Teeth chattering, face numb, stopped feeling your toes hours ago, four layers deep, but the cold feels like it’s settled in your soul – you can’t escape. When it’s happening, it feels like it’ll never end, and it’s hard to remember a time when we complained of the sweltering heat and had the yearly discourse around air conditioning in the UK. But then, we’re blessed with that first day of 17-degree heat that comes in like a flare – naturally followed by days of rain and some more chattering teeth – reminding us what the sun can look like, and that there are warmer, better days ahead. The daffodils appear in flocks, everywhere and all at once, and the first of the apple blossoms line the streets and shed their petals in the wind like a dramatic romantic scene in a K-drama. 

You’ve been saving all manner of Instagram reels and TikToks with fun ideas for things to do when the weather warms up, the days get longer, and you can finally put that sun lamp away. Your ‘saved’ folder is bursting with spring plans you promised the girls you’d actually do. Well, it’s April. No more excuses – send them this instead.

Faith Beyond the Fast

The beauty of Ramadan is the way in which the whole community prioritises maximising the benefits of the month promised to us by Allah ﷻ, but that communal focus doesn’t need to entirely disappear when the month draws to a close. There are plenty of ways to hold on to that renewed motivation with your friends, or alone by going to spaces of learning and remembrance that operate all year round. 

Why not take advantage of the dry ground and the ability to sit outside for a couple of hours without losing the feeling in your limbs by hosting reflection circles in the park with your friends? You don’t have to be experts on the subject matter – you can rotate amongst yourselves and choose what you present based on what you want to do some more research into, whether it’s a hadith, a concept, or how our faith intersects with our daily lives in a way we may not have considered before. You can do the same with dhikr or Qur’an reading, with or without company!

We’re blessed to have an abundance of institutes and organisations running free and paid programmes in this city. The Ta Collective was started by women and runs events exclusively for women, from du’a workshops to beach picnics and countryside retreats. FaithSpace is continuing their free regular ‘Companions’ series (with the next session on 21 April) in a much larger, beautiful space, as well as their monthly Faith.Lates spirituality sessions covering Ibn Qayyim’s The Disease and the Cure. Tadabbur Club, started by a group of friends after last Ramadan, focuses on reflecting on verses of the Qur’an, with their next session coming up in May, after hosting twice-weekly sessions throughout Ramadan. Meanwhile, Rumi’s Cave hosts regular dhikr sessions, talks with Q&As, and a range of events for men, women, and children at all different levels of faith. You can find updated programmes and upcoming events on their Instagram pages. 

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Get Your Steps Up 

You may have set yourself the ambitious goal of 10k steps each day at the beginning of the year (or was it three years ago?) and have already found yourself slacking – that’s okay! Understandably, walking in Ramadan without being able to sip on a coffee or matcha isn’t as appealing, and before that, the bitter cold may have been a big obstacle. But what better time is there for a long walk than when the sakura trees are in full bloom!

The best thing about a long walk is the lack of planning it requires, that it can be done as a solitary activity, and the variety of scenes you can take in as you frolic around the city. 

Craving a body of water? You have the length of the Thames at your disposal, or you can opt for a canal walk starting at Little Venice (the best part – I don’t accept other opinions as a west Londoner), alongside Regent’s Park, stopping for a bite to eat at Camden Locks and then walk through the gentrifier haven of Hackney all the way to Victoria Park. If you’re after more of a cityscape, you can admire the beautiful architecture of the City of London, starting from Holborn and running all the way through to Spitalfields.

For more natural scenery, there’s an abundance of pocket parks to explore, hidden gems you may not have come across yet in London’s Royal Parks, and calming strolls you can take around Highgate that end at the internet’s worst-kept secret, the Queen’s Wood Cafe. Looking for hustle and bustle with a spot of overpriced vintage shopping? Portobello Market on a Saturday or Brick Lane Market on a Sunday are your gals! 

