On Thursday, I chose to have a day away from the office, and with no tours on I decided on the luxury of an afternoon and evening trip up to our great capital - London! Only 50 minutes by train from Tunbridge Wells, we really are very lucky here in the South East to be so near, yet so far that we don't feel London's mighty reach.
To be honest, when I go on day trips out, rare as they are now, they tend to be History/Heritage related and this trip was no exception. There was an ulterior motive as well, since I had won via twitter (yes, you can follow me on twitter @cathdiscoversee ) an evening on a pub tour run by a London based guide. Now, that is mixing two of my loves - history and pubs (oh and beer - okay three loves!). Quite appropriate really as that week was the G.B.B.F - Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court. However, for once I was not heading there, but into the City of London!
Before I started the evening's jollities, I headed on foot from Charing Cross, to Lincoln's Inn Fields - the largest public square in London, and home to the Inns of Court and notable barristers. Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers have to join; the others being Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Grey's Inn. Around this square are not only some very fine buildings of architectural note, but also a number of museums - two extremely fascinating. One, which I had visited before and won't talk about in this blog, is the Hunterian Museum within the Royal College of Surgeons - if your thing is to see various pickled animals and anatomical parts in glass jars, then this is the place for you! A place of wonder and of queasiness all in one museum and all free.
The other Museum is that of Sir John Soane's - it too is free entry, except on the Saturday Guided Tour at 11am. I have been meaning to go to this museum for a number of years, and should have come sooner! What an amazing place. Very difficult to describe, but trust me, you walk around in wonderment looking at the floor, ceiling, doors, cabinets, and walls that are all covered in pieces of art and antiquities, crammed in every nook and cranny. Soane was a famous architect (1753-1837) who not only designed the building for himself to live in, but to display his collections. In the Painting Room the guide opened up the walls to reveal a courtyard full of treasures, then on the other side of this extremely small room, the walls revealed one of Hogarth's most famous series of paintings, The Rake's Progress!
I thoroughly recommend going to this museum - but be warned it is very narrow in parts and bags are not allowed inside for obvious reasons; but this matters little when you are staring at a Canaletto, the surviving medieval pieces of the Palace of Westminster, or the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I's outer sarcophagus!! The first Tuesday of every month they open in the evenings for candlelit tours - something for next time I think! Take a look at www.soane.org to wet your appetite.
After immersing myself in this wonder I then proceeded to the allotted meeting place - Chancery Court Tube Station for the start of the Pub Tour of Olde London Towne. This tour, and many other pub tours of the City, are run by a rather splendid chap called Vic Norman, under the guise of The Dragon and Flagon Pub Tours. I was eagerly awaiting our tour around the six mystery pubs of the City and was not to be disappointed. There were seven of us in total who were on the tour, all from different walks of life, and you didn't have to drink beer on the tour if you didn't want to. However, it was rude for me not to try a few halves here and there, all in the name of research of course!
We began with a brief history of the City and moved swiftly to our first hidden pub - where once a young Queen Elizabeth I danced around a cherry tree in its courtyard. I don't want to reveal the names of the pubs however, lest it spoil Vic's tours. I urge you instead to go on one yourself. Hopefully this blog will tempt you!
On through the site of the Strawberry Fair and the haunts of William Shakespeare's characters we went, to a magnificent barrel vaulted ceiling pub dating back to the 16th Century, then swiftly through time to a pub that was in fact positioned between where the shop of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber, and Mrs Lovett's Pie Shop once were!! 1500 years of history in a few hours, time flew by with jokes and fascinating facts. From pubs once the haunt of Charles Dickens to an Art Deco wonder, via a Roman road, it was an enthralling evening. Tired, but very happy I managed to catch the last train back home. What a wonderful day!
For more information about Vic's London Pub Tours, you can follow him via Facebook - The Dragon and Flagon or contact him directly by calling 07504 977267 or email: vicnorman@postmaster.co.uk
I have certainly felt inspired by Vic's tours for my ale trails!
