UK Travel Planning

London Travel Guide [Part 1]: Favourite Places, Landmarks, and Hidden Gems

• Tracy Collins • Episode 165

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In this episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, Tracy Collins is joined by her friend Karen for a deep dive into her favourite places in London. Drawing on years of living, working, and exploring the capital, Tracy shares the landmarks, gardens, markets, and quiet corners that she loves most.

From must-see icons like the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and Hampton Court Palace to the vibrant streets of Notting Hill, the views (and pelicans) of St James’s Park, the beauty of Kew Gardens, and hidden gems like Postman’s Park, this episode showcases the places that make London truly special. Tracy and Karen also chat about museums, rooftop views, riverside walks, and a few quirky surprises along the way.

Whether you’re planning your very first trip to London or looking for fresh ideas, this episode is full of insider tips and inspiration to help you discover a few new favourite spots of your own.

📝 Show Notes - Episode 165

🎧 Listen to next

  • Episode #146 – Discover Westminster Abbey London [Essential Tips for planning your visit]
  • Episode #142 – Exploring the Tower of London: History, Highlights, and Helpful Tips
  • Episode #74 – Things to do in London: An Introduction to some of London’s famous landmarks

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Speaker 1:

People ask me all the time what are my favourite places in London. Well, in this episode I spill the beans from iconic landmarks and colourful streets to quiet corners and surprising hidden gems, and I do promise not to sing. These are a few of my favourite things.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracy Collins. Each week, tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 1:

Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the UK Travel Plan and Podcast. I'm very, very excited to actually announce that we have hit half a million downloads. Now. If you are on our Facebook group, you'll know that I announced that a few weeks ago. It's because I'm actually recording this podcast I think it's the 20th of August at the minute for a few weeks time, but we've hit half a million, which is huge. Now I want to say a special, special thank you to our sponsors for sponsoring the podcast.

Speaker 1:

The podcast takes a lot of time, effort and actually money to produce every month, so we are so, so grateful for all the support that we receive, and to those of you as well who so generously went on to tip my guide, the link via the email or on the bottom of our website and left us a tip as well. Honestly, thank you from the bottom of mine and Doug's heart. It means so much to us. Anyway, I'm going to get on with this episode because I asked in the Facebook group if people would be interested in me sharing my favorite places in London and I wasn't sure. I was a bit like we're all going to be like no, no, not that bothered, I didn't know what Tracy enjoys. But anyway, you all were a bit overwhelming with your questions and we've received loads and loads of questions, so we've actually divided it into two episodes.

Speaker 1:

So this episode 165, and then, in two weeks time, episode 167,. I'm going to share my favorite places and experiences in London Now, rather than me droning on for 30 minutes. I actually have my friend, karen from the New Life in Australia podcast. So Karen is also a podcaster, so, and she has a wonderful voice and she does the intros to the UK Travel Plan podcast and actually the Global Travel Plan podcast too, because she has a wonderful, wonderful voice and she's also very skilled at interviewing people and is a lot of fun to chat to. So hi, karen, so nice for you to come on the podcast again.

Speaker 2:

Oh hey, tracey, thanks for having me back again. It's always good fun to have a chat, and London is such a huge city and there is so much to learn about traveling there, so I'm really looking forward to asking you some questions.

Speaker 1:

Oh well, I'm enjoying to talk about it, but I will caveat that with saying I have lived and I have worked in London and I've spent a lot of time exploring London, but there is so much to London that there are still things that I haven't done and experienced. So I will say that, you know, these are the things that I love and these are based on the things that I've done over the years, but, honestly, there are always new things to do and see in London. So take that with a caveat. But this is we're going to go through for this episode, my favourite places. That's what we're going to kind of focus on, aren't we?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and there is. There's so much to see and do there. I know I've been lots of times and there's still so many places that I haven't been to before, and always new things to discover, so it'll be really good to hear about all of your favourite spots.

Speaker 1:

OK, do you want to? Do you want to kick us off? Then, karen, let's kick it off.

Speaker 2:

So what is your favourite historic spot? I know your background is a history teacher. Yeah so you're sure to have quite a few of those.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was. Yes, I was a history teacher for a while. Oh, this is such a hard question to answer because, obviously, london historic spots there are so, so many to talk about but I'm going to choose the Tower of London and I really would encourage you, if you're visiting London, to not say I've been to the Tower of London and just see it from the outside. You can't visit the Tower of London by seeing it from the outside. You can't visit the town of London by seeing it from the outside. You actually need to go inside and explore it, do it on a tour or just buy a ticket and go in and explore it and, honestly, just be blown away by the history of this place. And he was buried there. He had the head chopped off there. It he was. He was actually imprisoned there.

