Both the Cologne Christmas Market on the South Bank and the Oxford Street Christmas Market across from Selfridges kick off this weekend. The Cologne Christmas Market is a real German market with hand-crafted gifts and German delicacies. It is also home to Santa’s Secret Village.

On Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. you can also visit the Illustration Cupboard Winter Exhibition, an annual celebration of the very best book, film and graphic novel artwork by contemporary illustrators from around the world. This year, in honour of the new movie Where the Wild Things Are, there will be a special focus on the work of Maurice Sendak. The exhibition will feature a selection of the now much sought-after sets of signed original lithographs which Sendak produced with his publishers Harper and Row in 1971 and a number of other rare autographed prints.

And on Saturday at Covent Garden Market from11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the North Hall, Olivia Armstrong will enchant with magical Christmas storytelling. Armstrong has previously been heard in London’s Horniman Museum, the British Museum and The Museum of London.