Quirky Travel Guide

Giant Water Lilies

These giant water lilies are so big, children used to be able to sit on them. But health and safety regulations say you're not allowed to do that any more. The giant water lilies can be found at Kew Gardens, which is well worth a visit. The tropical

Quirky Travel Guide

Elephant Springs

One sunny day, blisteringly hot day actually, I searched for places to cool off in London and found this, the new Elephant Springs. An artificial stream with rock pools and fountains. A wonderful place to cool off, and a brilliant idea by the property developers redeveloping this area in Elephant

Quirky Travel Guide

Sky Pool

The Sky Pool straddles two tower blocks, while families below look up excitedly knowing they could never afford to swim there. While I was there a man seemed to be quite happily swimming backwards and forwards, doing laps between the buildings. Which seems a better idea, using it for exercise,

Quirky Travel Guide

Crossrail Roof Garden

What I hadn’t expected was the birds singing in chorus and flying through this inside outside space. 0:00 /0:01 1× The whole place under the arches of this geodesic dome reminds me of a sci-fi future depicted in films like Silent Running. One day I popped

Quirky Travel Guide

Greenland Dock

This photo says it all. For more local ways of South London see the Stone Circle. The Ecology Park is nearby and a lovely walk leads there under the road following the path of an old canal. There’s also a water sports centre here. In my experience it’s

Quirky Travel Guide

Forest Hill

Despite the name it’s more of a grassy hill with one or two trees but not a forest. Ironically, nearby One Tree Hill, has a lot more than one tree, it is a forest, on a hill. Very confusing. 😖 Update/correction: Although Forest Hill is the nearest Station, turns

Quirky Travel Guide

Inkspot Brewery

Occasionally you can have a piss-up at a Brewery here. They sell St. Reatham Lager for £5/pint (2020.) Google them first because they only open once in a blue moon when the beer is brewed. The Mulberry Sour beer is recommended. Sadly I forgot to go back to

Quirky Travel Guide

Wildcat Wilderness

When I visited Wildcat Wilderness I didn’t find any Lions, Tigers or Panthers, but there were a lot of wild bramble blackberry bushes. I visited in Summer of 2020 when I, and the world, had been hooked on the ‘Tiger King’ documentary [ad] on Netflix [end ad] while stuck

Quirky Travel Guide

Oak of Honor

One Tree Hill, despite the name, has at least two trees. Because it’s a woodland. The Oak of Honor at the top of the hill was given that name by Queen Victoria after she had a nice nap under it. Who knew Victoria of the Industrial Age was a

Quirky Travel Guide

Big John’s Biltong Bar

When I first moved to South London a stranger in a park said hello. I assumed I was getting mugged. Instead they were actually saying hello. After 10 years in North London. Things are a bit different down South London. Later that day I was jogging up Deptford High street

Quirky Travel Guide

Ecology Park

From the top of Stave Hill Ecology Park you can see the Canary Wharf skyscrapers peeking out of the undergrowth. I’d far rather be here than there. Stave Hill itself looks like somewhere the Teletubbies would live. There's an amazing view from the top. You can see

Quirky Travel Guide

Campfireless

A sort of campfire circle picnicking area but without an actual campfire. The Ecology Park is nearby.

Quirky Travel Guide

Marlowe’s Grave

Sir Christopher Marlowe, the playwright, was stabbed through the eyeball into the brain in a drunken row with a spy friend over the drinks bill in an illegal tavern. But stabbing in South London isn’t reserved to playwrights and spies, these days everyone’s at it. Marlowe, who wrote

Quirky Travel Guide

Blackhorse Bridge

During the 2020 coronavirus covid-19 pandemic they painted a rainbow on Blackhorse bridge to symbolise hope. About the same time the KFC drive through opposite reopened, which also brought hope or despair depending on your viewpoint. There’s a campaign to open a cycle path under the bridge where

Quirky Travel Guide

Greenwich Meridian Line

The Greenwich Meridian Line marks the point where time begins, sort of. The line begins at the Royal Observatory Greenwich which is now a very fine museum. Once I worked at the gate of the museum had to turn away a group of drunk Australians who'd arrived at

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Blackheath

More sky than you’ll find than anywhere else in London. It’s actually on a hill so the ground drops away gradually, creating a feeling of expanse you rarely find in the city. Not a townhouse in sight. Bikers can be found drinking tea at the Tea Hut. Often

Quirky Travel Guide

The Point

Myth has it that there are secret caverns below The Point dug in olden times to hide from the invading Danes. I heard the tunnels extend all the way down to the Thames and were used for smuggling wine by the Navy officers who lived in the picture postcard like

Quirky Travel Guide

Peter The Great

In this statue of Peter The Great, for a tall man, he has an unusually small head. Peter The Great was a Russian Tsar who came to Deptford to study ship building. Like most students, he spent most of the time getting pissed. He brought his mates along for the

Quirky Travel Guide

Old Mulberry Tree

The Old Mulberry Tree is said to have been planted in 1698 by 'Peter The Great', a Russian Tsar who rumouredly came to Britain 300 years ago undercover and worked as a Royal Dockyard worker in Deptford to learn how to build a Navy. Apparently his disguise wasn&

Quirky Travel Guide

Barbican

The Barbican Centre and surrounds are a cross between some dystopian future and the fun house from the 1980s kids program. Your first challenge is finding your way in. The place is very 3D, it's a bit of a labyrinth where the lines are blurred between where the

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Hilly Fields Stone Circle

I found a straw man. Truly terrifying. Country bumpkin ways are alive and well in South London. I found it after doing an Uber Eats bicycle delivery nearby of a breakfast sausage bap. [Ad] £15 off your first Uber sausage bap use code eats-5m789 [Ad end] Earlier in the

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The Albany

This arts centre is my new favourite mid-week lunch spot. There's normally some community event going on in the cafe: old people knitting, unemployed people working on their CVs, yummy mummies feeding babies. That sort of wholesome thing that gets you out of your worrisome head for

Quirky Travel Guide

Eurostar International Arrivals

‘Could this be the most emotional place in London?’ I thought, as piano played while long lost couples embraced each other. Someone had the bright idea of putting a piano at Eurostar International train arrivals in St Pancras Station. Anyone can plonk themselves down and play. The quality is surprisingly

Quirky Travel Guide

Vegan Rasta

Imagine a Rastafarian in a tall turban serving vegan mutton curry. Standing in a shopping centre that feels like one you'd find travelling the world... and you are not far off. The Zionly Vegan Restaurant in Peckham is run by the 'Vegan Rasta' who wears a

Quirky Travel Guide

The Queen’s House

The Queen’s House is an historic museum. In Netflix filming it sometimes doubles-up as a Queen’s House. Please note - this is not the actual last queen Elizabeth the 2nd's house. It's not queen Elizabeth the 1st’s house either, despite it having a