Chat thread for Londoners (sorry for being quichey everyone else)

[Mintyy]

Right you laahvly cockerney sparrers. Cor blimey, apples & pears, luvaduck etc.

Having lived in London an exhilarating 30 years, I have resolved to make this the year I get to know it better.

Please can you recommend interesting walks and places to visit in areas that you know very well, because I want to head out with my oyster card and explore. Am taking a day off work every week from now on and I want to see slightly off-the-beaten-track London.

So, if anyone was asking me this question I would recommend walking from Chancery Lane Station, through the Inns of Court at Grays Inn, visit to the Sir John Soane Museum, walk up Doughty Street, quick pop in to the Charles Dickens Museum, Coram's Fields, Brunswick Centre, Russell Square (for eg.).

But there are huge swathes of London I know absolutely nothing about! I've never been to Portobello Road for instance, only been to Camden market a handful of times, don't really know much about West London, SW London, Docklands, East central London just outside the city (eg. Limehouse).

Oh there's tons of places to explore! If you have a favourite walk, little museum or park I should see, then please post.

Thank you

Explore Holland Park, Kensington and visit Leighton House:
www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum1.aspx

Lambstales it will be a short bus ride but I'm not sure what number bus.

I think that I'm the other way round.... haven't been to London for 30 years.
I might exaggerate...

Lamb its a couple of stops on District/Circle line to South Ken

What a fantastic thread. Love the Geffrye Museum, I'm definitely going to have to do some of these walks.

Do I need a pocket full of smelly shellfish in order to pay for this?

Broadway Market on a Saturday, Columbia Rd on a Sunday. You can walk from Angel all along the canal to Broadway Market, it's lovely.

I used to live in Richmond and there were really nice walks along the tow path - to Kew in one direction or Kingston in the other.

The Colombia Road flower market is lovely - combined with a trip to Spitalfields and Brick Lane. A walk around the City at the weekend is lovely too - so quiet.

BeCool, I am more than happy to walk. However, it would be through all the boring Embassy bits.

Buy the Peter Ackroyd London Biography just to whet your tastebuds then just walk. I'm foreign but an avid walker and I can literally say I've walked this city - Soho and the City are my favourite places but don't discount anywhere and get to know the river.

I also love the John Soames Museum, Wigmore Hall and Smithfields.

Marking place. Will be back.

Fleet St, St Brides Church, Dr Johnsons Museum/House then walk down towards the Law Courts, turn left into Temple, walk down a narrow st,through the arches and you are transformed into a gorgeous Georgian Sq with manicured lawns that sweep down to the Thames, There's an Old church that is featured in Da Vinci Code, forget it's name but its dead famous!! So beautiful!

Brick Lane and surrounding roads? Spitalfields is a good historical area. I find it quite sad as I remember it as it was but still worth seeing. There is a fascinating museum of an Silk merchants house with a Synagogue built in the back at 9 Princelet St.

Portobello Road and Westbourne Grove is my manor - Go on Saturday and just soak in the market.....it goes right down to Goldbourne Road where it becomes more like a flea pit but fun to look among the junk to find some gems. There is a great stall to buy cooked fish, Moroccan style and a lovely Soup stall. There is also a Portuguese cake shop, always packed on the right before the bridge. Fab clothes sold under the Westway then up to Ladbroke Grove, nothing much there but walk up the hill towards Notting Hill and there are some beautiful houses and garden squares to look at.

Enjoy your sightseeing!

Get to the end of the picawilly line (Cockfosters) and go for a long walk in Trent park. You feel like you are in the countryside (which you almost are). There is an obelisk and the grounds of a closed down university. It feels like a ghost town. Or just enjoy the park. Or do Go Ape

Lamb I just discovered this London walking website - they have an ap too:

walkit.com/walk/?city=london&from=Victoria+Station&fuid=426665_3310238&to=Victoria+and+Albert+Museum&tuid=428095_490713&rta=old&direct=1

Ps What's the best way from Victoria to the V&A?

I'd walk around all the back streets pass Cadogan Sq and Knightsbridge, see how the other half live!

Have you been to Hampstead Heath yet? Kenworth House?

You need this its brill....Secret London, and unusual guide. Most book shops have it. It has loads of really good ideas in it.

Enter the arched gate leading to Westminster School from the yard in front of Westminster Abbey. There's a small gatehouse and they deliberately make it look intimidating and private, but unless there's a sign up saying No Entry, ignore the gatekeeper.

The grassy square is peaceful and the chapels, crypts and tiny walled gardens off there are really interesting and free. I have no idea why the jobsworths in the booth don't want you to go there because the people who run it do.

Plus it's a handy short cut to mine.

Great thread. We have a weekend in London coming up, staying near Fleet Street. Would love to explore somewhere different.

Kensington Roof Gardens

Buy a fancy smancy meal or just go for a look - stunning!

Tooting Lido, the Horniman Museum, lunch at Chez Bruce (£££) at Wandsworth Common, sit in the garden at the Avalon pub near Clapham South tube, Brixton Market, the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich,kite Day on Streatham Common in April...

Marking place.

BeCool Thank you, Ta very much!
Absolutely spot on.
If I walk I can have a biscuit....

Do a London ghost walk! They're fab. I learnt so much about the history of the city of London as well as being totally spooked out by the ghostly stories.

Highgate cemetery, followed by lunch at a Highgate pub. Bus to Muswell Hill for a wander around there and then Alexandra Palace. Gorgeous views over London.