Speaker 1:

Learn about, like, the fact that it was a zoo. I mean, who knows that? You know it was a zoo. But also, just, you get to see the yeoman warders or the beef eaters, um, as they'll be kind of walking around and you can go and take a photo with them, ask them questions. Um, there's a free tour as well with the yeoman warders if you do. Um, some of the tours that I've done, some of the vip tours or walks you get to actually spend some time with the order and I absolutely love that because you can ask them all sorts of questions because they actually live there, um, which I would not do because it's apparently haunted I hear all this stuff and it's like I like visiting but I don't want to live there.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, um, but the channel of london, I think I believe, is the top visited uh destination in London. So you just really don't miss it off your list. Really go and visit the Tower of London, go early in the morning, get in there as soon as it opens so you get straight in to see the crown jewels. Because, believe me, the queues to go and see the crown jewels I've got video of it and it just goes on and on and on all these like queues of people waiting to see the crown jewels. So've got video of it and it just goes on and on and on all these like queues of people waiting to see the crown jewel. So so go in there first and get straight in to see the crown jewels and then and then explore and enjoy it. I have visited the channel of london 30, 40 I I honestly don't know how many times. I couldn't count and I love it every single time. It's just an amazing place an iconic destination.

Speaker 2:

It's one that you have to have on your list, isn't it? When you go to London?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Okay, next one. What is your favourite cathedral or church? I know we've got some really stunning architecture in London. Where's your favourite?

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, st Paul's is a close second, so shout out to St Paul's Cathedral. But kind of westminster abbey, kind of. For me is just it's I don't know. It's so beautiful inside, it's, it's so incredibly historic. You just, I don't know, wandering around and looking at the people who are buried there is amazing if you can get up to go and see the, um, the queen's jubilee gallery I don't know if it's been changed to king's jubilee gallery, but anyway, if you get a chance to go up there, do, because that is, that is amazing and it's all these treasures that you can have a look at. You're not allowed to take any photos, but it's incredible and you can see where Queen Elizabeth I was buried, where her sister Mary, who was queen before her, was buried Interesting underneath again, kind of asserting Queen Elizabeth I's superiority over her sister.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's just a fascinating, amazing, amazing place to visit and so historic. And honestly, again, westminster Abbey I have been in there so many times. I just like to explore it just to feel the history in that place. Now I've taken loads and loads of tours of westminster abbey and I learned something new every time. Probably don't retain that knowledge as I get older. Things don't seem to stick as much in my brain, um, but I go in there and and every time just learn something new, take more photographs of a different spot that I hadn't seen before. Um, yeah, it's just fantastic, so, honestly. Westminster Abbey again another iconic destination that you really shouldn't miss off your.

Speaker 2:

I feel like every item on this list is going to be so missed, so you might need to be planning a long trip. So what's your favorite palace?

Speaker 1:

okay. Well, I guess maybe people are expecting me to say Buckingham Palace, and Buckingham Palace is really cool. And I was lucky enough a couple years ago to do a small group tour of Buckingham Palace, and Buckingham Palace is really cool. And I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to do a small group tour of Buckingham Palace which kind of did blow my mind a bit. It was actually just before the King's coronation and it was really interesting because it was all set up. They were practicing, charles and Camilla were practicing and it was all set up so you could see how they kind of replicated Westminster Abbey so they could practice at all, um, so that was really cool.

Speaker 1:

But I really have a soft spot for Hampton Court Palace. Um, I worked a lot, a lot that way southern, southern kind of London, um, and it was. I was very close to Hampton Court Palace. I used to go quite often at weekend when I was off um, and I also used to quilt. So this is a very bit of a side story, but I used to quilt and there's a quilting shop I don't know if it's still there which is kind of opposite hampton court palace, so I used to go and buy my fat quarters. If you're a quilter, you know what I'm talking about. I'd go and buy all my materials and all my bits of supplies to make my quilt and then I'd go into palace and have a wander around and it's really good at any time of year, um, but you've got the people dressed up and you know it's Henry VIII or any of his wives, and it's just.

Speaker 1:

It's a very interesting palace to go and visit. The gardens are also amazing. So, yeah, I just go in. Actually, the last time I went was the first time I went into the tennis courts. I've not done that before because, again, there's lots to see and learn about there, so I guess that's my favorite one. It's also you know, it's not hard to get to. We do have an article on the website about how to get to hampton court palace and actually doug's going to put a video on our youtube channel as well. So if you're thinking about adding hampton court palace into your itinerary, uh, do check out our youtube channel as well and the website, because we have got instructions. But, yeah, you can spend a whole day there and it's great for kids as well because there's people dressed up. You go in the great hall and there's like I don't know, it's just a lot of fun. The kitchen, the kitchens are amazing, um yeah, so, so yeah go to Hampton Court Palace.

Speaker 2:

I'll have to add that to my list. I've never been before okay, I'm adding to my own list as we go. So, museums there's so many amazing museums in London, and I know which one you're going to say, because you talk about this museum all the time.

Speaker 1:

But what is your favorite museum? Well, yeah, if you listen to the podcast, you kind of know what I'm going to say. And actually we will do a podcast episode about our favorite museums in London, because there are so many and actually there's some that I have not been to yet. Um so and I know Doug would say, the London Transport Museum would be his top favorite museum, for sure but, um, mine is the V&A.

Speaker 1:

Unsurprisingly, um, every time I go to London I schedule a day at the V&A. Um, the cast courts. I just can sit and have done and I've said this before, I will sit in the cast courts for hours and just I love it. I just love the cast courts. I think just can sit and have done and I've said this before, I will sit in the cast courts for hours and just I love it. I just love the cast courts. I think they're amazing.

