Covid-19 and its pesky restrictions threw a spanner in the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020 works this year, but it didn’t dampen the spirits or the music. The UK’s biggest song festival went online instead, streaming over 40 magnificent recital concerts and events, most of them live and all set in historical surroundings across the city….
The London Blog
Follow me and my London Blog for a capital round-up of London's historical, quirky and unusual places. Visit some of city's best museums and galleries, get a supreme peek at Royal London, and grab a seat next to me as I eat my way around London's restaurants.
Watts Gallery and Artists’ Village Highlights
Last updated on June 30th, 2021If ever there was an excuse to visit the village of Compton in Surrey, the Watts Gallery is it. Located near Guildford, the Watts Village is dedicated to the works of the Victorian painter and sculptor, George Frederic Watts, and it’s one of the few galleries in the UK devoted…
Vache Baroque Festival: Dido and Aeneas review
What a cracking start to the shiny new Vache Baroque Festival which kicked off with an enchanting production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. And a double dose of September showers did nothing to dampen the audience’s spirits. We were more than delighted to tuck into the one-hour Baroque fancy in the grounds of this…
Visit Kensington Palace | 15 Fun Facts
Last updated on March 29th, 2022Queen Victoria was born in Kensington Palace, Princess Diana lived here with her sons, and Prince William and Catherine have now taken up residence here with their children. But Kensington Palace is more than a royal residence, it’s also one of London’s greatest historical treasures and it’s baroque doors are…
Waterperry Opera Festival 2020 – Review: Così fan tutte and Ariel
Last updated on August 17th, 2020This week was one of firsts: I was introduced to the delightful Waterperry Opera Festival; picnicked in a socially-distanced lawn pod listening to Mozart’s Così fan tutte; sampled some of British composer Jonathan Dove’s genius amongst the butterflies and the bumblebees; and got lost in Waterperry Gardens, the festival’s enchanting…
A day out at Royal Museums Greenwich (with social distancing measures)
Last updated on September 4th, 2020Hurrah! Royal Museums Greenwich is now ready to welcome everyone back with open arms. The fab four, which includes Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum, offer the perfect post-lockdown family day out. You’ll get some of the best views in London, plenty of…
Technicolour Dickens at the Charles Dickens Museum
Last updated on October 28th, 2020Think you know your Dickens? He’s poised, sombre, a mass of Victorian beard and he looks a little worn out, right? But you’ll be thinking your Dickens again after touring Technicolour Dickens, a new exhibition at the Charles Dickens Museum which brings him full throttle into the glossy age of…
17 quiet and scenic picnic spots in London
Last updated on March 12th, 2021Having trouble finding a quiet picnic spot in London, courtesy of lockdown and with restaurants off the menu? We all know the usual al fresco hangouts: Regent’s, Hyde Park, Richmond and St James’s Parks, as well as Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill and Kew Gardens. But there are also plenty of…
London After Lockdown: the first thing these Londoners will do
As our capital eases out of slumber, it’s time to start planning what to do in London after lockdown. Parks, schools and offices are slowly reopening, and non-essential shops, cinemas and museums are poised to follow suit. Picnic mania may have hit the capital, but many of us are yearning for our restaurants and pubs,…
Lockdown 2020 – A note of gratitude to the creative sector
Last updated on August 17th, 2020When the UK hunkered down into social hibernation in March, a new kind of warrior emerged: our NHS staff, our shopkeepers, delivery and public safety personnel, together with our ever-cheerful postal staff and rubbish collectors, became the nation’s knights in shining armour. More recently, the country fell head over heels…