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  • 8 Christmas Trees in London for the 2023 Festive Season

    Like every major city in the Western world, London celebrates Christmas. For the visitor the most obvious sign of this are elaborate Christmas trees around the capital. Here are a few of them:

  • Best Places To See London From Above

    A viewing gallery has opened on top of the new skyscraper at 22 Bishopsgate.  Visitors to London can get views of the City without paying if they find the London Eye or The Shard too expensive. It joins the Sky Garden on top of the Walkie-Talkie building as a viewing platform which is accessible to the general public and free of charge. Café/bars serving hot and cold drinks can be found in both locations, but visitors are under no obligation to buy anything. Both viewing platforms have free toilet facilities.

  • Borough Market in London: A Culinary Oasis in the Heart of Southwark near London Bridge

    London has many street markets that visitors can visit. Smithfield Meat Market and Billingsgate Fish Market are probably the most famous wholesale markets in the capital, but both are facing great challenges. Despite operating for centuries, they face an uncertain future, with supermarkets preferring to deal directly with their suppliers these days.

  • The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Ann Bulkley aka Dr James Barry

    I recently visited The National Portrait Gallery, which re-opened in June 2023 to much fanfare – and it is duly deserved. It was apparent whilst viewing the rooms that more women across the centuries were featured. Before the gallery’s closing in 2020 for refurbishment, exhibits and images of women were approximately 20% of the collection; now, it is 48%!

  • London Millennium Footbridge, also known as The Wibbly Wobbly Bridge

    Officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, this iconic pedestrian bridge gracefully spans the River Thames, connecting the Tate Modern Art Gallery to St. Paul’s Cathedral, two of London’s most recognizable landmarks. But to many Londoners, this bridge has another, more affectionate name – “The Wibbly Wobbly Bridge.” This moniker hints at the bridge’s unique history, a tale of design, engineering, and the resilience of a city that embraces its quirks.

  • History of Kensington Palace: from Jacobean Mansion to Royal Residence

    Kensington Palace, nestled at the western edge of leafy Kensington Gardens, has been a royal home since 1689. Today, it is the London base of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the nerve centre of their operations. It is also home to the Dukes of Kent and Gloucester and Princess Michael of Kent.

Blog Posts

Easter Egg Hunt at Kew Gardens. Photo Credit: © Kew Gardens

Easter in London – Things To Do From Good Friday To Easter Monday

Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox on 21st March. This unusual calculation, which uses a mixture of solar and lunar calendars, means that the day itself can occur anytime in a period of over a month – between 22nd March and 25th April. The next time it will fall this late will be in 2038 and you will have an even longer wait for a very early Easter. It will not take place on 22nd March until 2285.

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Partial view of Trafalgar Square and National Gallery in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

London in 48 Hours – 2 Days in London Itinerary

If you’ve got just two full days in London – what were you thinking? – and you want to tick off the big-ticket attractions, plan carefully and follow the sage advice of a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. Better yet, hire one and have them show you what you would never see on your own on a tour of Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London or even the not-so-simple-as-it-looks Changing of the Guard.

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Library at Covent Garden Hotel in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Where To Stay In London – An Insider’s Guide To London Neighbourhoods

Landing the accommodation just right for you is integral to your London experience, and there’s no shortage of choice. But just because London is a city that never sleeps doesn’t mean it doesn’t go to bed: rooms in sought-after hotels can be booked solid. There are some fantastic hotels around – whatever the price tag – but and always book plan ahead.

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David Hockney Self Portrait, 22 November 202, Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 30 inches, © David Hockney. Thanks for permission.

David Hockney, English Painter & National Treasure

The English painter David Hockney was born in July 1937 in Bradford, Yorkshire. At the time of writing, he is still going strong in his mid-eighties and a new exhibition of his work is on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It includes a recent self-portrait by Hockney.

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Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall. Photo Credit: © KoronaLacassePhoto via Wikimedia Commons.

10 Facts About Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess Of Cornwall & Future Queen Consort

Queen Elizabeth II has publicly announced that it is her “dearest wish” that Prince Charles’s wife Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall be known as Queen Consort when he ascends to the throne of the United Kingdom. Here are ten facts about Camilla Parker Bowles, the woman who will in the future be known as Queen Consort:

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Gun Salute for the Royal Birth, held in Hyde Park on 24/04/2018. Photo Credit: © Richard Symonds via Wikimedia Commons.

The Story Behind Royal Gun Salutes

Regular and Reserve British Army soldiers marked the seventieth anniversary of the Queen’s Accession to the Throne on Monday,  7th February, in London with a celebratory gun salute. The Queen ascended to the throne on 6th February 1952 but, when the day itself falls on a Sunday, as happened in 2022, the salute is not fired until the following day.

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Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Photo Credit: © British The Royal Household © Crown Copyright.

Medals, Coins & 10 Events For Celebrating The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II  came to the throne of the United Kingdom on the death of her father King George VI on 6th February 1952. This means that on the same date in 2022 she celebrated the seventieth (or platinum) jubilee of her accession.

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Queen Elizabeth the ll during her 2015 visit to HMS Ocean in Devonport. Photo Credit: © Joel Rouse/ Ministry of Defence via Wikimedia Commons.

10 Facts About Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates the seventieth anniversary of her ascent to the throne of the United Kingdom on 6th February 2022. Throughout the year this platinum anniversary will be celebrated with a series of events by people the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.  She provides a measure of constancy in sometimes troubled times and a link with Britain’s past.

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Whisky bar in London. Photo Credit: © Jonathan Cohen.

Where To Find Good Whisky in London

One drink that is very much in fashion in the bars around London is whisky, but that is nothing new. Londoners have been drinking the spirit since the middle of the eighteenth century. As a Blue Badge Tourist Guide, I have taken one for the team in researching and exploring London’s whisky scene.

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London skyline with Big ben and the London Eye at dusk. Photo Credit: © Julian Love/Visit London Images.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Statement & Updates

London’s Blue Badge Tourist Guides, members of Guide London/Association of Professional Tourist Guides are acting in the best interests of visitors and locals alike by restricting our work in line with the latest advice from Public Health England. Furthermore, most tourist attractions, including museums and galleries and many pubs and restaurants, are closed. This is because the UK government has advised against all inessential travel as they work to contain COVID-19 and minimise community spread.

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Winter Solstice At Stonehenge. Photo Credit: © Richard Ing.

The Winter Solstice At Stonehenge

I was excited to be visiting Stonehenge on the day of the winter solstice (21st December) and the sun was shining! At around 3.50 pm the midwinter sun set in the southwest and its rays flooded through the centre of the monument on the axis that Neolithic peoples understood 5000 years ago.

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Margaret Campbell Duchess of Argyll. Photo Credit: © Allan Warren via Wikimedia Commons.

A Great British Scandal: The London Of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was a name that everyone knew at the time of her divorce in 1963 but during her lifetime she had three names, each one making her a legend, Margaret Whigham, Margaret Sweeny, and when a Duchess, Margaret Campbell.

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