Speaker 1:

If you don't know what they are, you're going to have to look on the show notes to find out or have a look on the V&A website. Yeah, I'll share some photos. But also, the cafe at the V&A is amazing. It's the Art Deco and I love Art Deco and it was the first museum cafe in the world when it opened in the 1920s. Um, it's beautiful, it really is beautiful and, honestly, photos don't don't do it justice. So, if you go to the V&A, definitely go to Cascades, definitely go and have a cup of tea or afternoon tea in the in the cafe. But there is a lot more to the vna than I always talk about. There's fashion through the ages, there's jewelry, there's, there's a lot. There's just so much to it you can spend hours and hours in there

Speaker 1:

absolutely, absolutely and, um, I need to probably get out of the habit just sitting myself in the cascades. There's also bits where they've got um bits of buildings which I just love as well. So like staircase from france I think it's like 1600s or whatever and I just I just love it. Or shop fronts from London, you know, from a couple hundred years ago, and you look at these and you're thinking, I don't know. You look at the photos of when they're in situ. I'm so glad they saved them Because it kind of, you know, you wander around London and, yes, there's a lot of ancient and old things in london.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely it's not historic, but obviously a lot of things. You know, living in london a couple hundred years ago, it was different. It was a lot of there was a poverty, there were a lot of um slums, and so you know, you can see how some of those areas were so crowded and you can see how the buildings and the shops were and you can look at the pictures and I think it puts it into perspective. So go to the V&A, absolutely go to the V&A. If you've got kids, take them to the Science Museum.

Speaker 2:

Science.

Speaker 1:

Museum. I love, I love going to that.

Speaker 2:

My kids love it, my nephews love it. It's a great place to go.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then the Natural History Museum. So you've got three fantastic museums all in a row. Really, it's just fantastic. You can spend. I would say don't plant, do all three in one day you can't.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's so much walking. So much fun, though, like plan a few days to do museums for sure.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so yeah, V&A every day, all day for me.

Speaker 2:

Right, what's your favourite statue or public artwork in London? I know there's lots of statues all around oh, there are lots of serious ones.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to be serious because I'm going to say Paddington Bear, paddington Station. You were going to say that I see pictures of you with your Paddingtons. Yeah, well, if you've seen on Instagram, I've been traveling the UK with Paddington, um, so I had a great photo taken sitting next to Paddington, actually in Edinburgh earlier this year, which just makes great sticker. So Paddington and I have been traveling on lots of destinations around the UK and people have been guessing where we've been, and we've been all the way, from far north Scotland all the way down to the southern part of Cornwall. So go and check out Instagram if you want to check out where Paddington and I have been traveling to. But the Paddington statue is so iconic, it's so cool. Um, you know it's on platform one and everybody wants to photo take with Paddington, surely. Oh, who wouldn't?

Speaker 2:

love Paddington. So what is your favorite theater or performance venue? I know London is pretty iconic for shows and live theater, where where would be your favorite?

Speaker 1:

well, to be honest, it's actually quite a while since I've been to the theater. I was thinking this the other day, and every time I go to london I'm gonna. I say I'm gonna go and see a show, and then don't because we just don't have time. Um, so the last time I think I saw a show was wicked, which was fantastic. So there's lots and lots of different theaters to choose from, but I'm going to choose the globe Theatre. Now, ironically, I have not seen a play in the Globe itself. I just haven't managed to get tickets, or I haven't had. I think there was tickets, but they were restricted view and I was like I really don't want to do that. So what I did last year? Actually, I had a London pass which gives you entry into the Globe and a tour, so I actually went in and had a look.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness, it blew my mind so honestly. That is now high on my list of things to do.

Speaker 1:

I would love to go and see your show there. That would be incredible, incredible, it's absolutely incredible. You've just got to pick whichever show it is, whichever Shakespearean play it is on that appeals to you, and then just book it and go and see it. So even if I get restricted view next time, I'm going because it's just amazing just last year having that tour actually yeah, it was last year, last, I think October it it being in there was incredible. It is a and it's not quite on the actual original globe um venue. It's like it's been. It's moved slightly along because where I think where actually was this house is on it now, but it's as close as possible where they could get it. Um, but honestly, it's amazing, oh, that would get me so excited.

Speaker 2:

The atmosphere must be amazing in there. I'd love to do that. What is your favorite bridge in london?

Speaker 1:

oh well, tower bridge. You have to say tower bridge, don't you? Which is really funny, because a lot of people call it london bridge and get confused. Um, so tower bridge, you'll, you'll. Tower bridge is the famous one that you see pictures of. Please call it tower Bridge, not London Bridge. Um, but you know, until I was probably about 12 or 13, I thought it was London Bridge. It's one of those things that you kind of let actually know it's Tower Bridge, so I think it's right next to the Tower of London.

Speaker 2:

Even coming from the UK, we still all grew up thinking it was the wrong name.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely so, and in fact the original London Bridge was sold, I think, ins. It's actually somewhere in the United States now. I do have, though, a photo. Now I inherited a book from my great-great-grandfather from the early 1900s, so this book's 130 years old actually, and it has photos from around the world from the 1800s, and it has a photo of London Bridge, london Bridge, not Tower Bridge, london Bridge, um, with with all the carriages going over. It looks fantastic, so I will actually put a picture of that in the show notes. But that's fascinating just to see, um. But yes, tower Bridge, I mean if you see the, now the it's called Bascules. But I mean, of course, if you see that the things lift, if you see the bridge lift you can actually look yeah, the lifty bit um, it's amazing to see that uh happen and you can actually check.

