Other Museums and Galleries, London

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The fabulous shop at the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden has long been one of my favourite retail therapy venues (in my opinion, it's the best museum shop in London), and given my fascination for public transport (trains in particular) I have no sensible explanation whatsoever why it took until my last trip to visit the museum itself. I think that part of it is that the shop stays open later than the museum - and I tend to go through Covent Garden during the evening rather than the day - and partly because this is so clearly a wonderful thing to do with kids that I wanted to wait until we were together to share the experience.

Having finally visited the museum, I cannot eulogise enough about what I have been missing all these years! In a city filled with wonderful museums, this is one of the very best, and arguably the most kid-friendly, although it will equally appeal to adults.

One of the key constraints on London's growth has always been the development of an efficient transport system, and although London Transport has its critics who often have good reason to gripe, there is no disputing that the integration of such a complex network of bus, underground and overground train systems is an extraordinary feat.

The museum traces the evolution of London's transport system from the start of the Industrial Revolution to present and is jampacked with fascinating exibits and irresistable trivia to boggle the mind of even the most jaded transport buff. Each mode of transport brings its own management challenges and the scatologically-minded will be fascinated to know that in the day when London was reliant on horse-drawn transport, the beasts produced 1000 tonnes of manure per day!

The quality of the exhibits is wonderful, and there are lots of interactive displays to keep small people occupied for hours. Obviously the highlight is the collection of beautifully restored buses, trams and tube/train carriages - some of which you can clamber into - although I confess that I felt my age when I saw that the Routemaster model of bus on which I used to commute to school is now considered to be vintage! (As an aside, if you're inspired to travel on one of the few of these iconic buses still in service, have a look at my travel tip about the No.15 service down the Strand - only a short stroll from the museum).

Even if large pieces of heavy machinery aren't your thing, it's worth visiting just to admire London Transport's distinctive poster artwork. The museum has one of the finest poster archives in the world dating back over a century - the stuff from the 1920s and 30s in particular is glorious - and, best of all, if you fall in love with it, a wonderful selection of this is available in various forms (from mugs and tea towels to jigsaws) in the London Transport museum shop.

There is a wonderful play area on the lower floor filled with transport-related toys, with an adjacent kiddy-friendly food kiosk and dining area. Volunteers are also on hand to provide demonstrations (such as showing how old ticketing machines worked), and I would imagine that it is overrrun with school groups during termtime, so perhaps bear this in mind when you plan your trip.

The admission cost (£13.50 at the time of writing in January 2011) initially seems a little steep until you realise that your ticket is valid for a whole year and that kids under 16 are admitted free. Also, the average visitor will probably want to spend at least a couple of hours here - and families should probably budget on half a day - so it is actually excellent value for more compared to London's other paying attractions.

With the evangelical zeal of the newly converted, I urge you not to miss this!

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The Museum is situated near Canary Wharf in South East London. I spent two to two and a half hours looking around and learning about London Docklands' history from the Roman Settlement to the regeneration of the docklands today. I particularly enjoyed the London Sugar and Slavery exhibition and uncovered more about London's involvement in the slave trade. As well as the slave trade, there are key exhibitions such as the 'First Port of Empire 1840-1880', 'Warehouse of the World 1880-1939' and 'Docklands at War 1938-1945'. If it wasn't for the very hot weather on the day I went I would have spent longer and gave the musuem the justice it deserved. This warrants me to do another visit in the not too distant future.

The museum is free of charge but encourages voluntary donations. There is an education centre, cafe and Rum and Sugar Restaurant.

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Some of the best Museums in London are no free! Before you think they are all strange little unknown Museums, think again. The list includes the British Museum, British Library, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum. Sound good? There is a big list here and a good weblink. Enjoy and save!

Apsley House
Bank of England Museum
Museum of Childhood
Museum of Tea & Coffee
British Museum
Carlyle's House Museum
Design Museum
Florence Nightingale Museum
Museum of Garden History
Geffrye Museum
Horniman Museum
Imperial War Museum
Keats House
Kew Bridge
Steam Museum
Household Cavalry Museum
London Canal Museum
London Transport Museum
Museum of London
National Army Museum
National Maritime Museum
Percival David Foundation Chinese Art
Royal Air Force Museum
Science Museum
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Sir John Soane's Museum
The Dicken's House Museum
The Docklands Museum
The Gilbert Collection
The Jewish Museum (Camden)
The Jewish Museum (Finchley)
The Natural History Museum
The Old Operating Theatre
Theatre Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum
Wallace Collection
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis

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The Gallery is at the entry of Somerset House. You have to pay to visit the Courtauld Gallery but you can take photos, something forbidden at the National Gallery.
It is a small museum with 15 rooms (3 for temporary exhibitions) on two floors but is has some outstanding Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings on display. There are also works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods but it are for sure the paintings from the 20th c. for which visitors pay.

