London in 3 days, plus a couple of day trips out of town

Day one:

We started at Westminster tube station at 9am. Early start but we have a lot to pack in today! As you exit the station you will emerge onto Parliament Square. Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate Middleton were married in 2011, is bang opposite and the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben are to the left. In the middle, surrounding the grass are statues of several former British Prime Ministers including Winston Churchill, as well as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Women’s Rights campaigner Millicent Fawcett.

From here, with Big Ben behind you, turn right and walk up Whitehall. Pass the black railings in front of Downing Street on your left and continue past the Cenotaph monument, before cutting through the archway on your left onto Horse Guards Parade. This was originally built by Henry VIII as a jousting courtyard and is now the exercise yard for the household cavalry. Walk through St James’ Park along the water and pop out the top onto the Mall, down to Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the Queen (nearest tube station is Green Park). Check the flag flying on the roof, the Royal Standard means that Liz is home, our Union flag means she isn’t. If you can be here by 10 am then grab a spot near the palace railings and wait -you can watch the Changing of the Guard at the Palace at 11am daily from April – July, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from August – March. If you get there any later than 10 it may well be too busy to get close enough to the railings to see, so it’s worth arriving early and hanging around.

Once the ceremony is over, head up Birdcage Walk back to Parliament Square. Walk past Big Ben and cross Westminster Bridge, then stroll left along the river on the Southbank past the London Eye, the National Theatre, the BFI with its famous book seller stalls under Waterloo Bridge, the Tate Modern Gallery and the Globe Theatre. This is a really lovely walk along one of our favourite places in London, usually with lots of buskers and street performers. Keep going until you run out of waterfront and turn right up Bank End – don’t miss the rainbow Shakespeare mural next to Wagamamas on your left. Carry on up around the corner on Park Street until you reach Borough Market, where you will stop for food! So many amazing stalls are crammed under the arches of London Bridge, selling everything from posh fish and chips to fresh pasta, mussels, Indian food, pies, ice cream, pate, pretty much anything you could want to eat! Do a full circuit trying all the free samples of cheese, olives, bread, then buy yourself some lunch, but spend no more than 45 minutes here.

Cross London Bridge. You will see beautiful Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast to your right, and once you reach the far side turn around to see the towering glass Shard on the far side. Turn right and walk towards Tower Bridge to reach the Tower of London. The White Tower keep is nearly 1000, having been built by the Normans not long after the Battle of Hastings. As well as being a notorious Tudor prison, the Tower of London was a royal residence, and Medieval monarchs often stayed here before their coronation. Pause by Traitors Gate and consider the poor souls who entered this way, including Queen Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Queen Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey, never to return…

Walk around the left side of the Tower, following the moat, up to the main road. Turn left and walk one mile to St Paul’s Cathedral past All Hallows by the Tower, one of the oldest churches in the city, some 300 years older than even the Tower of London. It survived the Great Fire of London but was badly damaged during the Blitz, and was largely rebuilt in the 50s. Being so close to the Tower of London, this church was used to hold beheaded bodies prior to their proper burial, including those of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher. In 1666 Samuel Pepys watched London burning from the church tower, and IN 1797, John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States of America, was married here.

Make your way along Great Tower Street and Eastcheap, past Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire famously began in a bakery.

The next left, Fish Street Hill, leads down to a huge column designed by Sir Christopher Wren, which is the Monument, a memorial to the Great Fire of London. Once you’ve seen it, go back to the main road and continue stomping along Cannon Street until you reach the magnificence that is St Paul’s Cathedral. Also designed by Sir Christopher Wren (busy man – he did rather well after the Great Fire!), the building sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London. The glorious dome and sweeping steps make the Cathedral one of the most recognisable sights in London. It was the site of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding and the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, and former Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Out front is a large statue of Queen Anne, with 4 female figures around the base representing Britannia, France, North America and Ireland. The original statue was placed here to celebrate the completion of the rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1712, during Queen Anne’s reign, but the one you see today is a replacement from 1886 after the original deteriorated. It has often been debated whether Anne is looking out proudly surveying her capital city, or whether she is turning her back on the church after having tragically lost 17 babies in 16 years.

