September 2, 2025 • 45 mins
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
People ask me all the time what are my favourite
places in London.
Well, in this episode I spillthe beans from iconic landmarks
and colourful streets to quietcorners and surprising hidden
gems, and I do promise not tosing.
These are a few of my favouritethings.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracy Collins.
Each week, tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:38):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode
of the UK Travel Plan andPodcast.
I'm very, very excited toactually announce that we have
hit half a million downloads.
Now.
If you are on our Facebookgroup, you'll know that I
announced that a few weeks ago.
It's because I'm actuallyrecording this podcast I think
it's the 20th of August at theminute for a few weeks time, but
we've hit half a million, whichis huge.
Now I want to say a special,special thank you to our
(01:14):
sponsors for sponsoring thepodcast.
The podcast takes a lot of time,effort and actually money to
produce every month, so we areso, so grateful for all the
support that we receive, and tothose of you as well who so
generously went on to tip myguide, the link via the email or
on the bottom of our websiteand left us a tip as well.
Honestly, thank you from thebottom of mine and Doug's heart.
(01:35):
It means so much to us.
Anyway, I'm going to get onwith this episode because I
asked in the Facebook group ifpeople would be interested in me
sharing my favorite places inLondon and I wasn't sure.
I was a bit like we're allgoing to be like no, no, not
that bothered, I didn't knowwhat Tracy enjoys.
But anyway, you all were a bitoverwhelming with your questions
and we've received loads andloads of questions, so we've
(01:56):
actually divided it into twoepisodes.
So this episode 165, and then,in two weeks time, episode 167,.
I'm going to share my favoriteplaces and experiences in London
Now, rather than me droning onfor 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
(02:19):
voice and she does the intros tothe UK Travel Plan podcast and
actually the Global Travel Planpodcast too, because she has a
wonderful, wonderful voice andshe's also very skilled at
interviewing people and is a lotof fun to chat to.
So hi, karen, so nice for youto come on the podcast again.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Oh hey, tracey, thanks for having me back again.
It's always good fun to have achat, and London is such a huge
city and there is so much tolearn about traveling there, so
I'm really looking forward toasking you some questions.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Oh well, I'm enjoying to talk about it, but I will
caveat that with saying I havelived and I have worked in
London and I've spent a lot oftime exploring London, but there
is so much to London that thereare 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 thethings that I've done over the
years, but, honestly, there arealways new things to do and see
(03:09):
in London.
So take that with a caveat.
But this is we're going to gothrough for this episode, my
favourite places.
That's what we're going to kindof focus on, aren't we?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, and there is.
There's so much to see and dothere.
I know I've been lots of timesand there's still so many places
that I haven't been to before,and always new things to
discover, so it'll be reallygood to hear about all of your
favourite spots.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
OK, do you want to?
Do you want to kick us off?
Then, karen, let's kick it off.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So what is your favourite historic spot?
I know your background is ahistory teacher.
Yeah so you're sure to havequite a few of those.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I was.
Yes, I was a history teacherfor a while.
Oh, this is such a hardquestion to answer because,
obviously, london historic spotsthere are so, so many to talk
about but I'm going to choosethe Tower of London and I really
would encourage you, if you'revisiting London, to not say I've
been to the Tower of London andjust see it from the outside.
(04:01):
You can't visit the Tower ofLondon by seeing it from the
outside.
You can't visit the town ofLondon by seeing it from the
outside.
You actually need to go insideand explore it, do it on a tour
or just buy a ticket and go inand explore it and, honestly,
just be blown away by thehistory of this place.
And he was buried there.
He had the head chopped offthere.
It he was.
(04:23):
He was actually imprisonedthere.
Learn about, like, the fact thatit was a zoo.
I mean, who knows that?
You know it was a zoo.
But also, just, you get to seethe yeoman warders or the beef
eaters, um, as they'll be kindof walking around and you can go
and take a photo with them, askthem questions.
Um, there's a free tour as wellwith the yeoman warders if you
do.
Um, some of the tours that I'vedone, some of the vip tours or
(04:45):
walks you get to actually spendsome time with the order and I
absolutely love that because youcan ask them all sorts of
questions because they actuallylive there, um, which I would
not do because it's apparentlyhaunted I hear all this stuff
and it's like I like visitingbut I don't want to live there.
Thank you, um, but the channelof london, I think I believe, is
the top visited uh destinationin London.
(05:06):
So you just really don't missit off your list.
Really go and visit the Towerof London, go early in the
morning, get in there as soon asit opens so you get straight in
to see the crown jewels.
Because, believe me, the queuesto go and see the crown jewels
I've got video of it and it justgoes on and on and on all these
like queues of people waitingto see the crown jewels.
So've got video of it and itjust goes on and on and on all
these like queues of peoplewaiting to see the crown jewel.
(05:27):
So so go in there first and getstraight in to see the crown
jewels and then and then exploreand enjoy it.
I have visited the channel oflondon 30, 40 I I honestly don't
know how many times.
I couldn't count and I love itevery single time.
It's just an amazing place aniconic destination.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's one that you have to have on your list, isn't
it?
When you go to London?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Absolutely absolutely .
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Okay, next one.
What is your favouritecathedral or church?
I know we've got some reallystunning architecture in London.
Where's your favourite?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
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'tknow.
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 thereis amazing if you can get up to
(06:17):
go and see the, um, the queen'sjubilee gallery I don't know if
it's been changed to king'sjubilee gallery, but anyway, if
you get a chance to go up there,do, because that is, that is
amazing and it's all thesetreasures that you can have a
look at.
You're not allowed to take anyphotos, but it's incredible and
you can see where QueenElizabeth I was buried, where
her sister Mary, who was queenbefore her, was buried
(06:38):
Interesting underneath again,kind of asserting Queen
Elizabeth I's superiority overher sister.
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 justto feel the history in that
(07:03):
place.
Now I've taken loads and loadsof tours of westminster abbey
and I learned something newevery time.
Probably don't retain thatknowledge as I get older.
Things don't seem to stick asmuch in my brain, um, but I go
in there and and every time justlearn something new, take more
photographs of a different spotthat I hadn't seen before.
Um, yeah, it's just fantastic,so, honestly.
Westminster Abbey again anothericonic destination that you
(07:26):
really shouldn't miss off your.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I feel like every item on this list is going to be
so missed, so you might need tobe planning a long trip.
So what's your favorite palace?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
okay.
Well, I guess maybe people areexpecting me to say Buckingham
Palace, and Buckingham Palace isreally cool.
And I was lucky enough a coupleyears ago to do a small group
tour of Buckingham Palace, andBuckingham Palace is really cool
.
And I was lucky enough a coupleof years ago to do a small
group tour of Buckingham Palacewhich kind of did blow my mind a
bit.
It was actually just before theKing's coronation and it was
really interesting because itwas all set up.
They were practicing, charlesand Camilla were practicing and
it was all set up so you couldsee how they kind of replicated
(08:00):
Westminster Abbey so they couldpractice at all, um, so that was
really cool.
But I really have a soft spotfor Hampton Court Palace.
Um, I worked a lot, a lot thatway southern, southern kind of
London, um, and it was.
I was very close to HamptonCourt Palace.
I used to go quite often atweekend when I was off um, and I
also used to quilt.
(08:20):
So this is a very bit of a sidestory, but I used to quilt and
there's a quilting shop I don'tknow if it's still there which
is kind of opposite hamptoncourt palace, so I used to go
and buy my fat quarters.
If you're a quilter, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
I'd go and buy all my materialsand all my bits of supplies to
make my quilt and then I'd gointo palace and have a wander
around and it's really good atany time of year, um, but you've
(08:41):
got the people dressed up andyou know it's Henry VIII or any
of his wives, and it's just.
It's a very interesting palaceto go and visit.
The gardens are also amazing.
So, yeah, I just go in.
Actually, the last time I wentwas the first time I went into
the tennis courts.
I've not done that beforebecause, again, there's lots to
see and learn about there, so Iguess that's my favorite one.
(09:05):
It's also you know, it's nothard to get to.
We do have an article on thewebsite about how to get to
hampton court palace andactually doug's going to put a
video on our youtube channel aswell.
So if you're thinking aboutadding hampton court palace into
your itinerary, uh, do checkout our youtube channel as well
and the website, because we havegot instructions.
But, yeah, you can spend awhole day there and it's great
(09:27):
for kids as well because there'speople dressed up.
You go in the great hall andthere's like I don't know, it's
just a lot of fun.
The kitchen, the kitchens areamazing, um yeah, so, so yeah go
to Hampton Court Palace.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
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 manyamazing museums in London, and I
know which one you're going tosay, because you talk about this
museum all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
But what is your favorite museum?
Well, yeah, if you listen tothe podcast, you kind of know
what I'm going to say.
And actually we will do apodcast episode about our
favorite museums in London,because there are so many and
actually there's some that Ihave 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
(10:12):
V&A.
Unsurprisingly, um, every time Igo to London I schedule a day
at the V&A.
Um, the cast courts.
I just can sit and have doneand I've said this before, I
will sit in the cast courts forhours and just I love it.
I just love the cast courts.
I think just can sit and havedone and I've said this before,
I will sit in the cast courtsfor hours and just I love it.
I just love the cast courts.
I think they're amazing.
If you don't know what they are,you're going to have to look on
the show notes to find out orhave a look on the V&A website.
(10:34):
Yeah, I'll share some photos.
But also, the cafe at the V&Ais amazing.
It's the Art Deco and I loveArt Deco and it was the first
museum cafe in the world when itopened in the 1920s.
Um, it's beautiful, it reallyis beautiful and, honestly,
photos don't don't do it justice.
So, if you go to the V&A,definitely go to Cascades,
(10:57):
definitely go and have a cup oftea or afternoon tea in the in
the cafe.
But there is a lot more to thevna than I always talk about.
There's fashion through theages, there's jewelry, there's,
there's a lot.
There's just so much to it youcan spend hours and hours in
thereabsolutely, absolutely and, um,
I need to probably get out ofthe habit just sitting myself in
the cascades.
(11:17):
There's also bits where they'vegot um bits of buildings which
I just love as well.
