The Best Locations for Family Photography in Greenwich (From Someone Who Actually Lives Here)
By ANDREA WHELAN – a London Family Photographer Who Truly Gets Families
Greenwich Park is genuinely wonderful…
… but the best location for your family depends on the age of your children, the time of year, the style of pictures you’re after, and honestly, what kind of morning everyone’s having.
So here’s my honest guide. The places I keep coming back to, and why.
Greenwich Park
Let’s start with the obvious one, because it earns it.
Greenwich Park is enormous, varied, and full of light. You’ve got wide open stretches for running children, ancient tree avenues for that dappled, editorial feel, and One Tree Hill with view across London for when you want something a bit more dramatic.
My favourite part? Well it’s the Blackheath side, near the Pavillion Cafe and The Rose Garden. That’s where we get most variety and there a lush feeling all year round, helped by the ancient evergreen trees. I have my favourite trees, so make sure to ask about them on the shoot, if that’s your thing 😉
My Wild Card
Vanbrugh Pits
If you’ve grown up in this part of South East London, you might well raise an eyebrow, Vanbrugh Pits has a certain reputation among locals, it’s not historically been known as a family photo destination.
But hear me out.
It’s one of my favourite places to shoot. There’s a certain wildness to it that you don’t find without a drive down the motorway anyway, it’s not bleak, just genuinely untamed. Brambles and long grass and old trees that have been doing whatever they liked for decades. And at the right time of day, the light comes through those trees in a way that makes you feel like you’re somewhere deep in the countryside, not 2 minutes from Greenwich Park and the heath.
The texture is perfect for photos if you ask me.
It’s not for everyone, but if you want something that feels a bit countryside without getting your car, it’s worth knowing about.
Vanbrugh Pits
Greenwich Town
Greenwich town itself is a whole other world from the park, and honestly one of my favourite places to shoot anywhere in London.
The architecture is extraordinary. The Old Royal Naval College, Queen’s House, the Maritime Museum – these are genuinely world-class buildings, and they make for great days out, but also backdrops that feel cinematic without even trying. I know the perfect spot for photos with the Cutty Sark in the background, we only need a hint of it. And St Alfege’s Church in the centre of town, in all it’s Hawksmoor grandeur, is the kind of thing I never get tired of shooting in front of.
But it’s not just the landmarks. The beautiful residential streets around Greenwich especially heading up Royal Hill way – they are perfection top me. Shop fronts, cobbles, the river light. I’ll use all of it.
Greenwich town works especially well for families who love living in this Borough as much as I do
GREENWICH
Blackheath
Blackheath is so underrated as a photography location.
That expanse of open common is dramatic in a way most London parks aren’t — wide, sky-heavy, and beautiful in low winter light. In summer, it’s full of families and my own kid spent a lot of time flying kites there when they were little. In autumn, the horizon goes on forever and the light goes golden by 4pm.
It’s brilliant for clients who live close by and want to mix their session up, half at home and half on the heath. The other half in The Hare & Billet 😉
If you know my work, you’ll know I have a thing about buildings. The Victorian and Georgian architecture around Blackheath village, the details that nobody bothers to put on new builds anymore, is genuinely one of my favourite things to shoot against in London.
The village has that particular South East London charm: despite the best efforts of the chain coffee shops steadily working their way in. We’ll use the streets, the doorways, shop window reflections, the textures, and the result feels editorial in a way that a park just can’t replicate.
SEEN IN