Speaker 1:

There's a website and I'll put that link is on the show notes where you can check when, when it's due to lift um, because it is amazing sight to see, yeah, when they do that um. So, yeah, absolutely get them, get a bus over it, walk over it, take some pictures with it in the background. It's really iconic. Um, it's really funny because I have I'm a real fan of Robert Wagner I shouldn't be saying this in the podcast, but I used to love Heart to Heart in the 1980s, giving my age away again and there's an amazing episode with him and stephanie powers and they're on holiday in london and there's tower bridge behind them. It's, it's such an iconic thing. So get your photograph, get your photo with tower bridge behind you oh, that's cool.

Speaker 2:

So what is your favorite?

Speaker 1:

london borough oh yeah, interesting question because obviously westminster has everything, um, you know, it's got, it's got all the iconic kind of you know parliament palaces. It's amazing. But I'm going to mention Greenwich because I really like Greenwich. I've gone a bit Because a lot of people don't go to Greenwich.

Speaker 2:

I've never been, have you not? No, I still have to visit London so many times and I've never been.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's really interesting. People don't think about going to Greenwich and I would honestly say jump on an Uber boat and get yourself along to Greenwich. It's fabulous If you're there in the summer or it's a warm day. Take a picnic, sit in Greenwich Park, enjoy the views. There's so much to see and do in Greenwich. Take a whole day. Honestly, I honestly don't understand why more people don't go there. It's the most wonderful spot. I will share a link to our one-day itinerary for Greenwich, which is on the website. So I'll put that in the show notes because, yeah, if you haven't considered going to Greenwich, Put it on your radar, Go to Greenwich.

Speaker 1:

In fact, if you work for Visit Greenwich, come on the podcast and advertise, talk about Greenwich to everybody and tell them why they should come and visit. Don't leave it to me to do it. You come and you tell everybody why Greenwich is fantastic, because it really has so much. There's so much to do and see. From the painted gallery, obviously, you can go to the Greenwich Observatory and stand on the meridian. I mean you can have a foot in different hemispheres. It's just great and it's so historic as well. Yeah, so add that in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I'll add it to my list as well. As I say, coming from the UK, we take day trips to London, so you tend to be just kind of going around the iconic locations just on a day trip. But I think when you're planning a few days there, then you've got more scope to kind of really expand and do so many of these different trips. So give me loads of really good ideas for my next travels. Excellent, um, this is a slightly quicker one. What's your favorite underground station? Have you got a favorite underground station?

Speaker 1:

yeah, no, it's a funny question that one. But, um, actually, yes, I do, which is gonna sound crazy. Um, it's westminster station, because when you come out of westminster station you come up the steps and right in front you've got big ben. Uh, you know, has a parliament, big ben, it's just so iconic. It's such an iconic thing. You come out, that's it. You can actually, if you stand outside the station, you can watch people come up the steps and the faces, uh, because there's just big ben in front of you and it it's fantastic. So, yeah, it's an interesting. It's a very deep station because if you're catching different tube lines, you can have a lot of escalators down. But when you come up and you come out into the lights from the tube station, yeah, you'll see exactly what I mean that sounds good.

Speaker 2:

So what's your favourite library or reading spot in London?

Speaker 1:

British Library Hands down. British Library, yeah, I mean, go and see the treasures at the British Library. Incredible, absolutely incredible. You can see, honestly, the things that you can see there, from Jane Austen to the Beatles, you know the Lindisfarne Gospels it's just fabulous, absolutely fabulous. Give yourself some time, go and have a look at the treasures of the British Library. That was one of the things that actually I've only discovered in the last maybe three or four years, over the first time that I went there. And again, it's somewhere that if I get back to London soon it'll be high on my list to go back and have another good look around, because it's fabulous, absolutely fantastic to go back and have another good look around because it's fabulous, absolutely fantastic. So definitely go and have a look.

Speaker 2:

It's sounding like you need to plan a month in London at least to fit all of this stuff in At least.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, I was there last year planning to do so much. I had so many plans of what I was going to do this, this, this, this, this, this. I overplanned, even I overplanned over planned, and I didn't get anywhere near as much as I wanted to do. So you know, but there's always next to go back to London exactly, exactly what's your favorite park in London?

Speaker 1:

yeah, we're going to talk about parks, gardens and streets now, which is an interesting kind of category, isn't it? So? Favorite park, I guess St James's Park, mainly because you can stand on the bridge and you get a fantastic view of Buckingham Palace, but you also get a view of the London Eye. Now, I know the London Eye is one of those divisive kind of people love it or hate it. I love the London Eye.