If you’d like to spice things up a little, you can create a little bingo card for yourself – and friends – to find interesting things on your walk and snap a picture of them. Or you can opt for an organised photowalk by joining communities like the Slow Walks Club or Dinasimages. 

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Quest For Caffeine 

It seems that in a cost-of-living crisis, when we’ve collectively accepted that buying a house is no longer on the cards, the next best luxury is a sweet treat.

A plethora of cafes and bakeries have been cropping up all over the city and are going far beyond burnt-tasting coffee, the usual almond croissant and dry carrot cake. This sets the scene for the perfect springtime Sunday, working your way around London, one sip of coffee and baked good at a time. 

To name a few, Farha is a Middle-Eastern eatery, with a selection of delectable inventions such as their show-stopping aubergine danish, chai orange buns, and their banana brulee pastry. Opened last year by 20-something-year-old Hanife, Frothee has quickly become a fan-favourite for a (ceremonial-grade, of course) matcha fix, easily rivalling VC-backed Blank Street around the corner. Besides serving the much-loved accessory, they also offer a rotation of mouthwatering seasonal cinnamon bun flavours on the weekends. A proudly Palestinian-British institution, Bunhead Bakery blend Arab flavours with the classics: baklava buns, date (and miso!) lattes, cardamom rose cinnamon buns, and batata harra (spicy potato) focaccias are just some of their appetising highlights. 

A trailblazer and veteran in the Muslim coffee scene, Root/25 is famous for more than just their delectable kimchi toastie and dirty chai (though I highly recommend both). Run by the sweetest couple you’d ever have the honour to meet, and their incredible team of baristas, the cafe feels like a well-styled living room, with a leather sofa in the corner by the piano and a diverse collection of books to read or buy, from chick-lits to political theory. Incorporate a trip on your cafe crawl, or spend the day, knowing that all profits from your food and drink go towards supporting survivors of the Rohingya, Sudan and Gaza genocides through their founding charity and international human rights organisation, Restless Beings. Root/25 also operates as a community hub, collaborating on events from discussing British Muslim identity to a Tatreez workshop.

Sporty Spice, Is That You?

The “hours spent in the park” era is finally loading, and it’s not a moment too soon. The warmer weather and the sun finally deciding to stick around past 5 pm (we’re soooo back) is the perfect excuse to exhume that tennis racquet from the back of the cupboard. Or, better yet, those pastel rollerskates you impulse-bought on Vinted two years ago because a TikTok convinced you that “healing your inner child” meant risking a fractured tailbone in Victoria Park.

The options for outdoor play are endless! You can opt for minimal effort: grab those skates and head to an open space near you; grab some friends and a basketball and colonise any of the courts dotted around the capital (do it with confidence, those boys haven’t booked!); or take a football to the park and set up goal posts with water bottles like you’re 10 years-old again. 

If you’re willing to do a little more forward planning, book a tennis court and tap back into the motivation you got when you watched Challengers. Be warned that most courts require booking a week in advance, and slots go fast. While meeting in the middle geographically with friends can feel convenient, it may end up pricing you out if you want to play regularly, since courts in central London are more expensive, so be open to rotating locales and booking more affordable courts.

Willing to fully invest in organised fun? Grab a co-organiser – trust me, you’ll need them – and invite your friends to a rounders game or a good old-fashioned sports day! No one wants to be in another group chat – Partiful is your friend when organising big events, as it lets you easily view people’s RSVPs, the link can be shared easily, has a questionnaire function where you can ask about things like what people are bringing and allergies, and allows people to comment so communication is an option but your phone isn’t being clogged up. If you’re worried about not having enough people, make it an open invite so your friends can bring any of their friends. You can get a rounders set or a sports day kit online for under £20, and it’s a worthwhile investment for the whole summer and years to come!

If you’re looking to meet new people or just show up without having to plan an event yourself, there are plenty of communities you can join. ASRA club is a supportive collective of Muslim women who host weekly running sessions in Tooting and Stratford, open to all abilities and ages, as well as a half-term programme for school-aged children and wholesome fortnightly Park Walks and Talks, which do what they say on the tin!