From here it’s time to take the tube! Head to St Paul’s Underground station and take the central line to Oxford Circus. Home to Oxford Street, Selfridges and every shop you can think of, this is London shopping heaven. If you’re visiting towards the end of the year, the Christmas lights will be up! Follow the curve of beautiful Regent’s Street. Take a sneaky left onto Great Marlborough Street to see the black and white timbered 1920s “Tudor revival” façade of Liberty, possibly London’s most beautiful department store. If you have time, pop inside and go up a few floors to see the lovely wooden galleries and atriums, it feels like exploring a stately home. The top floor is more like a museum with a huge array of rugs and antiquities from around the world, and keep an eye out for the famous fabulously floral Liberty print fabrics. Pop out of the back door via the chocolate department and emerge onto Carnaby Street, once a shopping mecca in the swinging 60s, now full of more modern (and expensive) clothes shops.

Back on Regent Street, look up at the gorgeous Georgian architecture, and admire the huge flagship stores including Apple and Hamleys. The curve of the road brings you round to Piccadilly Circus, the Time Square of London, with huge neon signs and heaving traffic. Walk up Shaftsbury Avenue past several West End Theatres, and take a right onto Wardour Street to reach the spectacular gate to Chinatown. Wander the streets, take in the red lanterns, Chinese supermarkets and countless restaurants, before heading back down Wardour Street to Leicester Square. Always busy, this is home to the Lego Store and M&M’s World, the Odeon Cinema where many film premieres are held, and a statue of Shakespeare.

Walk to the back of the square, down St Martin’s Street, past the National Gallery and into Trafalgar Square, home to Nelson’s Column. On the far side of the square is a fantastic pub, The Admiralty, where it’s time for a well deserved pit stop and a pint! As well as having a fantastic bar, this is the perfect place to get your dinner. The Admiralty specialises in outrageously good pies, as well as other British staples like fish and chips, roast chicken, sausages and mash and ham, eggs and chips.

Alternatively, once you’ve seen Nelson’s Column, you could walk 10 minutes to visit Covent Garden and get your dinner in the famous covered market. This is a brilliant, historic part of London, thriving and busy with so many fantastic shops and a plethora of street entertainers. The beautiful market building dates from 1830, and the church at the far end of the cobbled Piazza is St Paul’s, or the Actor’s Church is where Henry Higgins first encountered Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

Foodwise we LOVE Battersea Pie Station downstairs in the main market building – what says London more than traditional pie and mash? Their menu is mouth-watering, including steak and Meantime stout, and chicken and mushroom, with side orders of creamy mash and buttered garden peas with mint. Our favourite pub in the area is the cozy Lamb and Flag on Rose Street, but there is also the 18th century Punch and Judy actually upstairs in the market with a balcony overlooking the Piazza. It is named after the puppet shows which were performed for the first time in the square for the flower seller’s children, and written about by Samuel Pepys.

From here, it’s time to head back to Leicester Square and Theatreland – the West End has some of the best theatre in the world and a trip to London wouldn’t be complete without taking in a show. Pre book your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment, and collect them 30 minutes before curtain up. Most plays begin at 7:30pm so bear this in mind while you’re eating your dinner!

Day Two:

Use day two to explore some of the magnificent museums and gorgeous galleries that London is so famous for. You could feasibly do 2 in a day if you only hit the collections that really interest you, or choose just one to visit in great depth. Even better, they’re free!!!

Our top recommendations would be:

British Museum – Probably the most famous museum in London. Highlights here include the Rosetta Stone, the popular Egyptian mummies, the Sutton Hoo mask and ship burial, an Easter Island Moai, the Greek and Roman galleries and the controversial Parthanon Marbles. Even the Great Hall itself is magnificent! 