Speaker 2:

I really, I love it.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, no no, I've heard I've heard people say about it and say it's an eyesore and blah, blah, blah. Actually I, I really like the London Eye. I go on the London Eye every time I go back to London. The views you get from the London Eye are fabulous. I'll probably talk about that in another episode, maybe next week or the following week for experiences. But yeah, so you get a great view and you get great photos because you've got Buckingham Palace behind you and you've got then the London Eye in front of you. So probably, yeah, probably that park and obviously, if you go in spring, you've got the lovely flower beds and there's also pelicans in that park as well that you can check out. Um, so yeah, but there's, there's so many parks, I guess it's really interesting, the ones that I hear about. People always touch me at hyde park and I've yet to be succumbed by hyde park. I'm like my kids, like all the squirrels yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 1:

It certainly wouldn't be my top place to recommend and go.

Speaker 2:

I'm like, yeah, if you want to walk through, yeah, fine, and kensington gardens is nice, there's lots of nice parks to go to, but, um, yeah, st james's, because I feel like I'm going from somewhere to somewhere I was just going to say, when you've come out of a museum, it's quite nice to go into a park just to kind of have a bit of downtime and a bit of a sit down in the grass oh, I don't do that very often.

Speaker 1:

I go to greenwich for that so what's your favorite gardens?

Speaker 1:

Q gardens has to be cute, isn't it? Um, and I have an attachment to Q really, because I used to live when I gave birth to my daughter. Um, he was nearly 30. I actually did live in London at that time. Um, she was born in London and I used to take the Q gardens and I've got some beautiful.

Speaker 1:

I want to see some of my favorite pictures, beautiful pictures of me and Dominique when she was a baby walking around Kew Gardens. I've actually got a picture with I've got it on my shoulders, so I don't know how old she was, maybe about eight months old and it was just a great place for us just to wander around. So I tried to get back. Kew again is somewhere I tried to get back to because it's just so lovely and there's so much to see there.

Speaker 1:

And, um, yeah, I think the last time actually I went, I went for the christmas trail lights that doug and I did that. I think that might have been last year actually, and that was that was amazing as well. So we get opportunity to book that. Do that because that's if the weather's great, which we had fabulous weather, thank goodness. Uh, that was a really lovely evening, but it's lovely to stroll around in the day. If it's a nice day, it's just beautiful again the spring, the flowers, the different um glass houses you can go into, yeah, fabulous, so highly recommend Kew yeah so there are green spaces to enjoy in between all of the hectic kind of stuff that you're doing.

Speaker 2:

What are your favorite hidden green spaces in London?

Speaker 1:

Well, I'd heard of this one and I actually only made it there in. I think it was end of January this year. So I was in Edinburgh at the time, took the train down, actually took the Caledon no, I took the Caledon Stoop back up to Scotland. I took the train down to London and was staying in the St Paul's area and I heard about Postman's Park and I'd read about it and I thought, well, it's not very far away.

Speaker 1:

So I went and had an explore and it's basically there's a memorial wall there to people in the 1800s who did heroic acts like saved people from a fire or from under the hooves of a, of a, of a carriage that you know a horse from a carriage. There's all sorts of like. It's incredible and there's like tiles and it's a really peaceful little park. So I sat there there, really enjoyed that. I'll put some. I will put some pictures of that in in the show notes as well and it's on our if you have our London map as well, you can check out. I've got a little video which I'll add into that as well and some photos from what I'm having a look around Postman's Park. But yeah, very interesting, very poignant. It's one of those kind of hidden gems that not a lot of people visit or know about. But if you're in that area, I would 100% recommend that you do that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've heard the name of the place before but I had no idea what it was there. So that's interesting. So if you were looking for kind of a nice street to wander around, mooch about, just kind of potter around, where would your favorite street?

Speaker 1:

be Probably an area I guess in streets is Covent Garden. I mean again, another incredibly historic area. You know it wasn't the area that it is now, it wasn't quite as salubrious in times gone past. But Covent Garden and I know people will say, oh, it's really touristy, but you know there's wonderful street performers there. Um, go and support the street performers that there are, you know, that are in that area as well. There's fantastic places to eat. Um, there's some fantastic cafes. It's this I love covent garden. I love covent garden at any time of year, to be honest. Um, so I would say again, it's an area that we enjoy staying in, actually, in that Covent Garden Holborn area, because you've got the theatres, you've got Covent Garden, you've got there's just always a lot going on and it's a very, I think, family-friendly as well area. So, definitely Covent Garden. It does get incredibly busy, though. I will just say that Covent Garden it does get incredibly busy, though I will just say that especially at weekends in the summer and Christmas is crazy there. But yeah, fabulous, fabulous area.

Speaker 2:

So what's your favourite colourful street if you're looking for somewhere for some pretty photographs, Notting Hill.

Speaker 1:

I had a wonderful photo shoot there a couple of years ago with Domi from Scaling Studio and they're some of my favorite, favorite photos that I've ever had taken. I'm not I don't think I'm the most photographic photogenic is that the word Photogenic of people but she took the most amazing photos that I'm really proud to share. And I mean honestly, I don't think you can have a bad photo in Notting Hill because, oh, pastel colored houses, just you just have to remember to be respectful because obviously these are people's houses they live in. So if they've asked you not to take a photo outside, don't, obviously don't kind of go on onto the steps and things like that, stay outside. But it's a stunning area and if you go in the beginning of May, end of April, beginning of May, you've got the wisteria. Oh my goodness, I've got some beautiful wisteria photos as well and actually the I was there, I think, also blossom season, the cherry blossom. So I've got some beautiful wisteria photos as well and actually I was there also blossom season, the cherry blossom, so I've got some gorgeous pictures of the cherry blossom. So it's a gorgeous area I've got actually in our London map there is a walk-in tour that you can take of Notting Hill as well that we wrote.