To be honest, when I go on day trips out, rare as they are now, they tend to be History/Heritage related and this trip was no exception. There was an ulterior motive as well, since I had won via twitter (yes, you can follow me on twitter @cathdiscoversee ) an evening on a pub tour run by a London based guide. Now, that is mixing two of my loves - history and pubs (oh and beer - okay three loves!). Quite appropriate really as that week was the G.B.B.F - Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court. However, for once I was not heading there, but into the City of London!
Before I started the evening's jollities, I headed on foot from Charing Cross, to Lincoln's Inn Fields - the largest public square in London, and home to the Inns of Court and notable barristers. Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers have to join; the others being Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Grey's Inn. Around this square are not only some very fine buildings of architectural note, but also a number of museums - two extremely fascinating. One, which I had visited before and won't talk about in this blog, is the Hunterian Museum within the Royal College of Surgeons - if your thing is to see various pickled animals and anatomical parts in glass jars, then this is the place for you! A place of wonder and of queasiness all in one museum and all free.
 |
| Hunterian Museum, London |
The other Museum is that of Sir John Soane's - it too is free entry, except on the Saturday Guided Tour at 11am. I have been meaning to go to this museum for a number of years, and should have come sooner! What an amazing place. Very difficult to describe, but trust me, you walk around in wonderment looking at the floor, ceiling, doors, cabinets, and walls that are all covered in pieces of art and antiquities, crammed in every nook and cranny. Soane was a famous architect (1753-1837) who not only designed the building for himself to live in, but to display his collections. In the Painting Room the guide opened up the walls to reveal a courtyard full of treasures, then on the other side of this extremely small room, the walls revealed one of Hogarth's most famous series of paintings, The Rake's Progress!
 |
| Sir John Soane Museum, London |
I thoroughly recommend going to this museum - but be warned it is very narrow in parts and bags are not allowed inside for obvious reasons; but this matters little when you are staring at a Canaletto, the surviving medieval pieces of the Palace of Westminster, or the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I's outer sarcophagus!! The first Tuesday of every month they open in the evenings for candlelit tours - something for next time I think! Take a look at www.soane.org to wet your appetite.
After immersing myself in this wonder I then proceeded to the allotted meeting place - Chancery Court Tube Station for the start of the Pub Tour of Olde London Towne. This tour, and many other pub tours of the City, are run by a rather splendid chap called Vic Norman, under the guise of The Dragon and Flagon Pub Tours. I was eagerly awaiting our tour around the six mystery pubs of the City and was not to be disappointed. There were seven of us in total who were on the tour, all from different walks of life, and you didn't have to drink beer on the tour if you didn't want to. However, it was rude for me not to try a few halves here and there, all in the name of research of course!
We began with a brief history of the City and moved swiftly to our first hidden pub - where once a young Queen Elizabeth I danced around a cherry tree in its courtyard. I don't want to reveal the names of the pubs however, lest it spoil Vic's tours. I urge you instead to go on one yourself. Hopefully this blog will tempt you!
 |
| One of the many pubs on The Dragon and Flagon's Pub Tour of Olde London Towne |
On through the site of the Strawberry Fair and the haunts of William Shakespeare's characters we went, to a magnificent barrel vaulted ceiling pub dating back to the 16th Century, then swiftly through time to a pub that was in fact positioned between where the shop of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber, and Mrs Lovett's Pie Shop once were!! 1500 years of history in a few hours, time flew by with jokes and fascinating facts. From pubs once the haunt of Charles Dickens to an Art Deco wonder, via a Roman road, it was an enthralling evening. Tired, but very happy I managed to catch the last train back home. What a wonderful day!
For more information about Vic's London Pub Tours, you can follow him via Facebook - The Dragon and Flagon or contact him directly by calling 07504 977267 or email: vicnorman@postmaster.co.uk
I have certainly felt inspired by Vic's tours for my ale trails!
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