Natural History Museum – Our absolute favourite, so much so that we got engaged here! This gorgeous Victorian building is famous for its dinosaurs, Mammals Hall, earthquake re-enactment experience, escalator up through a planet and chunks of moon rock. They even have a dodo skeleton. A dodo, people!! The museum has a butterfly house open in spring/summer and an ice skating rink in winter (tickets required, additional fee) 

Science Museum – Right next door to the Natural History Museum, this is another major tourist attraction, dedicated to technology and discovery. We particularly like the Exploring Space gallery. You can see the singed spacecraft used by Tim Peake on his journey to and from the International Space Centre, the Apollo 10 command capsule, Stephenson’s Rocket, a full size replica of the Eagle (as in “Has Landed”… the moon lander used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969) and a Soviet BESM 1965 super computer . They also have a massive award winning IMAX 3D cinema screen, with showings every 30 minutes. Tickets for the IMAX are £11, the museum is free. Don’t miss the shop! 

National Gallery – The big colonnaded building in Trafalgar Square is the 4th most visited art museum in the world, famous for its collection of over 2300 paintings including works by Botticelli, Titian, Cezanne, Seurat, Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt. Turner, Renoir and Van Gogh. 

National Portrait Gallery – Right next door to the National Gallery, and you can absolutely do both in 4 hours. This art gallery was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856, and houses a vast collection of portraits of historically important people in British History. Our favourite rooms are 1 and 2: the Early Tudors and Elizabethan England galleries, which feature 16th and 17th century paintings of Henry VII, Elizabeth of York, Thomas Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Katherine Parr, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Sir Walter Raleigh. In room 3 you can see Henry IV, Henry V, Richard III and William Shakespeare (the first portrait acquired by the gallery in 1856, and though to be the only portrait of the playwright painted from life), again all 16th/17th century. 

Tate Britain Gallery – The home of British art from 1500 to the present day, plus international modern and contemporary art. The gallery has the largest collection of Turner’s work in the world and two rooms dedicated to sculptor Henry Moore, plus paintings from artists as varied as John Singer Sargent Millais, Rosetti, David Hockney and Francis Bacon. 

Top Tips to complete your day:

• After visiting the British Museum, catch the 38 bus to Tysoe Street and go to Exmouth Market for dinner. We LOVE the Kolossi Grill for family run traditional Greek meze, and Cinnamon Tree for outstanding Indian food.
• If you’re visiting the Natural History Museum or Science Museum in South Kensington, you could also walk down to visit Harrods and Hyde Park.
• After seeing the painting of William Shakespeare, known as the “Chandos Portrait” in the National Portrait Gallery, drop into the Chandos pub for a pint, 60 yards away down St Martin’s Lane, the road opposite to the gallery entrance.
• After visiting the Tate Britain, you can catch the Thames Clipper river boat from Millbank pier back to Bankside Pier (the Globe) for dinner/ a stroll on the Southbank, or alternatively from the Tate it’s a 15 minute walk through beautiful Regency terraces to the Cask pub and Kitchen on Charlwood Street – great selection of craft beers, gourmet burgers, and their parmesan and truffle oil fries are to die for!!

Day Three:

With a third day in London, you can explore the city further. Why not take the time to visit one or two different areas of town, further away from the main sightseeing centre? Here are our favourite options:

• Visit London Zoo! Located on the edge of Regents Park, this is the world’s oldest scientific zoo and has a number of listed buildings, such as the giraffe house, old penguin house and the Snowdon Aviary, as well as fantastic modern exhibits such as the tiger enclosure, set within a colourful Indian town, and the Gorilla Kingdom. We especially like the walkthrough rainforest house with a nocturnal house underneath, the reptile house and Penguin Beach, the largest penguin pool in England. 15 minutes walk away is Primrose Hill, where you can enjoy stunning panoramic views of the London skyline.

• Spend the day in Maritime London, in beautiful the World Heritage Site of Greenwich. Catch the DLR to the Cutty Sark station and explore the historic covered market and the magnificent Cutty Sark clipper. Admire over 200 ships’ figureheads, plus a cannonball and Nelson’s uniform from the Battle of Trafalgar at the National Maritime Museum, stroll amongst the beautiful classical buildings of the Old Royal Naval College, and walk up the hill to the Royal Observatory where you can see huge telescopes, watch a show at the Planetarium and stand astride the Meridian Line. This is a gorgeous part of London and you can easily spend a whole day here. Buy your lunch from Greenwich market and stop for a drink in the Trafalgar Tavern, a lovely Victorian riverside pub.

