The brainchild of Arabella Lewis, mother of two, Brilliant Kids opened two years ago bang in the middle of “Nappy Valley”, that stretch of North West London that seems to have more buggies and car seats per head than any other part of town. Lewis, a former fashion designer realised that being a single parent with two small children and working freelance on a part-time basis presented its own set of problems. Firstly that finding part-time, intermittent reliable childcare was impossible and secondly that there was nowhere to go together as family where everyone could have fun.

“I found it very difficult at home looking after small children on my own for hours on end but there wasn’t really anywhere to take them that would entertain them and me. I was fed up with sitting in those garish, noisy activity centres drinking revolting coffee where the only food on offer was unhealthy and mass-produced like the ubiquitous Turkey Twizzler. I also realised that I needed to find reliable part-time childcare that wouldn’t break the bank and would be available when I needed it,” says Lewis.

Knowing that many parents were in the same position as her, Lewis spotted a gap in the market for a place that provided drop off childcare, good food and great activities for children in an environment that she would want to spend time with her children, where they could be together as family but do their own thing.

The drop off childcare facility staffed by OFSTED registered childcare workers is a god-send for many of the part-time and freelance parents who live locally and who cannot afford costly nanny fees, don’t have room or want live-in help at home and only need childcare on an ad-hoc basis, as and when the work comes in.

You can drop your child in (after pre-registering) and know that they will be looked after, well fed, and that they will come home having had a lot of fun painting, sticking, making music, playing and running around in the beautiful Mark Lutyens designed garden.

The café is beautifully decorated in soothing colours and there are no ugly, brightly coloured plastic decorations or furniture that usually blights places trying to attract children and does not serve any pre-packaged food with no fizzy drinks, commercially produced sweets or crisps.

“I am very keen to encourages curiosity about food by serving, good, healthy homemade dishes. My mission is to teach our children good eating habits from an early age, by giving a range of choices to encourage them to try new things,” comments Lewis.

After two years Brilliant Kids is thriving and has quickly become a firm favourite with locals and not so-locals who come here to relax, with delicious home made ethically sourced food, eat one of the best breakfasts anywhere in London, drink decent coffee and get some precious time to themselves while their children play, or take one of the many different fun activities while they get to relax, meet like minded parents and have adult company during those long days at home trying to occupy small pre-school children.

With new children’s activities on offer all the time the café is also branching into take-out food in response to customer requests to take home café favourites like shepherd’s pies, flapjacks, jam tarts, orange cake and of course their delicious chocolate cake.

www.brilliantkids.co.uk

Brilliant Kids Cafe & Arts Centre 7/8 Station Terrace London NW10 5RT