Was it the chilliest and wettest August bank holiday Monday ever recorded? It certainly felt like it as the rain poured down and soaked us to the skin but did it wash out the Notting Hill Carnival? Of course not! The crowds braved the weather and the dancers in parade carried on as if being completely drenched was perfectly normal for them.
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We never learn! The British summer is unreliable at best and yet we love to have outdoor events which test our stoical nature and inevitably involve a lot of plastic! Continue reading
Have you wondered where you can see a famous blue door, where James Bond blasted out of M15, where Bridget Jones lived and Diagon Alley? In London of course! London is much used as a film set and you can easily spot scenes from famous films as you wander around and I know this more than most as I live in Notting Hill where fans of the film are always hunting down the blue door (it’s at 280 Westbourne Park Road by the way). That much-loved movie links us to my film set for today, Kenwood House, as this beautiful house also appears in Notting Hill, but more recently featured in Belle.
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Fancy a nose around Buckingham Palace? Luckily HM The Queen kindly leaves London for several months each summer so can pop in! As well as enjoying the sumptuous state rooms of Buckingham Palace, you can visit their special exhibition which changes each year. For 2014 we have ‘Royal Childhood’ as the theme, no doubt inspired by Prince George’s first birthday. They have well-loved toys and pristine ones, childhood outfits and gifts to the royal families from the time of the future George lV in 1767 through to Prince George of Cambridge.
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The Imperial War Museum has been getting ready for the centenary of the First World War (1WW) and has been closed all year but this great museum reopened on Saturday with its new 1WW Galleries at the heart of its £40 million pounds revamp.
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Eating a great afternoon tea is a wonderful experience and one I would highly recommend to any readers who have not yet indulged themselves. There are savoury sections, cake sections, scones with clotted cream and jam sections, endless tea and you can even upgrade to some fizz to make it even more special. London’s top hotels will spoil you and Fortnum and Mason, the famous purveyors of fine tea, is also on my list of favourites. Continue reading
Monday dawned clear and warm but the forecast was for rain later so we headed down to the Tour de France route with our fingers crossed. Rain would mean the worry that people would put up umbrellas and obscure our view as the peloton zoomed past and also the fear of more crashes for the cyclists – one of our key riders, Mark Cavendish had already crashed out the day before. Continue reading
Did you know that you can get Tower Bridge raised just for you? All you need is a boat with a tall mast over 30 metres and 24 hours notice and they will do the rest! This was just one of the fascinating facts I found out this week when I visited Tower Bridge. Continue reading
That red double-decker bus just shouts ‘London’ at you! My visitors are very keen to make sure I build a ride on a bus into their itinerary and once on board we head for the top deck and if we can grab a front seat that’s even better. It feels like a proper London experience and is a brilliant way to see the sights for the price of a bus ticket. Continue reading
The humble pea came to the rescue of a city under siege! Back in 1644 during the English Civil War the city of Newcastle was under siege and the people were starving to death when a consignment of Carlin peas came through just in time to keep the city’s population alive. Vicki Cooke, the wonderfully titled Kitchen Garden Keeper, delighted in telling us this story as we stood next to several rows of Carlin peas, which are clearly no ordinary pea! Continue reading