So like staircase from france Ithink it's like 1600s or
whatever and I just I just loveit.
Or shop fronts from London, youknow, from a couple hundred
years ago, and you look at theseand you're thinking, I don't
know.
You look at the photos of whenthey're in situ.
(11:38):
I'm so glad they saved themBecause it kind of, you know,
you wander around London and,yes, there's a lot of ancient
and old things in london.
Absolutely it's not historic,but obviously a lot of things.
You know, living in london acouple hundred years ago, it was
different.
It was a lot of there was apoverty, there were a lot of um
slums, and so you know, you cansee how some of those areas were
(12:00):
so crowded and you can see howthe buildings and the shops were
and you can look at thepictures and I think it puts it
into perspective.
So go to the V&A, absolutely goto the V&A.
If you've got kids, take themto the Science Museum.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Science.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Museum.
I love, I love going to that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
My kids love it, my nephews love it.
It's a great place to go.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, and then the Natural History Museum.
So you've got three fantasticmuseums all in a row.
Really, it's just fantastic.
You can spend.
I would say don't plant, do allthree in one day you can't.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Oh, it's so much walking.
So much fun, though, like plana few days to do museums for
sure.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Absolutely so yeah, V&A every day, all day for me.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Right, what's your favourite statue or public
artwork in London?
I know there's lots of statuesall around oh, there are lots of
serious ones.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm not going to be serious because I'm going to say
Paddington Bear, paddingtonStation.
You were going to say that Isee pictures of you with your
Paddingtons.
Yeah, well, if you've seen onInstagram, I've been traveling
the UK with Paddington, um, so Ihad a great photo taken sitting
next to Paddington, actually inEdinburgh earlier this year,
which just makes great sticker.
So Paddington and I have beentraveling on lots of
(13:06):
destinations around the UK andpeople have been guessing where
we've been, and we've been allthe way, from far north Scotland
all the way down to thesouthern part of Cornwall.
So go and check out Instagramif you want to check out where
Paddington and I have beentraveling to.
But the Paddington statue is soiconic, it's so cool.
Um, you know it's on platformone and everybody wants to photo
(13:27):
take with Paddington, surely.
Oh, who wouldn't?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
love Paddington.
So what is your favoritetheater or performance venue?
I know London is pretty iconicfor shows and live theater,
where where would be yourfavorite?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
well, to be honest, it's actually quite a while
since I've been to the theater.
I was thinking this the otherday, and every time I go to
london I'm gonna.
I say I'm gonna go and see ashow, and then don't because we
just don't have time.
Um, so the last time I think Isaw a show was wicked, which was
fantastic.
So there's lots and lots ofdifferent theaters to choose
from, but I'm going to choosethe globe Theatre.
Now, ironically, I have notseen a play in the Globe itself.
(14:05):
I just haven't managed to gettickets, or I haven't had.
I think there was tickets, butthey were restricted view and I
was like I really don't want todo that.
So what I did last year?
Actually, I had a London passwhich gives you entry into the
Globe and a tour, so I actuallywent in and had a look.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, my goodness, it blew my mind so honestly.
That is now high on my list ofthings to do.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would love to go and see your show there.
That would be incredible,incredible, it's absolutely
incredible.
You've just got to pickwhichever show it is, whichever
Shakespearean play it is on thatappeals to you, and then just
book it and go and see it.
So even if I get restrictedview next time, I'm going
because it's just amazing justlast year having that tour
actually yeah, it was last year,last, I think October it it
(14:48):
being in there was incredible.
It is a and it's not quite onthe actual original globe um
venue.
It's like it's been.
It's moved slightly alongbecause where I think where
actually was this house is on itnow, 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 (15:06):
The atmosphere must be amazing in there.
I'd love to do that.
What is your favorite bridge inlondon?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
oh well, tower bridge .
You have to say tower bridge,don't you?
Which is really funny, becausea lot of people call it london
bridge and get confused.
Um, so tower bridge, you'll,you'll.
Tower bridge is the famous onethat you see pictures of.
Please call it tower Bridge,not London Bridge.
Um, but you know, until I wasprobably about 12 or 13, I
thought it was London Bridge.
It's one of those things thatyou kind of let actually know
it's Tower Bridge, so I thinkit's right next to the Tower of
(15:33):
London.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Even coming from the UK, we still all grew up
thinking it was the wrong name.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yes, absolutely so, and in fact the original London
Bridge was sold, I think, ins.
It's actually somewhere in theUnited States now.
I do have, though, a photo.
Now I inherited a book from mygreat-great-grandfather from the
early 1900s, so this book's 130years old actually, and it has
(15:59):
photos from around the worldfrom the 1800s, and it has a
photo of London Bridge, londonBridge, not Tower Bridge, london
Bridge, um, with with all thecarriages going over.
It looks fantastic, so I willactually put a picture of that
in the show notes.
But that's fascinating just tosee, um.
But yes, tower Bridge, I meanif you see the, now the it's
(16:20):
called Bascules.
But I mean, of course, if yousee that the things lift, if you
see the bridge lift you canactually look yeah, the lifty
bit um, it's amazing to see thatuh happen and you can actually
check.
There's a website and I'll putthat link is on the show notes
where you can check when, whenit's due to lift um, because it
(16:42):
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 inthe background.
It's really iconic.
Um, it's really funny because Ihave I'm a real fan of Robert
Wagner I shouldn't be sayingthis in the podcast, but I used
to love Heart to Heart in the1980s, giving my age away again
and there's an amazing episodewith him and stephanie powers
(17:05):
and they're on holiday in londonand there's tower bridge behind
them.
It's, it's such an iconic thing.
So get your photograph, getyour photo with tower bridge
behind you oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So what is your favorite?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
london borough oh yeah, interesting question
because obviously westminsterhas everything, um, you know,
it's got, it's got all theiconic kind of you know
parliament palaces.
It's amazing.
But I'm going to mentionGreenwich because I really like
Greenwich.
I've gone a bit Because a lotof people don't go to Greenwich.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I've never been, have you not?
No, I still have to visitLondon so many times and I've
never been.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
People don't think about goingto Greenwich and I would
honestly say jump on an Uberboat and get yourself along to
Greenwich.
It's fabulous If you're therein the summer or it's a warm day
.
Take a picnic, sit in GreenwichPark, enjoy the views.
There's so much to see and doin Greenwich.
Take a whole day.
Honestly, I honestly don'tunderstand why more people don't
(18:05):
go there.
It's the most wonderful spot.
I will share a link to ourone-day itinerary for Greenwich,
which is on the website.
So I'll put that in the shownotes because, yeah, if you
haven't considered going toGreenwich, Put it on your radar,
Go to Greenwich.
In fact, if you work for VisitGreenwich, come on the podcast
and advertise, talk aboutGreenwich to everybody and tell
them why they should come andvisit.
(18:26):
Don't leave it to me to do it.
You come and you tell everybodywhy 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 standon the meridian.
I mean you can have a foot indifferent hemispheres.
It's just great and it's sohistoric as well.
(18:47):
Yeah, so add that in.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
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 ofgoing around the iconic
locations just on a day trip.
But I think when you'replanning a few days there, then
you've got more scope to kind ofreally expand and do so many of
these different trips.
So give me loads of really goodideas for my next travels.
(19:09):
Excellent, um, this is aslightly quicker one.
What's your favoriteunderground station?
Have you got a favoriteunderground station?
Speaker 1 (19:15):
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 upthe 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 standoutside the station, you can
watch people come up the stepsand the faces, uh, because
(19:38):
there's just big ben in front ofyou and it it's fantastic.
So, yeah, it's an interesting.
It's a very deep stationbecause if you're catching
different tube lines, you canhave a lot of escalators down.
But when you come up and youcome out into the lights from
the tube station, yeah, you'llsee exactly what I mean that
sounds good.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So what's your favourite library or reading
spot in London?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
British Library Hands down.
British Library, yeah, I mean,go and see the treasures at the
British Library.
Incredible, absolutelyincredible.
You can see, honestly, thethings 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 andhave a look at the treasures of
(20:25):
the British Library.
That was one of the things thatactually I've only discovered
in the last maybe three or fouryears, over the first time that
I went there.
And again, it's somewhere thatif I get back to London soon
it'll be high on my list to goback and have another good look
around, because it's fabulous,absolutely fantastic to go back
and have another good lookaround because it's fabulous,
absolutely fantastic.
So definitely go and have alook.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It's sounding like you need to plan a month in
London at least to fit all ofthis stuff in At least.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Well, you know, I was there last year planning to do
so much.
I had so many plans of what Iwas going to do this, this, this
, this, this, this.
I overplanned, even Ioverplanned over planned, and I
didn't get anywhere near as muchas I wanted to do.
So you know, but there's alwaysnext to go back to London
exactly, exactly what's yourfavorite park in London?
yeah, we're going to talk aboutparks, gardens and streets now,
(21:10):
which is an interesting kind ofcategory, isn't it?
So?
Favorite park, I guess StJames's Park, mainly because you
can stand on the bridge and youget a fantastic view of
Buckingham Palace, but you alsoget a view of the London Eye.
Now, I know the London Eye isone of those divisive kind of
people love it or hate it.
I love the London Eye.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I really, I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh, yeah, no no, I've heard I've heard people say
about it and say it's an eyesoreand blah, blah, blah.
Actually I, I really like theLondon Eye.
I go on the London Eye everytime I go back to London.
The views you get from theLondon Eye are fabulous.
I'll probably talk about thatin another episode, maybe next
week or the following week forexperiences.
But yeah, so you get a greatview and you get great photos
because you've got BuckinghamPalace behind you and you've got
then the London Eye in front ofyou.
(21:50):
So probably, yeah, probablythat park and obviously, if you
go in spring, you've got thelovely flower beds and there's
also pelicans in that park aswell that you can check out.
Um, so yeah, but there's,there's so many parks, I guess
it's really interesting, theones that I hear about.
People always touch me at hydepark and I've yet to be
succumbed by hyde park.
I'm like my kids, like all thesquirrels yeah, yeah, I.
