There is a gallery at Buckingham Palace called, unsurprisingly, the Queen’s Gallery, which I’ve visited several times and have seen some excellent exhibitions including Scott and Shackleton in 2011. This year they have excelled themselves by putting on 2 shows at the same time and I was lucky enough to be invited to the preview. Continue reading
That big question – what is art? I’ve been to thousands of art exhibitions and galleries, taken tens of art courses and I still have no real answer to that question but I don’t think I’m alone in this dilemma. Is it in the eye of the beholder? Like beauty, there is usually some agreement on what is and what is not but there is also space for the quirky one-offs. Continue reading
As you’ll know from my bio I offer private tours of London for small groups and they all want to see loads of stuff in London without feeling like they have been rushed from one place to the next. So, I thought I would share with you my most recent tour which lasted a day and a half so you can see just how much you can pack in without exhausting yourself! Continue reading
London has some of the most famous sights in the world from the Tower of London and Tower Bridge to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral. However, there are hundreds of less well known, hidden treasures in London so this blog starts an occasional series which will bring these gems to you. Continue reading
Did you see my recent blog on ‘3 of the best rooftop bars in London’? Check it out here if not. It struck me while writing that post that London has so many other great bars you need to know about, so I’ll be featuring them now and again in my blog. This week I’m taking you to a couple more rooftop ones with a great view and my favourite old pub. Continue reading
I go to carnival every year and still love it just as much – the music, the parade with mad costumes, the food, the noise, the people watching, the colours, did I say the noise? Some residents of Notting Hill head for the country while others, like myself, make the most of one of the world’s best street carnivals coming to their doorstep. Continue reading
We’ve been having a brilliant summer in London this year so we’ve been seeking out bars with outdoor space, preferably with stunning views and a breeze. I’ve been working very hard to find the best bars to tell you about and, although there are so many to chose from, here are my top three. Continue reading
We are celebrating 150 years of the London underground this year and all kinds of inventive approaches have been used to make this a fun year on the tube. My favourite is the wonderful Lego tube maps dotted around London! Continue reading
Every summer the Queen goes to Scotland for her holidays which means we can visit her London home, Buckingham Palace. Each year they host a special exhibition as part of the tour of the State Rooms and unsurprisingly this year it celebrates the coronation in 1953. I’ve been asked, by understandably confused visitors, wasn’t that last year? The answer is she became Queen in 1952 after the death of her father but the coronation wasn’t until the following year as I guess it takes rather a lot of organising! Continue reading
London dishes up some pretty amazing weekends but we are still recovering from the last one! We are in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures nudging 30 degrees (or 86 degrees) so all the outdoor events are thanking their lucky stars the rain has stopped – for now at least. Continue reading