Children’s author Cressida Cowell was born in London in 1966. In 2003 she published the first of 12 books in the How to Train Your Dragon series; since then, they have been adapted into several feature films, including the Academy Award-nominated 2010 animation. Her other book series include the Treetop Twins and The Wizards of Once. Between 2019 and 2022, Cowell was the Waterstones children’s laureate. She lives in London with her husband; they have three children. Here Be Dragons, an exhibition co-curated by Cressida Cowell and one of her dragon creations, Toothless, is at the Story Museum in Oxford until July 2025.
1. Theatre
Guys & Dolls, Bridge theatre, London
I thought this was a brilliantly immersive show. Choose a standing ticket if you want to be right up close to the actors and feel part of the action. The staging is magnificent and the songs, of course, are wonderful. When Miss Adelaide and Sgt Sarah Brown sing their last duet, Marry the Man Today, it felt like a surprisingly feminist spin on the song, which I hadn’t really experienced when watching the musical before. It all ends with a joyful, audience-including dance-off.
2. Place
Inner Hebrides
I’ve been going to the Inner Hebrides for the past 58 years. In my opinion it’s the most beautiful place on Earth, and the landscape to head to if you love walking and incredible wildlife. There are white-tailed eagles, puffins, otters, seals on the coastlines, orchids in the grass, and if you take a boat trip you will spot dolphins, orca, basking sharks – or, if you are particularly lucky and a bit further out, perhaps a humpback whale. Although it’s hard to recreate a 70s childhood where you play unattended by adults, you can still let your children experience an outdoor adventure.
3. Book
Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The stunning first book of a new trilogy by master storyteller Kiran Millwood Hargrave, who is a past and very deserving winner of the Waterstones children’s book prize. Beautifully, lyrically written, this reminds me of the magic in Ursula K Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. It’s a wonderful epic adventure with a great deal of poetry in the telling. Children who read this will long to have their own sea hawk, and to be a hero like Ysolda. I loved the themes of ecology and interconnection with nature, and our urgent need to preserve it.
4. Cafe
Mario must run one of the most authentically Italian cafes/restaurants/delis in London. The space inside is teeny, only five or six tables, and a few more outside. The menu is short – always a good sign – and when I last went, they were making their way around Italy with traditional dishes from each region, varying each week. Everything there is so good: the deepest, sweetest balsamic vinegar, the best Italian olive oil, courgettes crocodile-green and crunchy, or homemade ratatouille and focaccia. Mario’s mamma’s vegan tiramisu is particularly delicious, and you can eat in or takeaway.
5. Activity
With my former children’s laureate hat on, the Summer Reading Challenge (in public libraries around the UK) is a great way of encouraging kids to try a range of books to find ones they love, with badges to earn, online games to play and videos from authors. Research going back to 2002 tells us that reading for pleasure is one of the two key indicators in a child’s later economic success, irrespective of what background they are from. Reading for pleasure is life-changing.
6. Television
The first trailer for Disney+’s forthcoming TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals has dropped, starring the always magnificent David Tennant. I bet he will have an absolute whale of a time playing Lord Tony Baddingham. Rivals was one of my go-to comfort reads when I was in my 20s, so very nostalgic for me and so many others. Everything David touches seems to turn to gold, from Hamlet to Broadchurch to Staged to Good Omens, and the lead director of Rivals is Ted Lasso’s Elliot Hegarty, so I have high expectations for this.