(22:14):
It certainly wouldn't be my topplace to recommend and go.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I'm like, yeah, if you want to walk through, yeah,
fine, and kensington gardens isnice, there's lots of nice parks
to go to, but, um, yeah, stjames's, because I feel like I'm
going from somewhere tosomewhere I was just going to
say, when you've come out of amuseum, it's quite nice to go
into a park just to kind of havea bit of downtime and a bit of
a sit down in the grass oh, Idon't do that very often.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I go to greenwich for that so what's your favorite
gardens?
Q gardens has to be cute, isn'tit?
Um, and I have an attachment toQ really, because I used to
live when I gave birth to mydaughter.
Um, he was nearly 30.
I actually did live in Londonat that time.
Um, she was born in London andI used to take the Q gardens and
(22:55):
I've got some beautiful.
I want to see some of myfavorite pictures, beautiful
pictures of me and Dominiquewhen she was a baby walking
around Kew Gardens.
I've actually got a picturewith I've got it on my shoulders
, so I don't know how old shewas, maybe about eight months
old and it was just a greatplace for us just to wander
around.
So I tried to get back.
Kew again is somewhere I triedto get back to because it's just
(23:17):
so lovely and there's so muchto see there.
And, um, yeah, I think the lasttime actually I went, I went for
the christmas trail lights thatdoug and I did that.
I think that might have beenlast year actually, and that was
that was amazing as well.
So we get opportunity to bookthat.
Do that because that's if theweather's great, which we had
fabulous weather, thank goodness.
Uh, that was a really lovelyevening, but it's lovely to
(23:38):
stroll around in the day.
If it's a nice day, it's justbeautiful again the spring, the
flowers, the different um glasshouses you can go into, yeah,
fabulous, so highly recommendKew yeah so there are green
spaces to enjoy in between allof the hectic kind of stuff that
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
What are your favorite hidden green spaces in
London?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Well, I'd heard of this one and I actually only
made it there in.
I think it was end of Januarythis year.
So I was in Edinburgh at thetime, took the train down,
actually took the Caledon no, Itook the Caledon Stoop back up
to Scotland.
I took the train down to Londonand was staying in the St
Paul's area and I heard aboutPostman's Park and I'd read
about it and I thought, well,it's not very far away.
(24:26):
So I went and had an explore andit's basically there's a
memorial wall there to people inthe 1800s who did heroic acts
like saved people from a fire orfrom under the hooves of a, of
a, of a carriage that you know ahorse from a carriage.
There's all sorts of like.
It's incredible and there'slike tiles and it's a really
peaceful little park.
So I sat there there, reallyenjoyed that.
I'll put some.
I will put some pictures ofthat in in the show notes as
(24:47):
well and it's on our if you haveour London map as well, you can
check out.
I've got a little video whichI'll add into that as well and
some photos from what I'm havinga look around Postman's Park.
But yeah, very interesting,very poignant.
It's one of those kind ofhidden gems that not a lot of
people visit or know about.
But if you're in that area, Iwould 100% recommend that you do
that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
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 kindof a nice street to wander
around, mooch about, just kindof potter around, where would
your favorite street?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
be Probably an area I guess in streets is Covent
Garden.
I mean again, anotherincredibly historic area.
You know it wasn't the areathat it is now, it wasn't quite
as salubrious in times gone past.
But Covent Garden and I knowpeople will say, oh, it's really
touristy, but you know there'swonderful street performers
(25:41):
there.
Um, go and support the streetperformers that there are, you
know, that are in that area aswell.
There's fantastic places to eat.
Um, there's some fantasticcafes.
It's this I love covent garden.
I love covent garden at anytime of year, to be honest.
Um, so I would say again, it'san area that we enjoy staying in
(26:03):
, actually, in that CoventGarden Holborn area, because
you've got the theatres, you'vegot Covent Garden, you've got
there's just always a lot goingon 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 CoventGarden it does get incredibly
busy, though I will just saythat especially at weekends in
(26:24):
the summer and Christmas iscrazy there.
But yeah, fabulous, fabulousarea.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So what's your favourite colourful street if
you're looking for somewhere forsome pretty photographs,
Notting Hill.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I had a wonderful photo shoot there a couple of
years ago with Domi from ScalingStudio and they're some of my
favorite, favorite photos thatI've ever had taken.
I'm not I don't think I'm themost photographic photogenic is
that the word Photogenic ofpeople but she took the most
amazing photos that I'm reallyproud to share.
And I mean honestly, I don'tthink you can have a bad photo
(26:54):
in Notting Hill because, oh,pastel colored houses, just you
just have to remember to berespectful because obviously
these are people's houses theylive in.
So if they've asked you not totake a photo outside, don't,
obviously don't kind of go ononto the steps and things like
that, stay outside.
But it's a stunning area and ifyou go in the beginning of May,
end of April, beginning of May,you've got the wisteria.
(27:16):
Oh my goodness, I've got somebeautiful wisteria photos as
well and actually the I wasthere, I think, also blossom
season, the cherry blossom.
So I've got some beautifulwisteria photos as well and
actually I was there alsoblossom season, the cherry
blossom, so I've got somegorgeous pictures of the cherry
blossom.
So it's a gorgeous area I'vegot actually in our London map
there is a walk-in tour that youcan take of Notting Hill as
(27:37):
well that we wrote.
So that's good, wonderful,because it's actually not as
easy as you think to find allthe different streets with the
pretty houses on it.
So we put like a little walk-inguide and it's on the map so
you can access that.
Um.
Yeah, so you can know what tofollow to get the best of
Notting Hill, because actuallyit's a it can be quite a lot of
walk-in, um, but you want tomake sure when you do it that
you get all those really prettystreets and houses and those
(27:59):
iconic photos, because it reallyis, and obviously the blue door
yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now we talked about how busy London can get.
It can get really crowded inweekends and in summertime and
at Christmas time.
What are your favorite placesto go to escape the crowds?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
and well, in the city of London you've got St John's
in the east, which is theremnants of a bombed church.
It was actually a SirChristopher Wren church, but it
was bombed in World War II andthey left the building behind
what was left and it's now apark, a little tiny park, and
it's got benches and you'll see,actually a lot of people who
(28:36):
work in the city will go andtake the sandwiches and go and
sit there.
So that's absolutely fabulousfor photos as well.
But it's also a really kind ofpeaceful place to go and just
sit and reflect and and you havesome lunch, go to boots or or
um marks and spencers orwherever tesco, go and get your
sandwiches and head down to goand sit in st dunstan's in the
east.
(28:56):
It's beautiful.
Honestly, it's a very peacefulspot yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
What's your favorite place that surprised you the
most?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
oh, I guess the league street tunnels.
Now I stayed in near waterlooum a couple years ago and we're
right beside the tunnels, so umwent 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.
Ah, okay, so basically it's umjust long tunnels and they're
absolutely covered in graffitiand street art, but fantastic,
(29:25):
fabulously beautiful, honestlyvery colorful.
There's some lovely art inthere changes all the time, um,
but go there.
If your kids are interested inkind of, you know, street art
and that sort of stuff, they goand you can actually do a little
bit tag yourself.
I think doug and I wrote ournames and did our tag UK travel
planning.
Actually, we did a tour withDiscovery of London and we went
(29:49):
there and we left our tag there.
We had some, luckily had somespray cans and we did that.
So that was really fun and it'salways been kind of redone, but
it's just a really cool placeto go and explore.
Um, so definitely, if you're inthat area, go, definitely go
and have a look and if you'vegot kids that interest in that,
go and have a walk aroundbecause you'll get some lovely
(30:10):
photos really really lovelyphotos yeah absolutely.
Your kids would love it honestlykaren definitely add it in.
I'll add it to my next listdefinitely it's getting longer.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
So what's your favorite place to have a photo
shoot?
There's just so many places inLondon to have iconic photo
shoots, but what's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
uh, or Notting Hill, it's going to be Notting Hill.
I've had lots of actually.
I have had a lot of photoshoots actually with with um
Scaling Studio, and my favoriteis still a Notting Hill.
Um, though, doug and I had somefabulous photos taken at
Westminster at the Red Phone Box.
There's a few Red Phone Boxesthere and you just get that
iconic shot Red Phone Box, bigBen in the background.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I was just going to say you've got to have Big Ben.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, so I guess those are the most iconic photos
that we've had and they arelovely.
So I would say yeah, eitherthat 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 phoneboxes and get your photo then
with Big Ben.
Yeah, so I guess that there areso many amazing places to take
(31:11):
photos in London.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Now what is your favorite placeto go to get the best London
view?
Speaker 1 (31:17):
London Eye, you know, and I've got an article about
this because obviously you cango to the Shard, you can go to
the Sky Garden, you can go.
There's quite a few places nowwhere you can go and get good
views.
Sky Garden's free, so that'salways a cool one to do.
But the London Eye gives you adifferent perspective and I
think what's interesting aboutthe London Eye is, yes, you get
a great view of the House ofParliament, you get a great view
(31:38):
of Big Ben, elizabeth Tower Iknow somebody's out there going
on Elizabeth Tower Tracy yes, Iknow.
But you also get a fantasticview of the river itself and see
how it curves around and howLondon's grown around the river.
And yeah, I just think it's oneof those iconic experiences.
Really, do London Eye.
(31:58):
Don't get put off by people onYouTube or on TikTok saying
don't do the London Eye.
Honestly, it's worth it.
And also, I think you know theyalso miss the point of London.
London is a city that'sconstantly evolving, so the new
and the old sit next to eachother and that's fine, that is
okay and that makes London so tome it's not an eyesore and
(32:23):
actually it's been around for areally long time now, so it
really is part of London.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It's not like it's a new attraction that's just
opened.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's been there for a long time, no it's part of the
London skyline, is part ofLondon, it's part of the history
of London, um, and there'snothing 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 (32:43):
Yeah, for sure and back on the topic of views.
Where's your favorite rooftopbar?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
yes, you know what?
I was pondering this becausesomebody asked this in the group
and I was kind of like you knowwhat?
I don't really think I have one.
Um, now you can.
There is the, the bar at theSky Garden, so you can get a
drink there, um, but I thinkthis is something I need to
research further sounds likesome cocktails and dinners, yeah
(33:09):
yeah.
So when I saw this question, Iwas kind of like you know what?
I don't think that I can answerthis fully.
