Find places to visit in Britain by name, location, type of attraction, or other keyword.
This listings directory of over 950 entries is being phased out.
It now excludes places and things of interest in North East England.
These can be found in ABAB’s Places.
Places to visit in Yorkshire will be moved to ABAB’s Places during May.
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Liberty is an iconic London store located in a wonderful mock-Tudor building. It is famous for its printed fabrics and slightly exotic wares. The business was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) and its style is often associated with the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements.
The Anaesthesia Museum is part of the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre of the Association of Anaethatists and contains objects relating to the history of anaesthesia. The earliest object in the collection is a resuscitation set of 1774. The museum gives an insight into the history of anaesthesia, resuscitation and pain relief.
Fortnum and Mason is a luxury department store founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Fortnum was a footman in Queen Anne's household and the business was allegedly established on the profits he made from selling partially used royal candles. "Fortnum's" began life as a quality grocery store and, though it has expanded, it is still primarily known for its fabulous speciality foods and luxury hampers.
We are so used to brands these days; some names have actually become part of everyday speech. Here is an unusual museum - the museum of brands, packaging and advertising - a collection of some 12,000 items providing a taste of consumer culture from Victorian times to the present. Something for those with an interest in design, advertising, business in general - or maybe just searching for a bit of nostalgia (it's not what it used to be).
Notting Hill
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a World Heritage Site set in 300 acres beside the River Thames between Richmond and Kew in south-west London. It boasts 6 glasshouses, the great pagoda, a range of landscapes and the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". There is also a large, specialist, library. One highlight of a visit is Kew's Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway which takes visitors underground and then 59 feet (18 metres) high up in the air.
The botanic gardens were founded in 1840, though its roots (pun intended) go back much further, to at least 1759 when Princess Augusta, mother of King George III, established a nine-acre botanic garden within the pleasure grounds at Kew. However, this part of the world has been a bit of a Royal Playground for centuries.
Kew Gardens has its own small police force, the Kew Constabulary, operational since 1847. Entry into the gardens also gives entry to Kew Palace, managed by Historic Royal Palaces. Kew, and the botanic gardens at Wakehurst, Sussex, are managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a government sponsored internationally important botanical research and education institution.
Richmond
Once known as ‘the Dutch House’, Kew Palace is the smallest of all the royal palaces. It was originally built in 1631 as a private house for a wealthy London silk merchant, Samuel Fortrey. George II and Queen Caroline were first attracted to ‘little Kew’, thinking it a perfect lodging for their three eldest daughters. After them, several generations of Georgian royalty used Kew and nearby Richmond Lodge as weekend retreats. George III, Queen Charlotte and their 15 children enjoyed a relatively simple domestic routine at Kew, the palace rang with laughter and fun, however in later years the atmosphere darkened as family rivalries become more intense and relationships soured. Later the house became a refuge for George III, when he fell ill and was thought to have become mad. The King survived being administered powerful emetics and laxatives, freezing baths and leeching. He was also put into a strait-jacket if he refused to co-operate.
Highlights include the princesses’ bedrooms, Queen Charlotte’s bedroom and the kitchens. You can also visit Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, a rustic country retreat in the grounds.
Entry to Kew Palace is included in the ticket price for Kew Gardens.
Kew
Richmond
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851), commonly referred to as J M W Turner, was one of Britain’s greatest painters. In 1813, he built a small brick villa, Sandycombe Lodge, on a large plot near the Thames at Twickenham. Turner designed the house himself, with the help of his friend, John Soane and it could be said that Sandycombe Lodge is his largest artwork. Turner installed his father, Old William, who tended the garden and kept house. The artist used this peaceful spot, with no other buildings nearby, to retreat from the pressures of the London art world, to walk and sketch along the Thames, to fish with one or two close companions, and occasionally to entertain larger groups of friends.
The location is a little more crowded now and much of the old garden has been built over. But the last resident, Professor Livermore, wanted to preserve the house for the nation and this vision has been realised by the Turner’s House Trust, which has restored the property and opened it to the public. It has been furnished and decorated based on the best evidence for how it would have looked in Turner’s day. Some of Turner’s work is on display, along with beautifully crafted models of ships, variations on those which Turner had in the house.
Opening times are limited – it is essential to check the website before travelling.
Photo - Turner's House
40 Sandycoombe Road
St Margarets
Twickenham
The Natural History Museum houses an enormous collection of items and specimens relating to the life and earth sciences: botany (plants); entomology (insects); mineralogy (the properties of minerals); paleontology (ancient life forms and fossils) and zoology (animals). It is renowned for its dinosaur skeletons, which kids adore - and its architecture. It is a national museum and entry is free.
Directly quoting from the V&A's website: "The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance."
Entry is free - this is a national museum.
This is Britain's national museum of science and technology, founded in 1857. Its collections include large and small exhibits, with many hands-on activities. The permanent galleries cover such topics as flight, robotics, space exploration, IT, engineering and medicine (the latter largely helped by the collection of Henry Wellcome). Among its larger items are Stephenson's Rocket, several iconic aircraft and the Apollo 10 Command Module.
South Kensington
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