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Create With The Season

Not just for spring – though there’s something especially lovely about crafting sprawled on a picnic blanket, sun warming your face – is the quiet joy of making. You don’t need particularly nimble fingers or an artist’s eye to take part: it’s a gentle way to ease stress, sharpen your focus and problem-solving skills, build a little more patience, and, just as importantly, find moments of connection with others along the way.

You can start small with embroidery and cross-stitching kits for beginners, make a bead chain for your glasses or wireless earbuds, or go on a cardboard bouquet walk. If you want to take it up a notch, you can embroider your old favourite jeans, knit your favourite person a scarf ready for autumn, or try your hand with freeze-dried clay and make anything from trinket dishes, to polaroid holders and noughts and crosses boards. 

If you’re feeling more daring, you could try your hand at those 18th-century-style trinket boxes made from orange peels – it’s niche, but weirdly satisfying – or finally DIY those candles you’ve been meaning to make since 2021. Better yet, pick up a lino-printing kit to jazz up your walls (and your growing mountain of tote bags) with prints that actually mean something to you. For the girls who love “functional” crafting, you can pivot to party decor; there’s a real art to making garlands look tasteful using just inexpensive everyday items and the random bits you’ve got lying around the house. 

After a little more guidance? On 24th April, artist Zafeerah Heesambee is teaming up with Land Wave Studio for something a little unexpected – lino-printing on ceramic tiles. Meanwhile, artist and arts educator Haseebah is hosting a session this Sunday (19th April) with Sustainably Muslim – an organisation committed to inspiring Muslims to protect the environment through events and workshops – creating botanical illumination pieces using natural pigments and handmade paper. 

Get In Touch With Nature 

Publicly accessible green space covers about a fifth of the city. This stat feels like a bare-faced lie when you’re stuck in the armpit of a humid Central Line carriage, but starts to make sense the moment your eyes feast on the ancient canopy of Epping Forest or the sprawling wildness of Hampstead Heath.

If you’re craving a proper “out of office” without the soul-crushing rail fare, the Parkland Walk is a leafy, abandoned railway trail from Highgate to Finsbury Park, while the Chess Valley Walk (a cheeky hop on the Metropolitan line) has those rolling hills and chalk streams that make you forget the M25 exists.

For a slower Sunday, swap the hiking boots for a “blossom crawl.” You can fight the tourists for a selfie under the canopy at St James’ Park or Greenwich, but for a more gatekeep-able vibe, head to Redcliffe Road in Chelsea or the dreamy tunnel of cherry blossoms in Battersea Park. If you’re feeling ambitious (or just haven’t slept), drag yourself to New Covent Garden Market at 4 am – it’s a fever dream of LED lights and every bloom imaginable – to grab armfuls of stems for a DIY flower-arranging session that’ll make your flat look like a Pinterest board.

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And for those of us whose “garden” is just a collection of struggling succulents on a windowsill and a balcony we can’t actually fit a chair on, there’s a real joy in reclaiming the city’s soil. Search up your local ‘Friends Of’ group – almost every park has one – to see how you can volunteer. Whether it’s a morning spent weeding, planting new saplings, or just foraging for wild garlic in the damp corners of Hackney Marshes, there’s something so grounding about getting your hands a little bit dirty.

It’s a reminder that, just like the daffodils, we were always meant to come back to life – even if we’re doing it in a pair of slightly muddy Sambas.

Take It In, One Day At a Time 

At this time of year, it’s easy to feel like you need to make the most of every second of sunshine – to have plans, to be out, to finally become the version of yourself you imagined in January. But spring doesn’t have to be a performance. It can be slower than that. Softer. A chance to ease back into the world around you, to spend time with people you love, and to enjoy the city in a way that feels unforced.

For those of us in and around London, longer days quietly open up more space for all of it – whether that’s something social, something active, or nothing at all. There’s no shortage of ways to fill the season, and most of them are simpler (and closer to home) than you think.