Therefore, this is one of thequestions that I am going to do
some research and come back andanswer.
It's a hard life for somebodyif you need any help yeah,
absolutely yeah, so what's yourfavorite riverside walk?
(33:29):
uh, yeah, I guess, fromwestminster.
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 whendominique was little, when she
was a little baby, used to takeher for little strolls along
there and you've got the houseof parliament and that's just a
lovely walk down south bank.
And, yes, and it can takelonger than you think, because I
(33:50):
was actually at saint paul'slast year and had to get to, um,
the london eye because I had aslot 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, becauseit was really busy, um, and I
hadn't kind of timed it right.
So it is a long.
It is a fairly long walk.
It's a long time since I'vedone that entire walk, um, but
(34:10):
yeah, it's a really good walk.
In fact I would I'd say myfavorite 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 Iwould say just that that
particular.
And you've got the globetheater on the right hand side,
um, got the tape modern, andthen you've got the same pool.
So that's a nice walk, that one.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So I do that, yeah what's your favorite spot for
people watching?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
common garden.
Now I'm down common garden, um,you know what the best place to
stand in common garden peoplewatch is like is in, um, one of
the oh, what do you call it?
Like one of the sunken.
There's a sunken area whereyou've got all the cafe like a
big cafe, and often there'speople um playing classical
music or singing, and that's agreat place because people are
(34:56):
sitting like having their drinksand you can look, look down and
listen to the music and uh,yeah, it's amazing.
It's in kind of one of the Idon't know what you call like
one of the area internal areasof common garden itself, um, so,
yeah, I would say there andthat's really lovely at
christmas as well, becausethere's always so much going on
and it's beautifully decoratedum, but I, we also like just
(35:17):
sitting down there having it,having a drink as well, and just
people watch, yeah, yeah, andin the summer as well, they did
it.
When I think about it, there'slike a pop-up Pimms tent when it
was during, um uh, wimbledonand I sat outside on this deck
chair with my Pimms and justwatched a bit of tennis and
watched the people.
It was great.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
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 benspots and your red phone boxes.
But what's your best secretphoto spot?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
um, well, I would say the.
The view from the greenwichobservatory is amazing, um, you
get down to canary wharf andthat is I've seen that develop
over the years because canarywharf has grown and that gives
you.
You get a fabulous view down umtowards the naval college and
you've got um the the queen'shouse, and it's um, yeah, just a
great view.
(36:13):
I've got some beautiful photosof that, another one actually,
and talking about um, some Ikind of lesser known and
probably dummy from scale as you.
I don't know if I'm allowed toshare this, but I'm going to um
is to go to shad thames, whichis actually opposite the Tower
of London, and this is an areathat was a dock plant but it's
not anymore.
(36:33):
Other very, very expensiveapartments in that area, but you
get a fantastic, it's amazingstreet for a start off if you
walk along.
But you also get a fabulousviews of Tower Bridge, so you
can take really good photos fromthat side.
And also, shad Thames itself isso historic and a lot of people
don't know about it or even go.
So if you go to the Tower ofLondon and you're walking across
Tower Bridge, head left and goto Shad Thames and get some
(36:55):
other fabulous photos from there.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
That sounds good.
What would be your favouriteevening view spot?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Ah, now, easy, this one Westminster Bridge.
I was there, south Bank,looking towards Westminster
Bridge and the House ofParliament.
I was there in I think it wason my own.
Actually, I think it was beforeDoug came back last year.
I was there, I'd gone to lookat some Christmas lights and
I've got some of the mostbeautiful photos.
I will say this about my ownphotos, but they are the most
(37:23):
beautiful photos.
I will say this about my ownphotos, but they are most
beautiful photos I've ever takenand the light is like a purple
and blue and you've gotWestminster Bridge and then
you've got Big Ben and the Houseof Parliament, and they are I'm
not I sound like I'm a big headhere, but they are stunning
photos.
They're absolutely.
I'll show you in a minute,karen.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
But I will put them for everybody else.
I'm going to put them in theshow notes.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
But fantastic, actually it wasn't.
It was it'd gone dark, but itwas just.
They're amazing.
So those are my favorite photosI've ever taken sounds good.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Right now we're moving into kind of doug's realm
here a little bit.
We'll talk a little bit abouttransport.
What's your favorite train?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
station, ah, st pancras um, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
It absolutely is a beautiful train station.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
The architecture is incredible yeah, I just love it.
And you've got the Tracy MNsign as well.
When you come off, when you geton the train or off the train,
you get an Eurostar, which isamazing to see.
There's some beautiful statuesas well to look at.
It's just a fantastic station.
There's some great shops inthere.
If you want to go upstairs,there's I think it's a oyster
(38:31):
bar, champagne bar I should know.
I've never eaten there.
So if you want to, if youactually want to give me an
invite, I'll come and test it.
There's some great places to eat, but it's, you know, I just
it's a beautiful station, but Ialso I am going to mention in
second place is King's Cross.
Now King's Cross when I used togo, when I was working in
(38:51):
London in the 80s, at that pointI used to go and stay with.
Now my daughter's got parentsand they live north of London,
so I used to have to go toKing's Cross Station.
Now, king's Cross in the 80swas not a place you wanted to
spend much time.
It really had a bad reputation.
King's Cross station itself wasawful and I used to have to walk
through the station and thetrains that I would have to
catch the platforms.
(39:11):
You had to kind of walk acrossthis concrete into like this I
don't know what you call it likebuilding.
And then there was the othertwo lines that I would catch to
go and see them and it was awful.
It was just just the reallyreally 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 twoplatforms, because obviously
they're still there.
(39:32):
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?
it yeah it's lovely Like youjust look up and the
architecture, they see it justreally, really, really pretty.
They've done such a good job ofit, and especially if you can
remember what it used to be like.
Um, so a big shout out to keenscots, because it honestly looks
(39:54):
a lot better than it used toand it's actually quite pretty
now there you go.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I haven't been there for many, many years, so, yeah,
I'll have to check that out onmy next trip.
So what's your favorite market?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
in London.
Okay, well, again, there's somany markets and I don't know if
I'm going to be controversialif I say borough market, because
I know how incredibly busy itcan be and I know that people
have said they've lasted about10 minutes and left it because
it is so crowded.
So, just be aware, on aSaturday and Sunday in the run
up to Christmas, during thepopular touristy timeurday, and
sunday in the run-up tochristmas during the popular
(40:26):
touristy time, it's like in thesummer, it's incredibly busy.
Um, but again it's in.
It's a very historic areaaround borough market and I I've
done there's an ultimate foodtour with walks and devour of
that area and you learn aboutthe kind of area that that
borough market is in and thehistory of it is actually quite
fascinating.
But there's also some reallygood food.
(40:48):
So I'm gonna just say that, um,history, yep, tick that box
absolutely, really really goodfood and my favorite place for
one particular dish that Ireally enjoy is in borough
market and I really enjoyraclette um.
So I lived in in France and Ilived in Switzerland for a bit,
(41:09):
so it's basically cheese that'smelted onto um potatoes like new
potatoes, and then you have itwith pickles.
Now I'm I love pickles.
I mean, I was talking aboutthis to a friend of mine the
other day.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
I have emergency jars of pickles in my cupboard this
sounds like a place my husbandhas to go to because he's
obsessed with cheese and he'sobsessed with pickles.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Well, he would love it, he would love it.
So capocasin at the boroughmarket, absolutely everybody
goes for the toasted sandwiches,and I think that's because of
tiktok I reckon it was one ofthose tiktok things and I'm like
I don't stand in that line.
I get the raclette, and Ihonestly would say, if you're
going to go get the raclette,seriously it's just delicious.
(41:49):
They're not open every day,though, so you need to just
check if they're going to be inthe market.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely oh well, that's been
amazing.
We've I've got so many newplaces to add to my list, and
there's just so much to explorein London, so I'm looking
forward to going back again soonwell, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Well, those are kind of cover the different, the
places that I really like.
Honestly, there's so many otherplaces I wanted to talk about,
like historic, like palace, likeyou know, like I don't know,
kensington Palace.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I just want to talk about that let's be honest, we
can chat for a long time when weget going, and you know what I
feel bad for the ones I'vemissed out, because I'm thinking
, oh, I want it, so it.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
So, yeah, there's, there's.
There's so much to do and see.
There's so much on our Londontravel planning website, so go
and check that out, please.
Go and have a look at ourarticles.
Go on our YouTube channel aswell, because we'll put more and
more videos on there of thedifferent places that we'll talk
about.
Yeah, join our Facebook group.
We've got a London travelplanning Facebook group as well
(42:43):
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 yourwhere you know, what would you
have chosen?
Because I'm actually going toshare this in the Facebook group
after this episode has gone out.
I'm going to list the places Ichose and then I'm going to get
people to fill in, and I'm goingto put it on Instagram as well,
so you can fill in and tell mewhat your favorite places are,
(43:04):
just to give us some more placesto add to our list.
well, I can guarantee there'sgoing to be so many different
variations because everybodygoes and has different
experiences, they have differentinterests, but anyway those are
mine.
That that is part one.
So if you want to have a lookat any photos that are places
that I've talked about, go andcheck out the show notes at uk
travel planning, dotningcomforward slash, episode 165.
(43:26):
As I say, leave us a message onSpeakpipe.
I want to hear what you've gotto say about London and your
favorite places and in two weeksjoin us where we're going to
talk about and I'm going toshare my favorite London
experiences.
So Karen's going to be joiningme again to talk to me for that
episode, but for this one,thanks so much, karen.
(43:48):
You're very welcome and thankyou for chatting to me and
telling me all about all yourfavorite places in london.
Yeah, well, I think, beforewe'd sign off, I think it's
going to be, oh, and I willusually end with a one question,
isn't it?
What would the one place bethat for somebody going to
london for the first time and Ihave to add it in, I've just
thought about this myselfbecause I always ended the
podcast with it, and I've justthought about it Tower of London
.
Go to the Tower of London,absolutely 100%.
Do not miss that off your listand don't tell me you just saw
(44:10):
it from the outside.
Go inside the Tower of London,please.
Thank you, but that just leavesme and Karen to say until next
week, happy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
(44:33):
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.
