Slightly unusual things to do in London

[dweezle]

DH and I have a week in London in march, child free. We haven't been to London for years and years. Both like walking, love history, and the list so far includes Geffrye Museum, Borough market, Kew, Kensington museums. Would like recommendations for slightly off beat stuff (i.e. NOT London Eye, Tussauds etc), and any good cheap cafes.

Horniman Museum
Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood
Wander round Hampstead and catch a film at the Everyman
Highgate Woods
Camden Market
Greenwich Park
There is a great walk that goes along a disused railway line through Finsbury Park/Ally Pally

Am very actually

British Museum is great also

Vinopolis - museum of wine on southbank - is fun for a rainy afternoon

Walking around Hampstead Heath and Highgate cemetery is fun - and there are some nice cafes on Swains Lane.

You could do an east end walking tour (Jack the Ripper walk?) and combine it with some lunch over that way and a trip to Spitalfields market.

Barbican or LSO do great classical music concerts - in fact I love just wandering around the Barvican area generally - and for great tapas check out Morito in Clerkenwell (get there early though)

huntarian museum lots of body parts in bottles. really good.

old operating theatre

Some of the other markets? (Check the days they are on).

Greenwich generally - the park and Blackheath heath can make for a lovely walk, you can walk along the river, take a trip on the Clipper boats, visit the market (weekends only), the maritime museum and the other historic architecture.

I know you said not touristy, but one thing I keep meaning to do is write to request tickets to the ceremony of the keys at the tower of london (when they lock up for the night). Not sure if you can request dates or are just allocated them though.

Brick Lane market - fascinating. Stop for bagels at the bagel shop on Brick Lane

Spitalfields market and surrounding areas - great offbeat shopping and fantastic eating possibilities.

I love those two areas.

Wallace Collection

Sir John Soanes museum (Holbon) is worth a visit as is going to see something at the Wellcome Trust (Euston). The Wellcome Trust is near the British Library which generally has some good free expos on, plus a good number of cafes.

Walk along the canal from Kings Cross to Little Venice and have a pub lunch in the theatre pub

Sir John Soane's Museum

Cocktails at the top of Tower 42

Trip on a canal boat, it goes from Little Venice to Camden past regents park and the zoo. www.londonwaterbus.com

There are some lovely places in Little Venice for lunch/drinks. Try the Waterway, Prince Alfred or the Bridgehouse.

You could do a Chinatown food tour here

Or visit weird and wonderful Highgate Cemetary.

Highgate cemetery tour is brilliant.

Wellcome Collection is fab and has a nice cafe too although not bargain cheap. If you look at their website they run really interesting sounding events too.

I haven't been but the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons and Sir John Soanes museum get good write ups.

The last three are all in the Bloomsbury area which is nice to walk around and has some good eating places. There is a nice Thai on Store Street but can't recall the name.

This website looks useful re offbeat things to do in London.

Fantastic - these are all just the kind of thing we were after - thanks

X posts with lots of others!

If you fancy anything at either of the Tates the boat between them is fun too.

Sir John Soane's House

I like the buddhapadipa temple, but it's quite far out in Wimbledon.
www.buddhapadipa.org

I also like the zoo, I'm very fond of the penguins.

Cheap cafes- Gaby's Deli on Charing Cross Road, close to Leicester Square. Amazing cafe that has been there for years and is threatened with closure here Also if you are near the Kensington Museums, try Daquise Polish restaurant on Thurloe street near South Ken Tube

Oh, also Apsley House at the bottom of Hyde Park is worth a visit, home of the Duke of Wellington and otherwise known as Number 1, London

You could..

Walk from Liverpool Street through the City to St Pauls (or get public transport to there), then cross over Millennium Bridge. Shakespeare's Globe's good if that's your sort of thing, or stop at Tate Modern for coffee/ cake (free entry), then walk along the Thames to the Southbank for more nice cafes. The Hayward Gallery has a small cafe which does a lunch deal for £5 and is good. Then onward to Westminster and cross the river there, up through Whitehall and into St James's Park. You could keep going through Green Park if you have the legs for it. Lovely, lovely walking.

On Sundays if you go to Geffrye Museum, meander from there across to Columbia Road Flower Market (closes at 2pm). You could walk through to Brick Lane/ Shoreditch from there, which is funky and fun on Sundays with fantastic Bagels from the Bagel Bake and lots of street food stalls, then on across to Spitalfields Market, all with lots of things to see en route. Or to eat from Geffrye Museum go to one of the Vietnamese cafes which are virtually next door (come out and turn left - Song Que (134 Kingsland Road) is fab and v.cheap. Or of course you could just stop for a curry on Brick Lane.

If you like history think about Museum of London, which is excellent.

If you're going to Borough Market, definitely nip into The Old Operating Museum and Herb Garett, which is totally brilliant and not v.well known.

I could go on all day. So many fantastic places. Hope you get blue skies!

The NT property Willow Rd - a modernist house.

Pellicci's Cafe

Columbia Rd Flower Market - it doesn't just have flowers, but loads of interesting shops that open just fr the market - great atmosphere - get there good and early (9 will do) for the true experience
Brick Lane / Trumans Brewery and surrounding streets - on the weekend.

Whitechapel Gallery for Turner Prize Winner Zarina Bhimji's Yellow Patch show, and walk up Commercial St to Spitalfields Market and surrounding streets, very trendy.

Go on the DLR all the way down to the Thames Barrier and the Thames Barrier park = great views of Docklands and the city, and the Thames. Maybe get off at Canary Wharf / West India Quay and visit the Museum of Docklands

Study Time Out for some more off-beat theatre than the West End offer - look at anything by Shunt, or try BAC (Battersea Arts Centre) or Ovalhouse, for example (look in the 'small scale' and fringe sections)

Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington is like a smaller (and free!) version of Highgate Cemetery. Amazing Gothic angels as headstones etc. And then walk along Church Street or down Stoke Newington High Street / Road to either Turkish / Kurdish cafes or further down (past Dalston - you could get any number of buses down the road) to fab Vietnamese cafes. You could then walk into Hoxton or Shoreditch from there.

Walk along the Thames from Blackfriars Bridge to the Globe Theatre. You go through the Clink (Victorian prison) and it feels so 'Old London' - fab and atmospheric! And there's a lovely pub outside the Tate where you can sit outside and watch the world go by along the river. And if it's cold, the pub provide blankets and heaters! And then walk on to Shad Thames for more food / drink / atmosphere (you'll go past the Golden Hind too).

Go for an East end walk

Also, this book is supposed to be very good.

Go to one of the many chpeaish eateries in Soho for lunch and then go to the Curzon Soho to watch a film with wine and amazing cakes. I love it there and would spend every afternoon there if real life didn't get in the way!