When visiting one of Europe’s dream cities, London, I am sure you don’t want to return back home with only a selfie with Big Ben and a ride on the London Eye. You should explore a wide variety of tourist attractions that the city has to offer, but if you really want to make your visit memorable, then you need to visit all the spots tourists don’t know about. So, here are the best secret places you should visit while you are in London.
Strawberry Hill House
Will you believe that there is an amazing gothic villa in the neighbourhood, I know you won’t, but there is. Come and enjoy a mesmerizing visit to the Strawberry Hill House, the interiors of the house were made between 1748 and 1790. It was made as a summer villa for the son of first Prime Minister of Britain, Horace Walpole. Each room has something unique to offer, making it a unique and exciting spot to visit in London.
The main highlights of the house are –
- The Gothic Library is one of its kind in England and it is undoubtedly quite popular amongst the tourists as well. Walpole was a writer and a collector and he also wrote The Castle of Otranto.
- You will love exploring 56-foot-long gallery, it is one of the striking rooms in the house and it was designed for entertaining.
- The rooms are lit by a unique collection of renaissance glass and its grey gothic staircase will lead to the gallery.
Tea Room At V&A Museum
Yes, you must have heard about The Victoria and Alberta Museum, but did you know that their team room is the first museum restaurant, The Garden Café, in the world and this place has a charm of its own. It won’t be wrong to call the Garden Café as a hidden oasis in the centre of the museum and the best part of the restaurant is that it is open throughout the year.
The rooms are designed by Edward Poynter, James Gamble, and William Morris and you get to see the reflection of Victorian Era in every room. You will surely cherish sitting at one of the courtyard tables or you can also have a picnic in the lawn. If you are visiting in the summers, then you will surely love their wide selection of ice-creams. If you have plans to have a lunch, then you will be spoilt for choice as they offer an ever-changing menu of sandwiches, meals, and salads.
Postman’s Park
When you are enjoying your shopping experience at Oxford Street, I am sure you will have a different impression of the city, but without a doubt, London is one of the world’s greenest cities. The city has some of the beautiful parks and you must have explored Hyde Park, but make sure you have also visited the smaller parks as well. One of the overlooked parks in London is Postman’s Park in Central London.
Just like any other park in London, this park is also quite beautifully maintained, but one thing that makes it interesting is the “Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice”. The ceramic plaques on the wall tell the story of the common people who gave their lives in order to save the lives of others during 1863. Make sure you have visited this beautiful and moving monument. Having the capacity for 145 people, the park can also be hired for receptions, celebrations, and film shoots.
Two Temple Place
Without a doubt, it is London’s extraordinary mansion – Two Temple Place (named after its address) and strangely still not many people know about it. William Waldorf Astor, one of the richest men in the world, built this mansion in 1895 and you will be awestruck by its opulent interiors. He made this house an estate office and a vault for all his prized possessions. It also hosts exhibitions showcasing museum and art gallery collections.
John Loughborough Pearson, the architect, concentrated more on decorations and fittings along with the fabric of the building. The grand staircase is on the striking parts of the interior where you get to see lots of wood carvings.
Broad Street Cholera Pump
During 1854 in London, drinking water was provided through water pumps around the city. At that time, the water was pumped directly from the polluted River Thames. Around 10% of Soho’s population died due to the outbreak of Cholera and people blamed miasma or bad air for the deaths, but Dr. John Snow, Father of Epidemiology, had a different theory. He said drinking water from the contaminated River Thames is the real cause of the deaths.
Dr.Snow investigated that majority of the deaths took place in Broad Street. He shut down the Broad St pump in Soho and soon afterward the outbreak ended in London. There is a pub right in front of the pump by his name as well.
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Established in 1570, this is the oldest name in the manufacturing business. This is the same company that built Big Ben and Liberty Bell in the US. The main business of the company was manufacturing bells and the company still concentrates on manufacturing bells and its associated fittings. You can also visit the museum displays at their foyer and Foundry store and you can purchase a bell and other extensive range of Whitechapel merchandising.
The name of the foundry has also been included in The Guinness Book of Records as Britain’s oldest manufacturer and having traded for more than 400 years.
Trafalgar Square fountains
Despite being right in front of your eyes, I am sure you haven’t noticed that the dolphins in the Trafalgar Square fountains are actually sharks. The centrepiece of the square has Nelson’s Column and it was built to honour World War I hero Admiral Horatio Nelson. The fountains were added in 1845.
You get to see four plinths for statues in the square – Maj General Sir Henry Havelock in the southeast, Gen Sir Charles James Napier in the southwest, and King George IV in the northeast.
Read also:
I’m not sure exactly why but this web site is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
First of all, clear cookies on your browser then reopen the site which helps pages load faster, make it easier for you to browse the web.
Howdy I am so delighted I found your blog, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a tremendous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the superb jo.|
You will find very interesting information at this article. Make a plan to go some of these places for enjoy your vacations.
I see your page needs some fresh & unique content. Writing manually is time consuming, but there is solution for this
hard task. Just search for – Miftolo’s tools rewriter
Thanks for the suggestion!!
That is a good tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere. Simple but very precise information… Many thanks for sharing this one. A must read post!
Thank you so much for the reply…Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
Great info. Lucky me I found your blog by accident (stumbleupon). I have saved it for later!
Thanks…you will be find interesting and useful information here.
Magnificent website. A lot of useful information here. I am sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks for your effort!
Thank you very much for your kind words. Really grateful for the support and encouragement.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this article plus the rest of the website is also very good.
Hi, that’s great. You’re starting a conversation and adding value! So glad you enjoyed the article. It means a lot to me when I hear encouragements like that.
Hi, this weekend is good in support of me, as this moment i am reading this impressive informative piece of writing here at my house.
Thank you for the wonderful compliment and kind words. Great to see you here on this blog.
Because the admin of this web site is working, no question very soon it will be well-known, due to its quality contents.
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your article seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Kudos
Thanks for the reply…everything is right. You can use Firefox or Chrome to see it.
xaQvny Say, you got a nice article post. Great.
I simply want to mention I’m newbie to blogging and certainly savored you’re web blog. Most likely I’m going to bookmark your blog post . You amazingly have really good well written articles. Cheers for sharing with us your blog.
Welcome to our blog. Thanks for your kind words. It is really grateful for the support and encouragement.
AOIkQF Thank you for your article.Really thank you! Will read on
Well I truly liked reading it. This post provided by you is very helpful for correct planning.
I wanted to make a small word in order to thank you for all of the nice suggestions you are placing on this site. My extensive internet look up has finally been compensated with really good knowledge to talk about with my pals. I would say that we readers actually are quite endowed to be in a really good site with many lovely people with insightful basics. I feel somewhat blessed to have used the webpages and look forward to really more awesome minutes reading here. Thanks a lot again for all the details.
Well I truly liked studying it. This article procured by you is very practical for correct planning.
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this site. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming also. In fact your creative writing skills has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a great example of it.
Great site. Lots of helpful information here. I¡¦m sending it to a few buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you in your sweat!
Hiya, I am really glad I have found this info. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossips and web and this is really frustrating. A good web site with interesting content, that’s what I need. Thanks for keeping this web-site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can’t find it.