it in the coming years. The morning train from London to Brighton was absolutely packed! I then discovered that there is now an entrance fee to enter the Pier. It’s in effect only in the summer, it was introduced just last year. It’s not an expensive one, just £2, but if you leave the Pier and want to reenter it, you have to pay again. Meh.

Anyway, the day was sunny and I still had a good time.

A week later, I decided to go to Cambridge. It’s actually quite easy to get to from London – the train journey from King’s Cross to Cambridge takes about an hour. I went to Cambridge before a couple of years ago and I loved the city, so I decided to go again. I visited the botanical gardens and a couple of colleges – a post about my trip to Cambridge will be coming soon!

I also went to York. This time, it wasn’t just a day trip – I spent 3 days there over the bank holiday weekend. I absolutely loved this stunning city! I visited a few museums, tried some local food, and even joined a ghost tour. If you’d like to see lots of photos from York, check out this blog post.

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