When I lived in London, I used to try to get out for a long walk most weekends. One of my favourite walks was from Belsize Park to Marylebone or Regent’s Street in central London, via Primrose Hill and Regent’s Park. If I was feeling particularly energetic and had the time, I’d sometimes start the walk in Crouch End, making my way to Highgate Woods, through Highgate village and across Hampstead Heath to Belsize Park before continuing into central London. Short on time this trip and keen to pack in as much as I could, I decided to keep it…

On my second day in London, I headed into town bright and early to start the day with a little touristing. My destination? Westminster. Situated on the banks of the River Thames in the heart of London, the historic district is home to a slew of the capital and the country’s most iconic landmarks, including the eponymous Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Inspired by the previous day’s visit to St Paul’s Cathedral, my first port of call was the magnificent Westminster Abbey. The abbey, which has played host to countless royal weddings, funerals and coronations, dates…

I didn’t have much of a plan when I went to London, I had lots of vague ideas about different places I’d like to visit, but nothing set in stone and I found myself changing my plans on a whim during the trip. One of the places I’d thought about visiting was St Paul’s Cathedral. I’d visited St Paul’s some 10 years earlier and when I lived in London, I was a regular visitor to the café in its crypt. So I was keen to revisit one of the capital’s most iconic landmarks. After spying St Paul’s through a window…

In early March 2020, I spent a day in the Gloucestershire spa town of Cheltenham. Two weeks later we all went into lockdown and this post has sat languishing in my ever-growing drafts pile since, as it didn’t feel quite right to publish it at the time when we couldn’t leave the house. So in a bid to start getting through my seemingly endless backlog of pre-pandemic posts, here are my thoughts on Cheltenham… Ambling around Cheltenham, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped into a Jane Austen novel – that is, if you conveniently ignored the shops, bars,…

Over the bank holiday weekend, we set off on a little roadtrip to Westbury Court Garden, a small water garden in Westbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire. I’d seen a few photos of the garden on Instagram a few weeks earlier and intrigued by what I’d seen, decided to check it out. The garden was created in the late 17th century by Westbury Court’s owner Maynard Colchester, who oversaw the addition of the garden’s canals, pond and pavilion. The manor house was knocked down in 1805 when the Colchester family decamped to another house nearby, but the family kept the garden. Today it’s…

When my friends suggested we go for afternoon tea for my birthday recently, I jumped at the chance. I love afternoon tea. One of my friends works for a foodie magazine so after asking one of her colleagues where we should go, we had a shortlist of Bea’s of Bloomsbury, the Dean Street Townhouse and the Berkeley Hotel. I plumped for Bea’s of Bloomsbury as I liked their menu and at ￡24.50 for a full afternoon tea, it wasn’t too expensive compared to some afternoon teas in the capital – some charge eye-watering sums of money. Bea’s of Bloomsbury is…

Welcome to part two of my Wells adventure, which after Wells Cathedral and Vicars’ Close focuses on the remaining part of the city’s triumvirate of medieval masterpieces – the Bishop’s Palace and gardens. The partially-ruined Bishop’s Palace has been the home of the Bishop of Bath and Wells for more than 800 years and is steeped in history. The palace, along with the 14 acres of gardens that surround it, lies in the heart of the city, a stone’s throw from Wells Cathedral, concealed behind high stone walls. To get inside, you have to cross a large moat, which is…

Straddling the Essex-Hertfordshire border, the Lee Valley Country Park is a 1,000 acre picturesque site teeming with wildlife and the home of the Lee Valley White Water Centre (where you can follow in the footsteps of the London 2012 Olympic canoers). It’s also a surprisingly peaceful and calming place to while away an afternoon. Aside from the odd cyclist, dog-walker and family picking blackberries and raspberries, I came across very few people during my two-and-a-half hour stroll along the banks of the River Lee and its surrounding wetlands. I did, however, enjoy the company of lots of birds, including some…

Last Friday, the Charterhouse, near Smithfield Market in London, opened to visitors for the first time in its 700+ year history. I’d walked past the medieval manor many times when I lived in London, always dying to have a peek inside, so when I was in London yesterday, my friends and I decided it was time to have a look around. The Charterhouse dates back to the mid-14th century when the area was used as a burial ground for victims of the Black Death. In 1371, a Carthusian monastery was built on the site and it remained a monastery until…