People ask me all the time what are my favourite
places in London.
Well, in this episode I spillthe beans from iconic landmarks
and colourful streets to quietcorners and surprising hidden
gems, and I do promise not tosing.
These are a few of my favouritethings.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracy Collins.
Each week, tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:38):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode
of the UK Travel Plan andPodcast.
I'm very, very excited toactually announce that we have
hit half a million downloads.
Now.
If you are on our Facebookgroup, you'll know that I
announced that a few weeks ago.
It's because I'm actuallyrecording this podcast I think
it's the 20th of August at theminute for a few weeks time, but
we've hit half a million, whichis huge.
Now I want to say a special,special thank you to our
(01:14):
sponsors for sponsoring thepodcast.
The podcast takes a lot of time,effort and actually money to
produce every month, so we areso, so grateful for all the
support that we receive, and tothose of you as well who so
generously went on to tip myguide, the link via the email or
on the bottom of our websiteand left us a tip as well.
Honestly, thank you from thebottom of mine and Doug's heart.
(01:35):
It means so much to us.
Anyway, I'm going to get onwith this episode because I
asked in the Facebook group ifpeople would be interested in me
sharing my favorite places inLondon and I wasn't sure.
I was a bit like we're allgoing to be like no, no, not
that bothered, I didn't knowwhat Tracy enjoys.
But anyway, you all were a bitoverwhelming with your questions
and we've received loads andloads of questions, so we've
(01:56):
actually divided it into twoepisodes.
So this episode 165, and then,in two weeks time, episode 167,.
I'm going to share my favoriteplaces and experiences in London
Now, rather than me droning onfor 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
(02:19):
voice and she does the intros tothe UK Travel Plan podcast and
actually the Global Travel Planpodcast too, because she has a
wonderful, wonderful voice andshe's also very skilled at
interviewing people and is a lotof fun to chat to.
So hi, karen, so nice for youto come on the podcast again.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Oh hey, tracey, thanks for having me back again.
It's always good fun to have achat, and London is such a huge
city and there is so much tolearn about traveling there, so
I'm really looking forward toasking you some questions.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Oh well, I'm enjoying to talk about it, but I will
caveat that with saying I havelived and I have worked in
London and I've spent a lot oftime exploring London, but there
is so much to London that thereare 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 thethings that I've done over the
years, but, honestly, there arealways new things to do and see
(03:09):
in London.
So take that with a caveat.
But this is we're going to gothrough for this episode, my
favourite places.
That's what we're going to kindof focus on, aren't we?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, and there is.
There's so much to see and dothere.
I know I've been lots of timesand there's still so many places
that I haven't been to before,and always new things to
discover, so it'll be reallygood to hear about all of your
favourite spots.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
OK, do you want to?
Do you want to kick us off?
Then, karen, let's kick it off.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So what is your favourite historic spot?
I know your background is ahistory teacher.
Yeah so you're sure to havequite a few of those.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I was.
Yes, I was a history teacherfor a while.
Oh, this is such a hardquestion to answer because,
obviously, london historic spotsthere are so, so many to talk
about but I'm going to choosethe Tower of London and I really
would encourage you, if you'revisiting London, to not say I've
been to the Tower of London andjust see it from the outside.
(04:01):
You can't visit the Tower ofLondon by seeing it from the
outside.
You can't visit the town ofLondon by seeing it from the
outside.
You actually need to go insideand explore it, do it on a tour
or just buy a ticket and go inand explore it and, honestly,
just be blown away by thehistory of this place.
And he was buried there.
He had the head chopped offthere.
It he was.
(04:23):
He was actually imprisonedthere.
Learn about, like, the fact thatit was a zoo.
I mean, who knows that?
You know it was a zoo.
But also, just, you get to seethe yeoman warders or the beef
eaters, um, as they'll be kindof walking around and you can go
and take a photo with them, askthem questions.
Um, there's a free tour as wellwith the yeoman warders if you
do.
Um, some of the tours that I'vedone, some of the vip tours or
(04:45):
walks you get to actually spendsome time with the order and I
absolutely love that because youcan ask them all sorts of
questions because they actuallylive there, um, which I would
not do because it's apparentlyhaunted I hear all this stuff
and it's like I like visitingbut I don't want to live there.
Thank you, um, but the channelof london, I think I believe, is
the top visited uh destinationin London.
(05:06):
So you just really don't missit off your list.
Really go and visit the Towerof London, go early in the
morning, get in there as soon asit opens so you get straight in
to see the crown jewels.
Because, believe me, the queuesto go and see the crown jewels
I've got video of it and it justgoes on and on and on all these
like queues of people waitingto see the crown jewels.
So've got video of it and itjust goes on and on and on all
these like queues of peoplewaiting to see the crown jewel.
(05:27):
So so go in there first and getstraight in to see the crown
jewels and then and then exploreand enjoy it.
I have visited the channel oflondon 30, 40 I I honestly don't
know how many times.
I couldn't count and I love itevery single time.
It's just an amazing place aniconic destination.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's one that you have to have on your list, isn't
it?
When you go to London?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Absolutely absolutely .
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Okay, next one.
What is your favouritecathedral or church?
I know we've got some reallystunning architecture in London.
Where's your favourite?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
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'tknow.
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 thereis amazing if you can get up to
(06:17):
go and see the, um, the queen'sjubilee gallery I don't know if
it's been changed to king'sjubilee gallery, but anyway, if
you get a chance to go up there,do, because that is, that is
amazing and it's all thesetreasures that you can have a
look at.
You're not allowed to take anyphotos, but it's incredible and
you can see where QueenElizabeth I was buried, where
her sister Mary, who was queenbefore her, was buried
(06:38):
Interesting underneath again,kind of asserting Queen
Elizabeth I's superiority overher sister.
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 justto feel the history in that
(07:03):
place.
Now I've taken loads and loadsof tours of westminster abbey
and I learned something newevery time.
Probably don't retain thatknowledge as I get older.
Things don't seem to stick asmuch in my brain, um, but I go
in there and and every time justlearn something new, take more
photographs of a different spotthat I hadn't seen before.
Um, yeah, it's just fantastic,so, honestly.
Westminster Abbey again anothericonic destination that you
(07:26):
really shouldn't miss off your.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I feel like every item on this list is going to be
so missed, so you might need tobe planning a long trip.
So what's your favorite palace?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
okay.
Well, I guess maybe people areexpecting me to say Buckingham
Palace, and Buckingham Palace isreally cool.
And I was lucky enough a coupleyears ago to do a small group
tour of Buckingham Palace, andBuckingham Palace is really cool
.
And I was lucky enough a coupleof years ago to do a small
group tour of Buckingham Palacewhich kind of did blow my mind a
bit.
It was actually just before theKing's coronation and it was
really interesting because itwas all set up.
They were practicing, charlesand Camilla were practicing and
it was all set up so you couldsee how they kind of replicated
(08:00):
Westminster Abbey so they couldpractice at all, um, so that was
really cool.
But I really have a soft spotfor Hampton Court Palace.
Um, I worked a lot, a lot thatway southern, southern kind of
London, um, and it was.
I was very close to HamptonCourt Palace.
I used to go quite often atweekend when I was off um, and I
also used to quilt.
(08:20):
So this is a very bit of a sidestory, but I used to quilt and
there's a quilting shop I don'tknow if it's still there which
is kind of opposite hamptoncourt palace, so I used to go
and buy my fat quarters.
If you're a quilter, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
I'd go and buy all my materialsand all my bits of supplies to
make my quilt and then I'd gointo palace and have a wander
around and it's really good atany time of year, um, but you've
(08:41):
got the people dressed up andyou know it's Henry VIII or any
of his wives, and it's just.
It's a very interesting palaceto go and visit.
The gardens are also amazing.
So, yeah, I just go in.
Actually, the last time I wentwas the first time I went into
the tennis courts.
I've not done that beforebecause, again, there's lots to
see and learn about there, so Iguess that's my favorite one.
(09:05):
It's also you know, it's nothard to get to.
We do have an article on thewebsite about how to get to
hampton court palace andactually doug's going to put a
video on our youtube channel aswell.
So if you're thinking aboutadding hampton court palace into
your itinerary, uh, do checkout our youtube channel as well
and the website, because we havegot instructions.
But, yeah, you can spend awhole day there and it's great
(09:27):
for kids as well because there'speople dressed up.
You go in the great hall andthere's like I don't know, it's
just a lot of fun.
The kitchen, the kitchens areamazing, um yeah, so, so yeah go
to Hampton Court Palace.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
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 manyamazing museums in London, and I
know which one you're going tosay, because you talk about this
museum all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
But what is your favorite museum?
Well, yeah, if you listen tothe podcast, you kind of know
what I'm going to say.
And actually we will do apodcast episode about our
favorite museums in London,because there are so many and
actually there's some that Ihave 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
(10:12):
V&A.
Unsurprisingly, um, every time Igo to London I schedule a day
at the V&A.
Um, the cast courts.
I just can sit and have doneand I've said this before, I
will sit in the cast courts forhours and just I love it.
I just love the cast courts.
I think just can sit and havedone and I've said this before,
I will sit in the cast courtsfor hours and just I love it.
I just love the cast courts.
I think they're amazing.
If you don't know what they are,you're going to have to look on
the show notes to find out orhave a look on the V&A website.
(10:34):
Yeah, I'll share some photos.
But also, the cafe at the V&Ais amazing.
It's the Art Deco and I loveArt Deco and it was the first
museum cafe in the world when itopened in the 1920s.
Um, it's beautiful, it reallyis beautiful and, honestly,
photos don't don't do it justice.
So, if you go to the V&A,definitely go to Cascades,
(10:57):
definitely go and have a cup oftea or afternoon tea in the in
the cafe.
But there is a lot more to thevna than I always talk about.
There's fashion through theages, there's jewelry, there's,
there's a lot.
There's just so much to it youcan spend hours and hours in
thereabsolutely, absolutely and, um,
I need to probably get out ofthe habit just sitting myself in
the cascades.
(11:17):
There's also bits where they'vegot um bits of buildings which
I just love as well.
So like staircase from france Ithink it's like 1600s or
whatever and I just I just loveit.
