Half an hour’s boat journey from central London and closely associated with Greenwich Mean Time and the Royal Observatory and a perfect outing with plenty of museums and palaces to visit. We visit the World Heritage Site where Henry VIII’s favourite palace once stood and that now has three architectural gems – Inigo Jones’s iconic Queen’s […]

Sometimes described as the ‘hidden jewel’ of London’s art galleries, The Wallace Collection is one of the world’s finest private collections of art. This gloriously eclectic collection was built up by five generations of the Marquises of Hertford, and is renowned for its treasures of C18th French art at its most refined and sensuous. Our […]

We start by visiting the neoclassical buildings of Gothenburg born, 18C architect Sir William Chambers’ and then see the new Miles Stairs by architect Eva Jiricna (designed V&A’s Jewellery Gallery). We end in the Courtauld Gallery, the original site of the Royal Academy and the first Summer Exhibition. The gallery has a superb paintings collection, including famous works such as Manet’s Bar at Folies Bergère (see photo). This is an opportunity to see […]

The house is a treasure trove filled with history related to the Duke of Wellington, and surprisingly even has pieces of Sèvres porcelain from Napoleon’s divorce gift to Joséphine!
 Wellington was not only a military hero, he was also a bit of a ‘Ladies’ man’ and we will learn more about that. The collection also includes the centre piece of […]

The Kensington home of Victorian artist Lord Frederic Leighton has many links with the V&A, and to point these out this tour will consist of two parts. The morning session will take place in various galleries at the V&A and the afternoon one at the exotic and atmospheric Leighton House. We will focus on Islamic art and its influence on […]