Last updated on February 18th, 2021Cutty Sark: two words that instantly convey adventure, stealth, the open sea and the might of British engineering. One of London’s most treasured landmarks, the Cutty Sark is turning a grand 150 years young, and to celebrate, the Greenwich museum has laid on some very merry birthday celebrations. So, batten…
Best Bookshop Cafes in London
Last updated on March 12th, 2021Is there anything better than a good book and a slice of cake? I think not. London has some enchanting bookshops where you can practically curl up with your favourite tome and tuck into a delicious slice and a cuppa. Here are 12 of the best bookshop cafes in London….
Covent Garden in a day
Last updated on August 17th, 2020Covent Garden is London’s living theatre, a canvas of the city’s enchanting past and its immersive present. It was once Nell Gwynn’s playground with her King, and home to the oldest theatre in London with its 500 ghosts of theatre past. Eliza Doolittle sold flowers to Mr Henry Higgins outside…
Wallace Collection – A National Treasure
Last updated on February 18th, 2021Tucked behind the Selfridges department store in Marylebone is the Wallace Collection, one of my favourite London haunts. It’s an eighteenth-century city pile with a jaw-dropping art collection and a 500-strong furniture depository which would make Marie Antoinette feel perfectly at home. It’s a sea of crimson red, rococo gold,…
A Tour of Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham
Last updated on May 15th, 2022Strawberry Hill House in London’s leafy suburb of Twickenham is possibly the most unusual house in London. If Oscar Wilde and Nicky Haslam had sired a love child in the eighteenth century, I think it would have been its architect, a Horatio “Horace” Walpole. He had wit, he had style,…
Victorian Afternoon Tea at the V & A Museum
Last updated on June 1st, 2018The Victorian Afternoon Tea at the Victoria and Albert Museum had me at seed cake. These two words always bring my childhood back in a whoosh of nostalgia wrapped in a cocoon of Englishness. If seed cake was good enough for Bilbo Baggins and his Unexpected Party, then it’s good…
A London Literary tour for Kids
Last updated on February 27th, 2023It’s time to hop into your winged slippers and take a trip round a magical London – one where childhood dreams never end. These London tales tell of a honey-loving bear from Harrods, an eccentric detective, boys with magic powers, giants and a Gothic vampire. So, without further ado, let’s…
Things to do in Oarsome Hammersmith
Last updated on April 22nd, 2022There’s so much more to Hammersmith than getting hammered during the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. This corner of west London has been my home for the last ten years, and as a local, I can tell you there are plenty of fun, relaxing and exciting things to do in…
Afternoon Tea at the Houses of Parliament
Last updated on February 3rd, 2020The Palace of Westminster, or Houses of Parliament as it’s commonly referred to, is one of London’s ultimate tourist hot spots, even if Big Ben is hibernating for the next three years whilst he gets a makeover. When I first arrived in London in the late 1980s, I would count…
Afternoon Tea at Burgh House
Last updated on May 15th, 2022Burgh House in Hampstead may not be on everyone’s radar, but it should be. It’s one of London’s darling house museums, and it’s a de-lovely place to have Afternoon Tea. The Autumn ‘what’s on diary’ is bursting with music recitals, wine and cheese tastings, Halloween and Christmas events and much…