Or shop fronts from London, youknow, from a couple hundred
years ago, and you look at theseand you're thinking, I don't
know.
You look at the photos of whenthey're in situ.
(11:38):
I'm so glad they saved themBecause it kind of, you know,
you wander around London and,yes, there's a lot of ancient
and old things in london.
Absolutely it's not historic,but obviously a lot of things.
You know, living in london acouple hundred years ago, it was
different.
It was a lot of there was apoverty, there were a lot of um
slums, and so you know, you cansee how some of those areas were
(12:00):
so crowded and you can see howthe buildings and the shops were
and you can look at thepictures and I think it puts it
into perspective.
So go to the V&A, absolutely goto the V&A.
If you've got kids, take themto the Science Museum.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Science.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Museum.
I love, I love going to that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
My kids love it, my nephews love it.
It's a great place to go.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, and then the Natural History Museum.
So you've got three fantasticmuseums all in a row.
Really, it's just fantastic.
You can spend.
I would say don't plant, do allthree in one day you can't.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Oh, it's so much walking.
So much fun, though, like plana few days to do museums for
sure.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Absolutely so yeah, V&A every day, all day for me.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Right, what's your favourite statue or public
artwork in London?
I know there's lots of statuesall around oh, there are lots of
serious ones.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm not going to be serious because I'm going to say
Paddington Bear, paddingtonStation.
You were going to say that Isee pictures of you with your
Paddingtons.
Yeah, well, if you've seen onInstagram, I've been traveling
the UK with Paddington, um, so Ihad a great photo taken sitting
next to Paddington, actually inEdinburgh earlier this year,
which just makes great sticker.
So Paddington and I have beentraveling on lots of
(13:06):
destinations around the UK andpeople have been guessing where
we've been, and we've been allthe way, from far north Scotland
all the way down to thesouthern part of Cornwall.
So go and check out Instagramif you want to check out where
Paddington and I have beentraveling to.
But the Paddington statue is soiconic, it's so cool.
Um, you know it's on platformone and everybody wants to photo
(13:27):
take with Paddington, surely.
Oh, who wouldn't?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
love Paddington.
So what is your favoritetheater or performance venue?
I know London is pretty iconicfor shows and live theater,
where where would be yourfavorite?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
well, to be honest, it's actually quite a while
since I've been to the theater.
I was thinking this the otherday, and every time I go to
london I'm gonna.
I say I'm gonna go and see ashow, and then don't because we
just don't have time.
Um, so the last time I think Isaw a show was wicked, which was
fantastic.
So there's lots and lots ofdifferent theaters to choose
from, but I'm going to choosethe globe Theatre.
Now, ironically, I have notseen a play in the Globe itself.
(14:05):
I just haven't managed to gettickets, or I haven't had.
I think there was tickets, butthey were restricted view and I
was like I really don't want todo that.
So what I did last year?
Actually, I had a London passwhich gives you entry into the
Globe and a tour, so I actuallywent in and had a look.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, my goodness, it blew my mind so honestly.
That is now high on my list ofthings to do.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would love to go and see your show there.
That would be incredible,incredible, it's absolutely
incredible.
You've just got to pickwhichever show it is, whichever
Shakespearean play it is on thatappeals to you, and then just
book it and go and see it.
So even if I get restrictedview next time, I'm going
because it's just amazing justlast year having that tour
actually yeah, it was last year,last, I think October it it
(14:48):
being in there was incredible.
It is a and it's not quite onthe actual original globe um
venue.
It's like it's been.
It's moved slightly alongbecause where I think where
actually was this house is on itnow, 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 (15:06):
The atmosphere must be amazing in there.
I'd love to do that.
What is your favorite bridge inlondon?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
oh well, tower bridge .
You have to say tower bridge,don't you?
Which is really funny, becausea lot of people call it london
bridge and get confused.
Um, so tower bridge, you'll,you'll.
Tower bridge is the famous onethat you see pictures of.
Please call it tower Bridge,not London Bridge.
Um, but you know, until I wasprobably about 12 or 13, I
thought it was London Bridge.
It's one of those things thatyou kind of let actually know
it's Tower Bridge, so I thinkit's right next to the Tower of
(15:33):
London.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Even coming from the UK, we still all grew up
thinking it was the wrong name.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yes, absolutely so, and in fact the original London
Bridge was sold, I think, ins.
It's actually somewhere in theUnited States now.
I do have, though, a photo.
Now I inherited a book from mygreat-great-grandfather from the
early 1900s, so this book's 130years old actually, and it has
(15:59):
photos from around the worldfrom the 1800s, and it has a
photo of London Bridge, londonBridge, not Tower Bridge, london
Bridge, um, with with all thecarriages going over.
It looks fantastic, so I willactually put a picture of that
in the show notes.
But that's fascinating just tosee, um.
But yes, tower Bridge, I meanif you see the, now the it's
(16:20):
called Bascules.
But I mean, of course, if yousee that the things lift, if you
see the bridge lift you canactually look yeah, the lifty
bit um, it's amazing to see thatuh happen and you can actually
check.
There's a website and I'll putthat link is on the show notes
where you can check when, whenit's due to lift um, because it
(16:42):
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 inthe background.
It's really iconic.
Um, it's really funny because Ihave I'm a real fan of Robert
Wagner I shouldn't be sayingthis in the podcast, but I used
to love Heart to Heart in the1980s, giving my age away again
and there's an amazing episodewith him and stephanie powers
(17:05):
and they're on holiday in londonand there's tower bridge behind
them.
It's, it's such an iconic thing.
So get your photograph, getyour photo with tower bridge
behind you oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So what is your favorite?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
london borough oh yeah, interesting question
because obviously westminsterhas everything, um, you know,
it's got, it's got all theiconic kind of you know
parliament palaces.
It's amazing.
But I'm going to mentionGreenwich because I really like
Greenwich.
I've gone a bit Because a lotof people don't go to Greenwich.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I've never been, have you not?
No, I still have to visitLondon so many times and I've
never been.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
People don't think about goingto Greenwich and I would
honestly say jump on an Uberboat and get yourself along to
Greenwich.
It's fabulous If you're therein the summer or it's a warm day
.
Take a picnic, sit in GreenwichPark, enjoy the views.
There's so much to see and doin Greenwich.
Take a whole day.
Honestly, I honestly don'tunderstand why more people don't
(18:05):
go there.
It's the most wonderful spot.
I will share a link to ourone-day itinerary for Greenwich,
which is on the website.
So I'll put that in the shownotes because, yeah, if you
haven't considered going toGreenwich, Put it on your radar,
Go to Greenwich.
In fact, if you work for VisitGreenwich, come on the podcast
and advertise, talk aboutGreenwich to everybody and tell
them why they should come andvisit.
(18:26):
Don't leave it to me to do it.
You come and you tell everybodywhy 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 standon the meridian.
I mean you can have a foot indifferent hemispheres.
It's just great and it's sohistoric as well.
(18:47):
Yeah, so add that in.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
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 ofgoing around the iconic
locations just on a day trip.
But I think when you'replanning a few days there, then
you've got more scope to kind ofreally expand and do so many of
these different trips.
So give me loads of really goodideas for my next travels.
(19:09):
Excellent, um, this is aslightly quicker one.
What's your favoriteunderground station?
Have you got a favoriteunderground station?
Speaker 1 (19:15):
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 upthe 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 standoutside the station, you can
watch people come up the stepsand the faces, uh, because
(19:38):
there's just big ben in front ofyou and it it's fantastic.
So, yeah, it's an interesting.
It's a very deep stationbecause if you're catching
different tube lines, you canhave a lot of escalators down.
But when you come up and youcome out into the lights from
the tube station, yeah, you'llsee exactly what I mean that
sounds good.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So what's your favourite library or reading
spot in London?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
British Library Hands down.
British Library, yeah, I mean,go and see the treasures at the
British Library.
Incredible, absolutelyincredible.
You can see, honestly, thethings 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 andhave a look at the treasures of
(20:25):
the British Library.
That was one of the things thatactually I've only discovered
in the last maybe three or fouryears, over the first time that
I went there.
And again, it's somewhere thatif I get back to London soon
it'll be high on my list to goback and have another good look
around, because it's fabulous,absolutely fantastic to go back
and have another good lookaround because it's fabulous,
absolutely fantastic.
So definitely go and have alook.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It's sounding like you need to plan a month in
London at least to fit all ofthis stuff in At least.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Well, you know, I was there last year planning to do
so much.
I had so many plans of what Iwas going to do this, this, this
, this, this, this.
I overplanned, even Ioverplanned over planned, and I
didn't get anywhere near as muchas I wanted to do.
So you know, but there's alwaysnext to go back to London
exactly, exactly what's yourfavorite park in London?
yeah, we're going to talk aboutparks, gardens and streets now,
(21:10):
which is an interesting kind ofcategory, isn't it?
So?
Favorite park, I guess StJames's Park, mainly because you
can stand on the bridge and youget a fantastic view of
Buckingham Palace, but you alsoget a view of the London Eye.
Now, I know the London Eye isone of those divisive kind of
people love it or hate it.
I love the London Eye.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I really, I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh, yeah, no no, I've heard I've heard people say
about it and say it's an eyesoreand blah, blah, blah.
Actually I, I really like theLondon Eye.
I go on the London Eye everytime I go back to London.
The views you get from theLondon Eye are fabulous.
I'll probably talk about thatin another episode, maybe next
week or the following week forexperiences.
But yeah, so you get a greatview and you get great photos
because you've got BuckinghamPalace behind you and you've got
then the London Eye in front ofyou.
(21:50):
So probably, yeah, probablythat park and obviously, if you
go in spring, you've got thelovely flower beds and there's
also pelicans in that park aswell that you can check out.
Um, so yeah, but there's,there's so many parks, I guess
it's really interesting, theones that I hear about.
People always touch me at hydepark and I've yet to be
succumbed by hyde park.
I'm like my kids, like all thesquirrels yeah, yeah, I.