• Head east and spend a day exploring Whitechapel and Spitalfields, Jack the Ripper’s old haunt. Join a walking tour and learn more about the terrifying history, go shopping in Spitalfields market and the vintage shops around Old Truman’s Brewery, wander amongst old Huguenot houses and stuff yourself silly on incredible Indian food on Brick Lane. the Whitechapel Gallery of contemporary art is a short walk away on Whitechapel High Street, and for some neon Hipster fun, Junkyard Golf is just around the corner from Brick Lane. Don’t miss having a pint in The Ten Bells, Grade II listed and decorated with original Victorian tiling, the pub is linked to two of Jack the Ripper’s victims and features in the graphic novel and film adaptation, From Hell. We also love The Astronomer, a Fuller’s pub 5 minutes walk away on Middlesex Street. Great pies!

• Hit Camden Market in the morning for serious retail therapy. A maze of vintage threads, vinyls, quirky art and jewellery located in and around a historic former stables. Pick up some picnic supplies from one of the many food stalls and walk up to Hampstead Heath. Head up through the vast green space to the famous Parliament Hill viewpoint where you can stop to admire the London skyline. Right up at the top of the Heath is Kenwood House, a former stately home from the 17th century where you can enjoy your picnic on the lawns running down to the lake in front of the house’s creamy facade. In spring time you can see hundreds of bluebells and snowdrops in the surrounding woodland. Leaving the Heath, just a little further along the main road is the Spaniards Inn, a fantastic historic boozer dating from 1585 with the best beer garden in London where John Keats apparently wrote Ode to a Nightingale. It is said that Dick Turpin’s father was the landlord of the pub, and that allegedly the famous highwayman himself was a regular here.

• Visit the rainbow of pastel coloured terraced townhouses and antique stalls of Portobello Road – Saturday morning before 11:30 (before the crowds become unbearable) or Friday is best when everything is open, although most of the brick and mortar shops are open on week days, even if the whole market isn’t. Take your time treasure hunting for vintage clothes and quirky antiques or camp out in a café and people watch. Oh and if you want to find Hugh Grant’s blue door from Notting Hill, it’s at 280 Westbourne Park Road. Next, walk to Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria’s birthplace and childhood home and now the official residence of Prince William and Katherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Princesses Margaret and Diana also spent time living at the palace. Visit the lavish King’s State Apartments, once belonging to King George II, and the cozy, intimate Queen’s Rooms, little changed since the time of Mary II, wife of William III, when they bought the palace as a home away from the bustle of Whitehall. In the exhibitions dedicated to Queen Victoria you can see her wedding dress, and one of her black mourning dresses after the death of her husband Albert.

Take the train to Windsor, only 55 minutes out of Waterloo station, for a cheeky excursion out west to this beautiful historic town. You can pay a visit to the oldest inhabited castle in the world, and the Queen’s favourite weekend getaway, Windsor Castle.

 While visiting the 11th century castle, be sure to see St George’s Chapel where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, and more recently Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, were married. The chapel also has a number of famous royal burials, including King Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth Woodville, King Henry VI, Queen Jane Seymour, King Henry VIII, King George III, King George IV, King Charles I, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI and his wife Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the Queen Mother), and Princess Margaret. 

The town centre itself is lovely – don’t miss Windsor Royal Shopping, situated inside a Grade II listed Victorian Railway station, and if it’s a beautiful day, why not take a leisurely stroll down to Windsor Great Park down The Long Walk? As you might guess, this is not a quick journey, but a fantastic 3.5 mile route through ancient forest and herds of red deer, with an iconic view of Windsor Castle in the distance behind you. At the top of Snow Hill is the famous Copper Horse statue of King George III, and from here you can see Eton College and the distant arch of Wembley stadium.

Only 37 minutes out of Waterloo Station, this is one of the favourite homes of Henry VIII. In the following century, King William III had much of the palace destroyed, and rebuilt in a elegant baroque style to rival Versailles. This leaves the building in two very distinct halves, with the Tudor architecture instantly recognisable by its red brick gatehouse, knot gardens and cobbled courtyards, and the elegant wings of Sir Christopher Wren’s rebuilding backed by jawdropping pleasure gardens. 

There is so much history – King Henry VIII brought all six of his wives to live here. It is where Jane Seymour died, a few days after giving birth to Henry’s longed for son and heir, and Catherine Howard was arrested for treason – it is said that her ghost still runs screaming along the corridors. The Great Kitchen evokes King Henry’s love for feasting, and the magnificent Chapel Royal still has the Tudor vaulted ceiling, from the 1530s, painted blue with gold stars.

 In 1603, William Shakespeare’s ‘King’s Men’ first performed Hamlet and Macbeth for the new King James I, and his son King Charles I was held here under house arrest after the Civil War. The Georgian exhibition, exploring the beautiful bedrooms and living quarters of Kings George I and II and their families. George II was the last monarch to live in the palace, and Queen Victoria opened it to the public in 1938 shortly after coming to the throne.

 About 2 hours from London Marylebone, changing at Leamington Spa.

Stratford Upon Avon's most famous son is one of England's most celebrated playwrights: William Shakespeare.

You can visit his birthplace, the magnificent Tudor house where he grew up and also lived for the first 5 years of his marriage. Next, walk 5 minutes to New Place, a beautiful garden marking the site of the house, sadly demolished in 1759, that Shakespeare owned for 19 years and where he wrote many of his later great works. He died there in 1616. 

If it's a nice day, hire a rowing boat out on the Avon. In the evening,  take in a play at the Swan Theatre - preferably one of Shakespeare's!

North of London, less than 10 minutes by taxi from Hitchin train station, is Hitchin Lavender Farm. Between July and August, the fragrant fields are thick with waving lavender and buzzing bees. And photographers of course!

You can see the sea of purple rising up the hill as soon as you park up, and it really is gorgeous. The richness of the colour stretches in a total of 25 miles of rows for you to freely roam. On a warm sunny day it feels like rural France!

We would recommend arriving in the morning to enjoy the space before it fills up in the afternoon - there were some very dedicated instagrammers who arrived later on with suitcases of clothes to change into, and we wanted to enjoy the open swathes of purple without crowds.

Entry is £6 for adults, £3 for children aged 5-14 (under 5s are free), and this includes a large brown paper bag each and a pair of scissors to borrow - you can spend as long as you like cutting as much lavender as you can fit in your bag, and take it home. Lovely!

Later in the summer, the farm also grows sunflowers, which you can also cut for 50p per stem.

The farm has a cafe, and shop selling all kinds of lavender goodies, including soaps, essential oils, skin care and gifts.

Top tips for taking photos at a Lavender Farm

• Don't be afraid of the bees! They're quite happily doing their own thing, and if you just calmly brush past them as you walk then they won't bother you. If you have any allergies you should take necessary precautions.
• Shoot facing up the field so that the rows of lavender stretch endlessly away ahead of you.
• Don't worry if it isn't sunny, overcast skies actually help avoid overexposing the flowers and make the purple shade look more dramatic.
• Most lavender fields are open from early June, but for the densest, most purple flowers, we would recommend visiting in mid July.
• Visit early in the day to avoid the crowds.
• Stick to the paths! Be respectful of this beautiful place and don't damage the plants by clambering over the rows.
• Get low! Sit between the rows and get as many flowers in shot as possible. Alternatively have your photographer stand a few rows away from you, to make it look as if you're surrounded by a sea of purple.
• Have fun with your macro setting capturing bees and other insects on the flowers.

Paris!!!! The ultimate day trip - Up for a mad one? With Eurostar trains leaving London St Pancras as early as 5:40am and arriving in central Paris within 2 hours 16 minutes, you can definitely hop to the city of love for the day: wander the boulevards, visit the Eiffel Tower, have lunch in Monmartre, some shopping, a glass of wine in a street cafe, before heading home again. Of course if you want to fit in any of the magnificent art galleries, you'll need to make it an overnight stay. Shame...