Outstanding are the famous masterpieces such as van Gogh’s "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear", Manet’s great last painting "Bar aux Folies-Bergères", from Renoir "La Loge" and several paintings from Cézanne and Degas.
Closer to us in time are the French "Fauves" and a famous "Female Nude" from Modigliani. I found here also a Kandinsky, a contemporary painter I liked when I was young.

On the time of my visit there was a special exhibition "Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril - Beyond the Moulin Rouge" which attracted many British visitors.
It's a fact that the Courtauld Gallery has a public of amateurs and connoisseurs different from the public of the National Gallery.

Open: Daily 10.00 – 18.00 h (last admission 17.30)
Admission Adults £6; Concessions £4.50 (includes over 60s, international students).
Free admission for under 18s, full-time UK students.
Admission is free on Mondays from 10.00 until 14.00 (excluding public holidays).
Admission charge includes entrance to all temporary exhibitions and displays.

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What is now the art gallery known as The Haunch of Venison is a building that has changed hands numerous times since its construction. It was built in 1870 by the architect, Sir James Pennethorne, originally as the University of London. In more recent history, it was best known as the Museum of Mankind, part of the Department of Ethnography of the Museum of London, but that was replaced by the Royal Academy of Arts in 2005. Finally, in 2009, it was taken over by the Haunch of Venison, which exhibits mainly contemporary art. The building is located in Mayfair, just north of Piccadilly.

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This small museum covers all aspects of British cartoon and comic art from its origins with Hogarth, Gillray and Cruikshank to modern comics and graphic novels.

Adults can study the satire of Gillray, or admire the skill of modern graphic artists, and children (of all ages) can sit and read The Beano.

There are special exhibitions (e.g. 30 years of Steve Bell, Doctor Who in Comics) and also special events such as children's and adults' workshops on cartooning and animation. It's worth checking their website for details of what's on.

There is also a shop on the ground floor.

Open Tues-Sat 10.30-5.30, Sunday 12.00 to 5.30.

Admission £5.50, concessions £4.00 students £3.00, under 18s free.

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This small museum is housed in the former church of St Mary Lambeth. The discovery of the tomb of the 17th century plant hunters, the Tradescants, in the churchyard led to the church being saved from demolition and turned into the Museum of Garden History in 1977

The exhibition space was completely redesigned in 2008 and the Museum reopened as the Garden Museum.

The permanent collection is displayed on an upper level (accessible by lift). It includes items covering the history of gardening over the past 400 years, including early tools, the diary of a student gardener from 1914, Gertrude Jekyll's desk and tools that doubled as walking sticks so that aristocrats could remove dandelions whilst strolling round their grounds. Downstairs is a temporary exhibition space, gift shop and cafe. I can recommend the feta cheese and pepper tartlets!

Outside, there is a 17th century-style knot garden with historically authentic planting, which was opened by the Queen Mother in 1983.

It's quite small, but worth a visit for keen gardeners, or those who want to see something different.

Admission costs £7, but there is a national rail 2 for 1 offer, if you have a paper rail ticket.

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Lord Leighton was a hugely successful Victorian painter of the 'scantily-clad woman in an exotic background' school, and he must have spent a fair proportion of his earnings on this house, which should knock your socks off.

There's not much to give it away from the outside. Apart from the replica of an islamic mausoleum complete with dome with a crescent-topped finial and moorish-looking crenellations, all built from the same high-quality red brick as the house itself and the, which are . like the main house, simple but beautifullly detailed and proportioned examples of the Arts and Crafts style.

Inside is another matter entirely. After paying your money in a small lobby you go through into for its size one of the most flamboyant and extravagant buildings I've seen. As a piece of whimsy the only building I can compare it to is the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Leighton was a keen orientalist: the enfilade of rooms you first enter house his huge collection of Iznik and othe Islamic tiles. It's designed to impress and it certaily does. To give you an idea of how lush the ensemble is, I was in there for a comparitively long time before I noticed that the ceiling to the middle room was covered with gold leaf.

Two doors lead to drawing room and dining room, which are conventional for the period, and a wide marble staircase ascends to the upper floor which essentally consists of a small reception area off which is Leighton's huge studio and his spartan private quarters. And there's a nice big garden should your eyes need a rest.

Words really can't do justice to it. You have to see for yourself (their website has a good interactive tour). I loved it.