(22:14):
It certainly wouldn't be my topplace to recommend and go.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I'm like, yeah, if you want to walk through, yeah,
fine, and kensington gardens isnice, there's lots of nice parks
to go to, but, um, yeah, stjames's, because I feel like I'm
going from somewhere tosomewhere I was just going to
say, when you've come out of amuseum, it's quite nice to go
into a park just to kind of havea bit of downtime and a bit of
a sit down in the grass oh, Idon't do that very often.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I go to greenwich for that so what's your favorite
gardens?
Q gardens has to be cute, isn'tit?
Um, and I have an attachment toQ really, because I used to
live when I gave birth to mydaughter.
Um, he was nearly 30.
I actually did live in Londonat that time.
Um, she was born in London andI used to take the Q gardens and
(22:55):
I've got some beautiful.
I want to see some of myfavorite pictures, beautiful
pictures of me and Dominiquewhen she was a baby walking
around Kew Gardens.
I've actually got a picturewith I've got it on my shoulders
, so I don't know how old shewas, maybe about eight months
old and it was just a greatplace for us just to wander
around.
So I tried to get back.
Kew again is somewhere I triedto get back to because it's just
(23:17):
so lovely and there's so muchto see there.
And, um, yeah, I think the lasttime actually I went, I went for
the christmas trail lights thatdoug and I did that.
I think that might have beenlast year actually, and that was
that was amazing as well.
So we get opportunity to bookthat.
Do that because that's if theweather's great, which we had
fabulous weather, thank goodness.
Uh, that was a really lovelyevening, but it's lovely to
(23:38):
stroll around in the day.
If it's a nice day, it's justbeautiful again the spring, the
flowers, the different um glasshouses you can go into, yeah,
fabulous, so highly recommendKew yeah so there are green
spaces to enjoy in between allof the hectic kind of stuff that
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
What are your favorite hidden green spaces in
London?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Well, I'd heard of this one and I actually only
made it there in.
I think it was end of Januarythis year.
So I was in Edinburgh at thetime, took the train down,
actually took the Caledon no, Itook the Caledon Stoop back up
to Scotland.
I took the train down to Londonand was staying in the St
Paul's area and I heard aboutPostman's Park and I'd read
about it and I thought, well,it's not very far away.
(24:26):
So I went and had an explore andit's basically there's a
memorial wall there to people inthe 1800s who did heroic acts
like saved people from a fire orfrom under the hooves of a, of
a, of a carriage that you know ahorse from a carriage.
There's all sorts of like.
It's incredible and there'slike tiles and it's a really
peaceful little park.
So I sat there there, reallyenjoyed that.
I'll put some.
I will put some pictures ofthat in in the show notes as
(24:47):
well and it's on our if you haveour London map as well, you can
check out.
I've got a little video whichI'll add into that as well and
some photos from what I'm havinga look around Postman's Park.
But yeah, very interesting,very poignant.
It's one of those kind ofhidden gems that not a lot of
people visit or know about.
But if you're in that area, Iwould 100% recommend that you do
that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
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 kindof a nice street to wander
around, mooch about, just kindof potter around, where would
your favorite street?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
be Probably an area I guess in streets is Covent
Garden.
I mean again, anotherincredibly historic area.
You know it wasn't the areathat it is now, it wasn't quite
as salubrious in times gone past.
But Covent Garden and I knowpeople will say, oh, it's really
touristy, but you know there'swonderful street performers
(25:41):
there.
Um, go and support the streetperformers that there are, you
know, that are in that area aswell.
There's fantastic places to eat.
Um, there's some fantasticcafes.
It's this I love covent garden.
I love covent garden at anytime of year, to be honest.
Um, so I would say again, it'san area that we enjoy staying in
(26:03):
, actually, in that CoventGarden Holborn area, because
you've got the theatres, you'vegot Covent Garden, you've got
there's just always a lot goingon 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 CoventGarden it does get incredibly
busy, though I will just saythat especially at weekends in
(26:24):
the summer and Christmas iscrazy there.
But yeah, fabulous, fabulousarea.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So what's your favourite colourful street if
you're looking for somewhere forsome pretty photographs,
Notting Hill.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I had a wonderful photo shoot there a couple of
years ago with Domi from ScalingStudio and they're some of my
favorite, favorite photos thatI've ever had taken.
I'm not I don't think I'm themost photographic photogenic is
that the word Photogenic ofpeople but she took the most
amazing photos that I'm reallyproud to share.
And I mean honestly, I don'tthink you can have a bad photo
(26:54):
in Notting Hill because, oh,pastel colored houses, just you
just have to remember to berespectful because obviously
these are people's houses theylive in.
So if they've asked you not totake a photo outside, don't,
obviously don't kind of go ononto the steps and things like
that, stay outside.
But it's a stunning area and ifyou go in the beginning of May,
end of April, beginning of May,you've got the wisteria.
(27:16):
Oh my goodness, I've got somebeautiful wisteria photos as
well and actually the I wasthere, I think, also blossom
season, the cherry blossom.
So I've got some beautifulwisteria photos as well and
actually I was there alsoblossom season, the cherry
blossom, so I've got somegorgeous pictures of the cherry
blossom.
So it's a gorgeous area I'vegot actually in our London map
there is a walk-in tour that youcan take of Notting Hill as
(27:37):
well that we wrote.
So that's good, wonderful,because it's actually not as
easy as you think to find allthe different streets with the
pretty houses on it.
So we put like a little walk-inguide and it's on the map so
you can access that.
Um.
Yeah, so you can know what tofollow to get the best of
Notting Hill, because actuallyit's a it can be quite a lot of
walk-in, um, but you want tomake sure when you do it that
you get all those really prettystreets and houses and those
(27:59):
iconic photos, because it reallyis, and obviously the blue door
yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now we talked about how busy London can get.
It can get really crowded inweekends and in summertime and
at Christmas time.
What are your favorite placesto go to escape the crowds?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
and well, in the city of London you've got St John's
in the east, which is theremnants of a bombed church.
It was actually a SirChristopher Wren church, but it
was bombed in World War II andthey left the building behind
what was left and it's now apark, a little tiny park, and
it's got benches and you'll see,actually a lot of people who
(28:36):
work in the city will go andtake the sandwiches and go and
sit there.
So that's absolutely fabulousfor photos as well.
But it's also a really kind ofpeaceful place to go and just
sit and reflect and and you havesome lunch, go to boots or or
um marks and spencers orwherever tesco, go and get your
sandwiches and head down to goand sit in st dunstan's in the
east.
(28:56):
It's beautiful.
Honestly, it's a very peacefulspot yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
What's your favorite place that surprised you the
most?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
oh, I guess the league street tunnels.
Now I stayed in near waterlooum a couple years ago and we're
right beside the tunnels, so umwent 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.
Ah, okay, so basically it's umjust long tunnels and they're
absolutely covered in graffitiand street art, but fantastic,
(29:25):
fabulously beautiful, honestlyvery colorful.
There's some lovely art inthere changes all the time, um,
but go there.
If your kids are interested inkind of, you know, street art
and that sort of stuff, they goand you can actually do a little
bit tag yourself.
I think doug and I wrote ournames and did our tag UK travel
planning.
Actually, we did a tour withDiscovery of London and we went
(29:49):
there and we left our tag there.
We had some, luckily had somespray cans and we did that.
So that was really fun and it'salways been kind of redone, but
it's just a really cool placeto go and explore.
Um, so definitely, if you're inthat area, go, definitely go
and have a look and if you'vegot kids that interest in that,
go and have a walk aroundbecause you'll get some lovely
(30:10):
photos really really lovelyphotos yeah absolutely.
Your kids would love it honestlykaren definitely add it in.
I'll add it to my next listdefinitely it's getting longer.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
So what's your favorite place to have a photo
shoot?
There's just so many places inLondon to have iconic photo
shoots, but what's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
uh, or Notting Hill, it's going to be Notting Hill.
I've had lots of actually.
I have had a lot of photoshoots actually with with um
Scaling Studio, and my favoriteis still a Notting Hill.
Um, though, doug and I had somefabulous photos taken at
Westminster at the Red Phone Box.
There's a few Red Phone Boxesthere and you just get that
iconic shot Red Phone Box, bigBen in the background.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I was just going to say you've got to have Big Ben.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, so I guess those are the most iconic photos
that we've had and they arelovely.
So I would say yeah, eitherthat 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 phoneboxes and get your photo then
with Big Ben.
Yeah, so I guess that there areso many amazing places to take
(31:11):
photos in London.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Now what is your favorite placeto go to get the best London
view?
Speaker 1 (31:17):
London Eye, you know, and I've got an article about
this because obviously you cango to the Shard, you can go to
the Sky Garden, you can go.
There's quite a few places nowwhere you can go and get good
views.
Sky Garden's free, so that'salways a cool one to do.
But the London Eye gives you adifferent perspective and I
think what's interesting aboutthe London Eye is, yes, you get
a great view of the House ofParliament, you get a great view
(31:38):
of Big Ben, elizabeth Tower Iknow somebody's out there going
on Elizabeth Tower Tracy yes, Iknow.
But you also get a fantasticview of the river itself and see
how it curves around and howLondon's grown around the river.
And yeah, I just think it's oneof those iconic experiences.
Really, do London Eye.
(31:58):
Don't get put off by people onYouTube or on TikTok saying
don't do the London Eye.
Honestly, it's worth it.
And also, I think you know theyalso miss the point of London.
London is a city that'sconstantly evolving, so the new
and the old sit next to eachother and that's fine, that is
okay and that makes London so tome it's not an eyesore and
(32:23):
actually it's been around for areally long time now, so it
really is part of London.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It's not like it's a new attraction that's just
opened.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's been there for a long time, no it's part of the
London skyline, is part ofLondon, it's part of the history
of London, um, and there'snothing 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 (32:43):
Yeah, for sure and back on the topic of views.
Where's your favorite rooftopbar?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
yes, you know what?
I was pondering this becausesomebody asked this in the group
and I was kind of like you knowwhat?
I don't really think I have one.
Um, now you can.
There is the, the bar at theSky Garden, so you can get a
drink there, um, but I thinkthis is something I need to
research further sounds likesome cocktails and dinners, yeah
(33:09):
yeah.
So when I saw this question, Iwas kind of like you know what?
I don't think that I can answerthis fully.