Speaker 1:

So that's good, wonderful, because it's actually not as easy as you think to find all the different streets with the pretty houses on it. So we put like a little walk-in guide and it's on the map so you can access that. Um. Yeah, so you can know what to follow to get the best of Notting Hill, because actually it's a it can be quite a lot of walk-in, um, but you want to make sure when you do it that you get all those really pretty streets and houses and those iconic photos, because it really is, and obviously the blue door yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2:

Now we talked about how busy London can get. It can get really crowded in weekends and in summertime and at Christmas time. What are your favorite places to go to escape the crowds?

Speaker 1:

and well, in the city of London you've got St John's in the east, which is the remnants of a bombed church. It was actually a Sir Christopher Wren church, but it was bombed in World War II and they left the building behind what was left and it's now a park, a little tiny park, and it's got benches and you'll see, actually a lot of people who work in the city will go and take the sandwiches and go and sit there. So that's absolutely fabulous for photos as well. But it's also a really kind of peaceful place to go and just sit and reflect and and you have some lunch, go to boots or or um marks and spencers or wherever tesco, go and get your sandwiches and head down to go and sit in st dunstan's in the east.

Speaker 1:

It's beautiful. Honestly, it's a very peaceful spot yeah, that sounds good.

Speaker 2:

What's your favorite place that surprised you the most?

Speaker 1:

oh, I guess the league street tunnels. Now I stayed in near waterloo um a couple years ago and we're right beside the tunnels, so um went to have a wander around and there's just, and I've left. I've left my own graffiti. You're allowed to. I've never heard of this place.

Speaker 1:

Ah, okay, so basically it's um just long tunnels and they're absolutely covered in graffiti and street art, but fantastic, fabulously beautiful, honestly very colorful. There's some lovely art in there changes all the time, um, but go there. If your kids are interested in kind of, you know, street art and that sort of stuff, they go and you can actually do a little bit tag yourself. I think doug and I wrote our names and did our tag UK travel planning. Actually, we did a tour with Discovery of London and we went there and we left our tag there. We had some, luckily had some spray cans and we did that. So that was really fun and it's always been kind of redone, but it's just a really cool place to go and explore. Um, so definitely, if you're in that area, go, definitely go and have a look and if you've got kids that interest in that, go and have a walk around because you'll get some lovely photos really really lovely photos yeah absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Your kids would love it honestly karen definitely add it in. I'll add it to my next list definitely it's getting longer.

Speaker 2:

So what's your favorite place to have a photo shoot? There's just so many places in London to have iconic photo shoots, but what's your favorite?

Speaker 1:

uh, or Notting Hill, it's going to be Notting Hill. I've had lots of actually. I have had a lot of photo shoots actually with with um Scaling Studio, and my favorite is still a Notting Hill. Um, though, doug and I had some fabulous photos taken at Westminster at the Red Phone Box. There's a few Red Phone Boxes there and you just get that iconic shot Red Phone Box, big Ben in the background.

Speaker 2:

I was just going to say you've got to have Big Ben.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I guess those are the most iconic photos that we've had and they are lovely. So I would say yeah, either that if you come out of Westminster Tube and turn right, you'll see a few phone boxes. Don't go for the first one, because everybody will be at the first one. Keep going, there's more phone boxes and get your photo then with Big Ben. Yeah, so I guess that there are so many amazing places to take photos in London.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure. Now what is your favorite place to go to get the best London view?

Speaker 1:

London Eye, you know, and I've got an article about this because obviously you can go to the Shard, you can go to the Sky Garden, you can go. There's quite a few places now where you can go and get good views. Sky Garden's free, so that's always a cool one to do. But the London Eye gives you a different perspective and I think what's interesting about the London Eye is, yes, you get a great view of the House of Parliament, you get a great view of Big Ben, elizabeth Tower I know somebody's out there going on Elizabeth Tower Tracy yes, I know. But you also get a fantastic view of the river itself and see how it curves around and how London's grown around the river. And yeah, I just think it's one of those iconic experiences.

Speaker 1:

Really, do London Eye. Don't get put off by people on YouTube or on TikTok saying don't do the London Eye. Honestly, it's worth it. And also, I think you know they also miss the point of London. London is a city that's constantly evolving, so the new and the old sit next to each other and that's fine, that is okay and that makes London so to me it's not an eyesore and actually it's been around for a really long time now, so it really is part of London.

Speaker 2:

It's not like it's a new attraction that's just opened.

Speaker 1:

It's been there for a long time, no it's part of the London skyline, is part of London, it's part of the history of London, um, and there's nothing wrong with that. I love that, and so I, you know, encourage you to go on the London Eye, take the photos, enjoy the views, because they are spectacular.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure and back on the topic of views. Where's your favorite rooftop bar?

