Mother's Day 2015: the best things to do in London with your mum this Mothering Sunday

Apparently it takes around £230,000 (and a whole lot of time and effort) to raise a child, so we reckon we owe Mum a treat or two. Here are the best ways to say thank you this Mother's Day, Sunday March 15
National treasures: this Mother's Day, take your mum to see these mums in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Picture: Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Pippa Bailey20 February 2015

Our mums may have spent most of our teenage years nagging us to empty the dishwasher and do our maths homework, but now we’re older and wiser we can appreciate how much they’ve done for us. Well, now's your chance to give something back. Mother’s Day has crept up on us again – this year it’s on Sunday March 15. Forget the Downton DVDs and bumper-sized bath products, what Mum really appreciates is your time. Here are our suggestions for how to spend it together.

Go to the pictures

“Tell me, was it Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, or Thomas Hardy who first made you fall in love with literature?” Christian Grey asks ingenue Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey. Don’t worry, we’re not about to suggest you go see that bonkbuster with your mum, but if, like Ana, she’s a Hardy fan, we’ve got just the ticket. The newly restored 1967 classic film Far from the Madding Crowd, is being reissued ahead of the remake (starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen) which is due out in May. The headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie) inherits a farm in Dorset and meets three men: an honest sheep farmer, a wealthy landowner, and a violent swordsman. Emotions get tangled and tragedy ensues.

Find it: Cinemas Londonwide, from Fri Mar 13

If you’d rather see a new release, go for the extremely mum-friendly The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Dev Patel is joined again by a stonking cast of screen and stage veterans – Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup and Penelope Wilton – plus new recruit Richard Gere, in a familiarly soft-hearted, generation-empowering sequel. Sonny (Patel) attempts to open a second Marigold retirement hotel at the same time as organising his wedding, Evelyn (Dench) and Douglas’ (Nighy) slow-burning romance ticks along nicely, and a mysterious American visitor (Gere) is thrown into the mix.

Find it: Cinemas Londonwide, from Thu Feb 26

Bloody marvellous: Judi Dench as Evelyn

Watch a play

There’s no finer reminder of motherly love than Taken at Midnight, Mark Hayhurst’s play about tyranny and torture at the hands of the Nazis and a mother’s determination to free her son. Martin Hutson plays lawyer Hans Litten, seized by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp as revenge for summoning Hitler as a witness on a murder trial in 1931. Penelope Wilton stars as his mother, who campaigns for his release. Our theatre critic Henry Hitchings called it “a history lesson with a heart.” The play closes on Saturday March 14, so go soon for an early Mother's Day treat. Read our review of Taken at Midnight.

Find it: Theatre Royal Haymarket, until Sat Mar 14, trh.co.uk

For something a little lighter, try Amelia Bullmore’s witty comedy Di and Viv and Rose, now on in the West End having started life at Hampstead Theatre. It’s a story about the unlikely bonds between three women (Tamzin Outhwaite, Samantha Spiro and Jenna Russell), forged in their university house in the Eighties and tested by everything life throws at them over the subsequent 25 years. A touchingly normal picture of female friendship that’s the perfect accompaniment to some mother-daughter bonding. Read our review of Di and Viv and Rose.

Find it: Vaudeville Theatre, until Sat May 23, vaudeville-theatre.co.uk

Spiky: Samantha Spiro plays a stern sociologist in Di and Viv and Rose (Picture: Johan Persson)

Visit an exhibition

The V&A is the place to take fashion-loving mums over the Mother's Day weekend. Sunday March 15 is your last chance to see the Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 exhibition, and the much-anticipated Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens on the Saturday. See John Galliano's couture wedding dress for Kate Moss, the purple Vivienne Westwood number worn by Dita Von Teese, and Gwen Stefani's 2002 dip-dyed white and pink Dior gown at Wedding Dresses, or explore the extraordinary body of McQueen’s work, beginning with his MA show and ending with the AW 2010 collection that was left unfinished after his suicide. Finish up with a cuppa and a scone at the in-house Benugo cafe. Read our rundown of fashion exhibitions in London in 2015.

Find it: V&A, Wedding Dresses 1775-2014, until Sun Mar 15; Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Mar 14-Aug 2 vam.ac.uk

Marlene Dumas paints her intimate – and sometimes controversial – portraits entirely from photographs: “Second hand images,” she says, “can generate first-hand emotions.” Take Mum to see the largest ever exhibition of her work, Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden, at Tate Modern and enjoy perusing a variety of subjects, from self-portraits to famous faces such as Amy Winehouse, Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana and even Osama bin Laden. Read our four-star review of Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden.

Find it: Tate Modern, until Sun May 10, tate.org.uk

I do: the V&A's Wedding Dresses exhibition (Picture: Amy Gwatkin)

Go green

Green-fingered mums will enjoy taking a turn around Kew Gardens on the guided Spring Spectacular Walk, which is designed to show off Kew’s best blossoming trees. It may not sound all that exciting, but on a sunny day, Kew offers a wonderfully peaceful refuge from city life. Finish your visit with a wander round the International Garden Photographer of the Year Exhibition in the Nash Conservatory.

Find it: Kew Gardens, Spring Spectacular Walk, Mar 1-Apr 30; International Garden Photographer of the Year Exhibition, until Mon Apr 6, kew.org

Also in south west London is Hampton Court Palace, where you’ll find Florimania, its annual flower festival deliberately held on Mother's Day weekend. The Kings Apartments will be filled with displays themed around various flower arranging trends from the past five centuries.

Find it: Hampton Court Palace, Mar 13-15, hrp.org.uk

Bouquet of delights: Florimania flower display at Hampton Court Palace

Face the music

“Pedro Almodovar’s Eighties film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a giddy farce, and its camp theatricality always made it a strong candidate for a stage adaptation,” says our critic, Henry Hitchings. Well we think it’s also a strong candidate for a Mother’s Day outing. Tamsin Greig plays Pepa, an actress whose home becomes a centre for comedy and chaos after she is ditched by her lover, Ivan. Unwelcome guests include Lucia, Ivan’s revenge-bent wife who has spent 20 years in a mental hospital, Ivan’s hapless son Carlos and his uptight fiancée Marisa, and manic model Candela – perhaps the funniest of the lot. The result is a hyperactive, fizzy and surprisingly amusing musical. Who knew everybody’s favourite Friday Night Dinner mum could sing? Read our review of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Find it: Playhouse Theatre, until Sat May 9, playhousetheatrelondon.com

If you fancy something a little more understated, take a morning jaunt to the Royal Albert Hall, grab a cuppa and a croissant, pull up a chair and enjoy a Classical Coffee Morning. On Mother’s Day, The Stepanovich Trio – three students from the Royal College of Music’s Junior Department – will be giving a recital of Mozart and Arensky.

Find it: Royal Albert Hall, Sun Mar 15, royalalberthall.com

Back to school

Don an apron and roll up those sleeves, cookie champions Biscuiteers are holding a patisserie-themed class, Biscuiteers School of Icing, at their Notting Hill store on Mother’s Day. Over two hours, you’ll learn to flood and pipe your way to perfect miniature biscuit replicas of cakes and jellies. The best bit? You can take home your creations afterwards.

Find it: 194 Kensington Park Road, Sun Mar 15, biscuiteers.com

If your mama is more of a boozer than a biscuit-maker, treat her to a Mother’s Day Wine Tasting Package at Vinopolis, near London Bridge. The ticket price also includes two glasses of Canard-Duchene Champagne so you can be sure you’ll both be gently sozzled by the end of the session.

Find it: Vinopolis, pre-booked tickets valid until Sun Jun 14, vinopolis.co.uk

Perfection: cookies from the Biscuiteers School of Icing

A bite to eat

Sunday brunch at Berners Tavern at the London EDITION hotel is a long and lazy affair that goes on until 4pm. Treat Mum to truffled eggs Benedict with Iberico ham on a toasted muffin and wash it down with plenty of champagne. Make it a two-course meal by finishing with rice pudding and cinnamon crumble ice cream – our resident foodie Kate Lough calls it “the bee’s knees”.

Find it: Berners Tavern, bernerstavern.com

Alternatively, head east to Anna Hansen’s The Modern Pantry for a fresh, zingy weekend brunch. Go for eggs Royale – tea-smoked salmon, wilted spinach and yuzu hollandaise – or the Malaysian-inspired Rendang mince on toast with crispy egg and chilli lime dressing. Throw in a cup of Earl Grey, mint and elderflower iced tea or a glass or two of bucks fizz for a truly grand brunch. Read our guide to the 50 best brunches in London.

Find it: The Modern Pantry, themodernpantry.co.uk

If you don’t fancy surrendering your Sunday lie-in for brunch, make it afternoon tea instead. At Bea’s of Bloomsbury near St Paul’s, you can scoff freshly baked scones, cupcakes, marshmallows and mini meringues, brownies and baguettes. Have it with loose leaf tea for £19 a head or with Moet & Chandon champers for £26.50.

Find it: Bea's of Bloomsbury, beasofbloomsbury.com

For a slightly less traditional tea option, The Berkeley’s fashion-inspired Pret-a-Portea does a clean, modern tea with a menu that changes every six months to follow the A/W and S/S trends. Be warned, no shorts, vests, sports clothes, ripped jeans or baseballs caps are allowed, so make sure Mum behaves herself and dresses appropriately.

Find it: The Berkeley, the-berkeley.co.uk

Get pampered

Upgrade your afternoon tea at The Berkeley to a day of full-on luxury with its An Afternoon at The Berkeley package. Your mum will get four hours at the rooftop spa overlooking Hyde Park which she can spend in the swimming pool, garden and gym. A 55-minute massage, 40-minute facial, manicure or pedicure and a late lunch with a glass of wine are included in the admittedly steep price of £250.

Find it: The Berkeley, the-berkeley.co.uk

Slightly cheaper is The Athenaeum’s Mother’s and Daughter’s treat day (sorry boys). £149 gets you a REN manouka honey treatment each and afternoon tea for two, all enjoyed in the art deco five-star hotel in Mayfair. This offer is only available Mon-Thu, so take the day off work and give your mum an early Mother's Day treat.

Find it: The Athenaeum, theathenaeumhotel.com

And relax: the rooftop pool overlooking Hyde Park at The Berkeley

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in