Therefore, this is one of thequestions that I am going to do
some research and come back andanswer.
It's a hard life for somebodyif you need any help yeah,
absolutely yeah, so what's yourfavorite riverside walk?
(33:29):
uh, yeah, I guess, fromwestminster.
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 whendominique was little, when she
was a little baby, used to takeher for little strolls along
there and you've got the houseof parliament and that's just a
lovely walk down south bank.
And, yes, and it can takelonger than you think, because I
(33:50):
was actually at saint paul'slast year and had to get to, um,
the london eye because I had aslot 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, becauseit was really busy, um, and I
hadn't kind of timed it right.
So it is a long.
It is a fairly long walk.
It's a long time since I'vedone that entire walk, um, but
(34:10):
yeah, it's a really good walk.
In fact I would I'd say myfavorite 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 Iwould say just that that
particular.
And you've got the globetheater on the right hand side,
um, got the tape modern, andthen you've got the same pool.
So that's a nice walk, that one.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So I do that, yeah what's your favorite spot for
people watching?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
common garden.
Now I'm down common garden, um,you know what the best place to
stand in common garden peoplewatch is like is in, um, one of
the oh, what do you call it?
Like one of the sunken.
There's a sunken area whereyou've got all the cafe like a
big cafe, and often there'speople um playing classical
music or singing, and that's agreat place because people are
(34:56):
sitting like having their drinksand you can look, look down and
listen to the music and uh,yeah, it's amazing.
It's in kind of one of the Idon't know what you call like
one of the area internal areasof common garden itself, um, so,
yeah, I would say there andthat's really lovely at
christmas as well, becausethere's always so much going on
and it's beautifully decoratedum, but I, we also like just
(35:17):
sitting down there having it,having a drink as well, and just
people watch, yeah, yeah, andin the summer as well, they did
it.
When I think about it, there'slike a pop-up Pimms tent when it
was during, um uh, wimbledonand I sat outside on this deck
chair with my Pimms and justwatched a bit of tennis and
watched the people.
It was great.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
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 benspots and your red phone boxes.
But what's your best secretphoto spot?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
um, well, I would say the.
The view from the greenwichobservatory is amazing, um, you
get down to canary wharf andthat is I've seen that develop
over the years because canarywharf has grown and that gives
you.
You get a fabulous view down umtowards the naval college and
you've got um the the queen'shouse, and it's um, yeah, just a
great view.
(36:13):
I've got some beautiful photosof that, another one actually,
and talking about um, some Ikind of lesser known and
probably dummy from scale as you.
I don't know if I'm allowed toshare this, but I'm going to um
is to go to shad thames, whichis actually opposite the Tower
of London, and this is an areathat was a dock plant but it's
not anymore.
(36:33):
Other very, very expensiveapartments in that area, but you
get a fantastic, it's amazingstreet for a start off if you
walk along.
But you also get a fabulousviews of Tower Bridge, so you
can take really good photos fromthat side.
And also, shad Thames itself isso historic and a lot of people
don't know about it or even go.
So if you go to the Tower ofLondon and you're walking across
Tower Bridge, head left and goto Shad Thames and get some
(36:55):
other fabulous photos from there.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
That sounds good.
What would be your favouriteevening view spot?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Ah, now, easy, this one Westminster Bridge.
I was there, south Bank,looking towards Westminster
Bridge and the House ofParliament.
I was there in I think it wason my own.
Actually, I think it was beforeDoug came back last year.
I was there, I'd gone to lookat some Christmas lights and
I've got some of the mostbeautiful photos.
I will say this about my ownphotos, but they are the most
(37:23):
beautiful photos.
I will say this about my ownphotos, but they are most
beautiful photos I've ever takenand the light is like a purple
and blue and you've gotWestminster Bridge and then
you've got Big Ben and the Houseof Parliament, and they are I'm
not I sound like I'm a big headhere, but they are stunning
photos.
They're absolutely.
I'll show you in a minute,karen.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
But I will put them for everybody else.
I'm going to put them in theshow notes.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
But fantastic, actually it wasn't.
It was it'd gone dark, but itwas just.
They're amazing.
So those are my favorite photosI've ever taken sounds good.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Right now we're moving into kind of doug's realm
here a little bit.
We'll talk a little bit abouttransport.
What's your favorite train?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
station, ah, st pancras um, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
It absolutely is a beautiful train station.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
The architecture is incredible yeah, I just love it.
And you've got the Tracy MNsign as well.
When you come off, when you geton the train or off the train,
you get an Eurostar, which isamazing to see.
There's some beautiful statuesas well to look at.
It's just a fantastic station.
There's some great shops inthere.
If you want to go upstairs,there's I think it's a oyster
(38:31):
bar, champagne bar I should know.
I've never eaten there.
So if you want to, if youactually want to give me an
invite, I'll come and test it.
There's some great places to eat, but it's, you know, I just
it's a beautiful station, but Ialso I am going to mention in
second place is King's Cross.
Now King's Cross when I used togo, when I was working in
(38:51):
London in the 80s, at that pointI used to go and stay with.
Now my daughter's got parentsand they live north of London,
so I used to have to go toKing's Cross Station.
Now, king's Cross in the 80swas not a place you wanted to
spend much time.
It really had a bad reputation.
King's Cross station itself wasawful and I used to have to walk
through the station and thetrains that I would have to
catch the platforms.
(39:11):
You had to kind of walk acrossthis concrete into like this I
don't know what you call it likebuilding.
And then there was the othertwo lines that I would catch to
go and see them and it was awful.
It was just just the reallyreally 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 twoplatforms, because obviously
they're still there.
(39:32):
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?
it yeah it's lovely Like youjust look up and the
architecture, they see it justreally, really, really pretty.
They've done such a good job ofit, and especially if you can
remember what it used to be like.
Um, so a big shout out to keenscots, because it honestly looks
(39:54):
a lot better than it used toand it's actually quite pretty
now there you go.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I haven't been there for many, many years, so, yeah,
I'll have to check that out onmy next trip.
So what's your favorite market?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
in London.
Okay, well, again, there's somany markets and I don't know if
I'm going to be controversialif I say borough market, because
I know how incredibly busy itcan be and I know that people
have said they've lasted about10 minutes and left it because
it is so crowded.
So, just be aware, on aSaturday and Sunday in the run
up to Christmas, during thepopular touristy timeurday, and
sunday in the run-up tochristmas during the popular
(40:26):
touristy time, it's like in thesummer, it's incredibly busy.
Um, but again it's in.
It's a very historic areaaround borough market and I I've
done there's an ultimate foodtour with walks and devour of
that area and you learn aboutthe kind of area that that
borough market is in and thehistory of it is actually quite
fascinating.
But there's also some reallygood food.
(40:48):
So I'm gonna just say that, um,history, yep, tick that box
absolutely, really really goodfood and my favorite place for
one particular dish that Ireally enjoy is in borough
market and I really enjoyraclette um.
So I lived in in France and Ilived in Switzerland for a bit,
(41:09):
so it's basically cheese that'smelted onto um potatoes like new
potatoes, and then you have itwith pickles.
Now I'm I love pickles.
I mean, I was talking aboutthis to a friend of mine the
other day.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
I have emergency jars of pickles in my cupboard this
sounds like a place my husbandhas to go to because he's
obsessed with cheese and he'sobsessed with pickles.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Well, he would love it, he would love it.
So capocasin at the boroughmarket, absolutely everybody
goes for the toasted sandwiches,and I think that's because of
tiktok I reckon it was one ofthose tiktok things and I'm like
I don't stand in that line.
I get the raclette, and Ihonestly would say, if you're
going to go get the raclette,seriously it's just delicious.
(41:49):
They're not open every day,though, so you need to just
check if they're going to be inthe market.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely oh well, that's been
amazing.
We've I've got so many newplaces to add to my list, and
there's just so much to explorein London, so I'm looking
forward to going back again soonwell, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Well, those are kind of cover the different, the
places that I really like.
Honestly, there's so many otherplaces I wanted to talk about,
like historic, like palace, likeyou know, like I don't know,
kensington Palace.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I just want to talk about that let's be honest, we
can chat for a long time when weget going, and you know what I
feel bad for the ones I'vemissed out, because I'm thinking
, oh, I want it, so it.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
So, yeah, there's, there's.
There's so much to do and see.
There's so much on our Londontravel planning website, so go
and check that out, please.
Go and have a look at ourarticles.
Go on our YouTube channel aswell, because we'll put more and
more videos on there of thedifferent places that we'll talk
about.
Yeah, join our Facebook group.
We've got a London travelplanning Facebook group as well
(42:43):
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 yourwhere you know, what would you
have chosen?
Because I'm actually going toshare this in the Facebook group
after this episode has gone out.
I'm going to list the places Ichose and then I'm going to get
people to fill in, and I'm goingto put it on Instagram as well,
so you can fill in and tell mewhat your favorite places are,
(43:04):
just to give us some more placesto add to our list.
well, I can guarantee there'sgoing to be so many different
variations because everybodygoes and has different
experiences, they have differentinterests, but anyway those are
mine.
That that is part one.
So if you want to have a lookat any photos that are places
that I've talked about, go andcheck out the show notes at uk
travel planning, dotningcomforward slash, episode 165.
(43:26):
As I say, leave us a message onSpeakpipe.
I want to hear what you've gotto say about London and your
favorite places and in two weeksjoin us where we're going to
talk about and I'm going toshare my favorite London
experiences.
So Karen's going to be joiningme again to talk to me for that
episode, but for this one,thanks so much, karen.
(43:48):
You're very welcome and thankyou for chatting to me and
telling me all about all yourfavorite places in london.
Yeah, well, I think, beforewe'd sign off, I think it's
going to be, oh, and I willusually end with a one question,
isn't it?
What would the one place bethat for somebody going to
london for the first time and Ihave to add it in, I've just
thought about this myselfbecause I always ended the
podcast with it, and I've justthought about it Tower of London
.
Go to the Tower of London,absolutely 100%.
Do not miss that off your listand don't tell me you just saw
(44:10):
it from the outside.
Go inside the Tower of London,please.
Thank you, but that just leavesme and Karen to say until next
week, happy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
(44:33):
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.