Speaker 1:

yes, you know what? I was pondering this because somebody asked this in the group and I was kind of like you know what? I don't really think I have one. Um, now you can. There is the, the bar at the Sky Garden, so you can get a drink there, um, but I think this is something I need to research further sounds like some cocktails and dinners, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

So when I saw this question, I was kind of like you know what? I don't think that I can answer this fully. Therefore, this is one of the questions that I am going to do some research and come back and answer. It's a hard life for somebody if you need any help yeah, absolutely yeah, so what's your favorite riverside walk?

Speaker 1:

uh, yeah, I guess, from westminster. Whichever way you want to do it, westminster, um, south bank, um, so you can start from, uh, south bank and then walk all the way down the tower bridge. Now I used to again when dominique was little, when she was a little baby, used to take her for little strolls along there and you've got the house of parliament and that's just a lovely walk down south bank. And, yes, and it can take longer than you think, because I was actually at saint paul's last year and had to get to, um, the london eye because I had a slot and it took me longer than I thought. So I even I was like, well, this isn't longer than I thought it was going to take, because it was really busy, um, and I hadn't kind of timed it right.

Speaker 1:

So it is a long. It is a fairly long walk. It's a long time since I've done that entire walk, um, but yeah, it's a really good walk. In fact I would I'd say my favorite would be to do that start from Westminster Bridge, walk down, cross over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's, because then you've got the fantastic view of St Paul's. So probably that actually I would say just that that particular. And you've got the globe theater on the right hand side, um, got the tape modern, and then you've got the same pool. So that's a nice walk, that one.

Speaker 2:

So I do that, yeah what's your favorite spot for people watching?

Speaker 1:

common garden. Now I'm down common garden, um, you know what the best place to stand in common garden people watch is like is in, um, one of the oh, what do you call it? Like one of the sunken. There's a sunken area where you've got all the cafe like a big cafe, and often there's people um playing classical music or singing, and that's a great place because people are sitting like having their drinks and you can look, look down and listen to the music and uh, yeah, it's amazing. It's in kind of one of the I don't know what you call like one of the area internal areas of common garden itself, um, so, yeah, I would say there and that's really lovely at christmas as well, because there's always so much going on and it's beautifully decorated um, but I, we also like just sitting down there having it, having a drink as well, and just people watch, yeah, yeah, and in the summer as well, they did it.

Speaker 1:

When I think about it, there's like a pop-up Pimms tent when it was during, um uh, wimbledon and I sat outside on this deck chair with my Pimms and just watched a bit of tennis and watched the people. It was great.

Speaker 2:

It was great so what's your favorite secret photo spot? We've talked about notting hill. Everyone goes notting hill. Everyone goes for your big ben spots and your red phone boxes. But what's your best secret photo spot?

Speaker 1:

um, well, I would say the. The view from the greenwich observatory is amazing, um, you get down to canary wharf and that is I've seen that develop over the years because canary wharf has grown and that gives you. You get a fabulous view down um towards the naval college and you've got um the the queen's house, and it's um, yeah, just a great view. I've got some beautiful photos of that, another one actually, and talking about um, some I kind of lesser known and probably dummy from scale as you.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if I'm allowed to share this, but I'm going to um is to go to shad thames, which is actually opposite the Tower of London, and this is an area that was a dock plant but it's not anymore. Other very, very expensive apartments in that area, but you get a fantastic, it's amazing street for a start off if you walk along. But you also get a fabulous views of Tower Bridge, so you can take really good photos from that side. And also, shad Thames itself is so historic and a lot of people don't know about it or even go. So if you go to the Tower of London and you're walking across Tower Bridge, head left and go to Shad Thames and get some other fabulous photos from there.

Speaker 2:

That sounds good. What would be your favourite evening view spot?

Speaker 1:

Ah, now, easy, this one Westminster Bridge. I was there, south Bank, looking towards Westminster Bridge and the House of Parliament. I was there in I think it was on my own. Actually, I think it was before Doug came back last year. I was there, I'd gone to look at some Christmas lights and I've got some of the most beautiful photos. I will say this about my own photos, but they are the most beautiful photos. I will say this about my own photos, but they are most beautiful photos I've ever taken and the light is like a purple and blue and you've got Westminster Bridge and then you've got Big Ben and the House of Parliament, and they are I'm not I sound like I'm a big head here, but they are stunning photos.

Speaker 1:

They're absolutely. I'll show you in a minute, karen.

Speaker 2:

But I will put them for everybody else. I'm going to put them in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

But fantastic, actually it wasn't. It was it'd gone dark, but it was just. They're amazing. So those are my favorite photos I've ever taken sounds good.

Speaker 2:

Right now we're moving into kind of doug's realm here a little bit. We'll talk a little bit about transport. What's your favorite train?

Speaker 1:

station, ah, st pancras um, it's beautiful.

Speaker 2:

It absolutely is a beautiful train station.

Speaker 1:

The architecture is incredible yeah, I just love it. And you've got the Tracy MN sign as well. When you come off, when you get on the train or off the train, you get an Eurostar, which is amazing to see. There's some beautiful statues as well to look at. It's just a fantastic station. There's some great shops in there. If you want to go upstairs, there's I think it's a oyster bar, champagne bar I should know. I've never eaten there. So if you want to, if you actually want to give me an invite, I'll come and test it.

