The Adventure to the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park, London, England

 When I was little I grew up loving Disney's Peter Pan! I mean a boy who never grows up, teaches kids to fly, has his own island and gets to fight pirates...well sign me up! Then in middle school I had to write a short paragraph on an author and got assigned J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. As I researched for information on the author, via encyclopedia (pre-internet), I discovered that there was a statue in London of Peter Pan. So of course it went on the bucket list, and when we decided to visit London on our Honeymoon, guess where we were going.

  The Peter Pan statue is located in in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park in the City of Westminster in London, Great Britain. ​

O.K. so a little history first. J.M. Barrie lived close to Kensington Gardens in London, and it's there that he met the Llewelyn Davies boys. They inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in the Kensington Gardens. Using Kensington Gardens for inspiration, J.M. Barrie published his first Peter Pan story in 1902. His first tale The Little White Bird, Peter, upon hearing his parents discuss his adult future, flies out of his nursery and lands beside the long water. The spot where Peter lands is the exact spot where the statue resides. 

Sir George Frampton was commissioned by J.M. Barrie to build the Peter Pan statue in 1902. The bronze statue was erected in 1912 overnight to give the illusion that it appeared by magic. It was on May 1st, 1912 that the boy who would not grow up appeared in Kensington Gardens. ​

  We arrived at Heathrow Airport in London, grabbed our bags and made our way to the Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express (unfortunately not Hogwart's Express) is a train that will take you directly from the Heathrow Airport to Paddington Station inside London. This worked out for us because we had a room near Paddington Station the first night we arrived and yes it's the station where the infamous Paddington Bear is from. The station is also a few blocks north of Hyde Park so of course guess what our first adventure was! 

   It was a little bit of a rainy day when we arrived, but we didn't let that stop us. That didn't stop us, we grabbed our gear and headed into the park. Now Hyde Park is beautiful, like 350 acres of beautiful! It's home to the Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine Lake, and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. We quickly followed the signs directly leading us to the statue and as we rounded a corner there it was. The statue is maybe 10 feet tall featuring Peter Pan standing atop what first appears as a gnarled tree, but as you approach closer you can see squirrels, rabbits, birds and fairies joining the fun. The bronze statue is magnificent, beautifully put together and captures Peter Pan in all his glory. 

    They even have an interactive feature where you can get a personal 'call back' from Peter on your smartphone. passers-by can swipe their phones a nearby tag and the audio will transport the listener to Neverland! 

   If you really want to get your Peter Pan fanboy or fangirl on you can take a brisk walk over to J.M. Barries house and see just how close he actually lived to the statue. 

   Getting to see, in person, both where J.M. Barrie lived and the Peter Pan statue resided was a dream come true. It was a journey decades in the making and something every book fan, every Peter Pan fan, every Disney fan, and honestly every adventurer needs to make. It's closer than you think. 

​Second star to the right, and straight on till morning!