London has some of the world’s most iconic museums displaying the finest art money can’t buy, but it’s the capital’s little treasures that I want to share with you today. Ensconced in these historical gems, you can amble around at a snail’s pace, savour every museum inch and still have time for tea and cake
The British Dandy is still alive and well, and if you look closely, you’ll see them dotted all around London, especially during the Summer Season. A male friend of mine took me on a “man about town” weekend together with some other beaus and Berties who work for her Majesty’s pleasure. From chucking cheese soufflés
The Cosmic House in London’s leafy Holland Park is not for the faint-hearted. Designed by Charles Jencks, the house is considered one of the most important examples of Postmodern architecture and is the UK’s first Grade I listed house of that style. No psychedelic drugs are required for your visit which will convince you that
Many Londoners will never have heard of the Horniman Museum, one of the quirkiest museums in London and a historical and anthropological cabinet of curiosities. It’s home to the most famous Walrus in the world and you’ll even see a fossilised, ahem, merman. It houses a fabulous aquarium, one of the prettiest conservatories you will
Walk around the timeworn streets off St Paul’s Cathedral and you might come across Host Café, a stunning daytime pitstop hiding away behind the doors of the church of St Mary Aldermary. St Mary Aldermary St Mary Aldermary, like so many churches in the area, was badly damaged in the Great Fire of 1666. The
The oldest coffee shop in London isn’t what you would expect. For starters, it’s named the Jamaica Wine House and not the Jamaica Coffee House. But it is actually a pub cum wine house as we will discover in a moment. It does sell coffee but no, it doesn’t sell Jamaican food or drink. Confused?
Did you know you really can time travel back to London’s yesterday? And there is no better time than at Christmas when you can experience the sights and smells of ‘ye old London as you tread in the footsteps of Christmas past. I might not be able to give you a horse and carriage, but
It’s safe to say that Leighton House in Kensington probably houses the most beautiful room in London. This historic house, once owned by celebrity artist of the day, Lord Frederic Leighton, has one of London’s showstopper interior gems, hiding an Arab Hall which looks like a Fabergé egg just had babies with Ali Baba’s cave.
Most people I speak to don’t know about Turner’s house in Twickenham. You won’t see his famous seascapes in Sandycombe Lodge, his west London home in the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, but you will be in the presence of the only three-dimensional work of art Joseph Mallord William Turner’sleft behind: the home he designed in the
What better way to explore all of London’s watery gems than by canal, or, to be more specific, via GoBoat? I always think of Little Venice as the Montmartre of London. It’s picturesque, bohemian, eclectic and soulful. It’s wedged between Paddington’s high rises and grungy Camden, and it neighbours majestic Regent’s Park and London Zoo.