Speaker 1:

There's some great places to eat, but it's, you know, I just it's a beautiful station, but I also I am going to mention in second place is King's Cross. Now King's Cross when I used to go, when I was working in London in the 80s, at that point I used to go and stay with. Now my daughter's got parents and they live north of London, so I used to have to go to King's Cross Station. Now, king's Cross in the 80s was not a place you wanted to spend much time. It really had a bad reputation.

Speaker 1:

King's Cross station itself was awful and I used to have to walk through the station and the trains that I would have to catch the platforms. You had to kind of walk across this concrete into like this I don't know what you call it like building. And then there was the other two lines that I would catch to go and see them and it was awful. It was just just the really really horrible station. Now it's beautiful in there. That's all been covered over, so there's none of this walking outside to go to those two platforms, because obviously they're still there. The train lines are still there, um, but it's just been really beautifully done, the the whole. I don't know if you've seen. Have you seen?

Speaker 1:

it yeah it's lovely Like you just look up and the architecture, they see it just really, really, really pretty. They've done such a good job of it, and especially if you can remember what it used to be like. Um, so a big shout out to keen scots, because it honestly looks a lot better than it used to and it's actually quite pretty now there you go.

Speaker 2:

I haven't been there for many, many years, so, yeah, I'll have to check that out on my next trip. So what's your favorite market?

Speaker 1:

in London. Okay, well, again, there's so many markets and I don't know if I'm going to be controversial if I say borough market, because I know how incredibly busy it can be and I know that people have said they've lasted about 10 minutes and left it because it is so crowded. So, just be aware, on a Saturday and Sunday in the run up to Christmas, during the popular touristy timeurday, and sunday in the run-up to christmas during the popular touristy time, it's like in the summer, it's incredibly busy. Um, but again it's in. It's a very historic area around borough market and I I've done there's an ultimate food tour with walks and devour of that area and you learn about the kind of area that that borough market is in and the history of it is actually quite fascinating. But there's also some really good food. So I'm gonna just say that, um, history, yep, tick that box absolutely, really really good food and my favorite place for one particular dish that I really enjoy is in borough market and I really enjoy raclette um.

Speaker 1:

So I lived in in France and I lived in Switzerland for a bit, so it's basically cheese that's melted onto um potatoes like new potatoes, and then you have it with pickles. Now I'm I love pickles. I mean, I was talking about this to a friend of mine the other day.

Speaker 2:

I have emergency jars of pickles in my cupboard this sounds like a place my husband has to go to because he's obsessed with cheese and he's obsessed with pickles.

Speaker 1:

Well, he would love it, he would love it. So capocasin at the borough market, absolutely everybody goes for the toasted sandwiches, and I think that's because of tiktok I reckon it was one of those tiktok things and I'm like I don't stand in that line. I get the raclette, and I honestly would say, if you're going to go get the raclette, seriously it's just delicious. They're not open every day, though, so you need to just check if they're going to be in the market.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely oh well, that's been amazing. We've I've got so many new places to add to my list, and there's just so much to explore in London, so I'm looking forward to going back again soon well, I'm so glad.

Speaker 1:

Well, those are kind of cover the different, the places that I really like. Honestly, there's so many other places I wanted to talk about, like historic, like palace, like you know, like I don't know, kensington Palace.

Speaker 2:

I just want to talk about that let's be honest, we can chat for a long time when we get going, and you know what I feel bad for the ones I've missed out, because I'm thinking, oh, I want it, so it.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, there's, there's. There's so much to do and see. There's so much on our London travel planning website, so go and check that out, please. Go and have a look at our articles. Go on our YouTube channel as well, because we'll put more and more videos on there of the different places that we'll talk about. Yeah, join our Facebook group. We've got a London travel planning Facebook group as well as the UK Facebook group as well, so come and join there. Come and chat about London. Come and tell us tell us, firespeak Pipe where's your favorite places in London. I want to know what are your where you know, what would you have chosen? Because I'm actually going to share this in the Facebook group after this episode has gone out. I'm going to list the places I chose and then I'm going to get people to fill in, and I'm going to put it on Instagram as well, so you can fill in and tell me what your favorite places are, just to give us some more places to add to our list.

Speaker 1:

well, I can guarantee there's going to be so many different variations because everybody goes and has different experiences, they have different interests, but anyway those are mine. That that is part one. So if you want to have a look at any photos that are places that I've talked about, go and check out the show notes at uk travel planning, dotningcom forward slash, episode 165. As I say, leave us a message on Speakpipe. I want to hear what you've got to say about London and your favorite places and in two weeks join us where we're going to talk about and I'm going to share my favorite London experiences. So Karen's going to be joining me again to talk to me for that episode, but for this one, thanks so much, karen.

Speaker 1:

You're very welcome and thank you for chatting to me and telling me all about all your favorite places in london. Yeah, well, I think, before we'd sign off, I think it's going to be, oh, and I will usually end with a one question, isn't it? What would the one place be that for somebody going to london for the first time and I have to add it in, I've just thought about this myself because I always ended the podcast with it, and I've just thought about it Tower of London. Go to the Tower of London, absolutely 100%. Do not miss that off your list and don't tell me you just saw it from the outside. Go inside the Tower of London, please. Thank you, but that just leaves me and Karen to say until next week, happy UK travel planning.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK travel planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning.