Celebrate Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square

Though Chinese New Year fell on Monday, when we began the Year of the Dragon, the annual celebrations in Trafalgar Square do not take place until today.


We are told to expect the annual parade through Chinatown, as well as 100 performers in Trafalgar Square and an exciting fireworks finale just before 6pm. Sounds smashing.

For more, see http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/4733685-chinese-new-year-in-london

Shop at Pimlico Road Farmers Market

A weekly farmers market in the firmly upmarket area known as Orange Square, on the corner of Pimlico Road and Ebury Street, SW1, Pimlico Road Farmers Market serves the cash-rich area around Sloane Square.


A range of producers show up every Saturday morning including, we are told fresh seafood from the East Anglian coast, vegetables and fruit from Chegworth Valley, and even Essex oysters when they are in season.

For more, see http://www.lfm.org.uk/markets/pimlico-road/

_{^Picture © sheilaellen used under Creative Commons^}

Eat at the Queensbury Deli

A sister establishment to fairly-standard-upmarket-North-London-pub the Queensbury, the Queensbury Deli is a fairly-standard-upmarket-North-London-cafe with a healthy patronage by Willesden Green's middle classes, and a decent place sort of place for a cup of tea and a piece of cake on a cold winters afternoon.


They also do nice sandwiches, and a range of salads and other deli items, all served with a smile, and can even produce bespoke cupcakes if that's your sort of thing. They also sell teas, cordials, wines and (in answer to any questions you might have about the possibility of noisemakers during weekday mornings) baby food.

For more, see http://www.queensburydeli.co.uk

Take a Meridian Duck Tour

To your author, there has something quite special about the yellow duck buses which stalk the streets of Waterloo, waiting to splash down into the Thames, and for those who also don't hate them there is good news, for they have come to Greenwich.


The amphibious craft, first developed for use during the Second World War, have been in London since July 2003, and are also popular in other cities around the world, and their latest London route takes tourists (and it will be tourists) on around Maritime Greenwich and onto the river for a tour which takes in views of the Millennium. At £15 a pop its shamelessly touristy, but at least it is trying.

For more, see http://www.meridianducks.com/

Walk around the Tarn, Mottingham

The Tarn, in Mottingham, is a small lake and nature reserve which once stood within the grounds of Eltham Lodge, a seventeenth century building which was itself once part of the grand estate of Eltham Palace. Whilst the Palace still stands, much of the grounds of which were subsequently adopted by the Royal Blackheath Golf Course, and the Tarn is one tiny remnant which is reminiscent of its former glory.


Home to a range of wildfowl, the lake is a great place to spot Canada Geese, Tufty Ducks, Coots, Moorhens and Mandarin Ducks. It is also said to be home to Pipistrelle Bats and your author even spotted some Parakeets in the trees during a visit last weekend.

Today, the Tarn is watched over by Greenwich Council Parks Department, and a passionate group of friends. For more information, see http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=GRN064

Browse the Caird Library

Your author took up a kind invitation from the National Maritime Museum over the weekend to visit the updated Caird Library in their brand new Sammy Ofer Wing. Named after the shipping magnate Sir James Caird, it is the largest collection of its kind in the world, and holds some fantastic documents, books, pamphlets, maps and periodicals dating from the 1400s to the present day.


The library is open to all and free, with visitors just needing to pre-register before their visit to access their vast collection, which includes the entire P&O archive, many thousands of crew and ship registers, rare and printed maps and atlases and other items covering every aspect of maritime history. They also have a particularly interesting book on old pirate haunts, the Lundy Island section of which kept your author busy for some time.

For more information, see http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/

Eat at the Garden Café

Part of the Garden Museum at Lambeth Palace, the Garden Café is a relaxing spot to while away a few hours, and offers seasonal food, as well as drinks and cakes baked in house.


The Cafe spreads itself between the inside of the museum and the interesting knot garden which, whilst not at its most impressive in winter months, still offers a sheltered spot to try to soak up some winter sunshine.

For more, see http://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/page/caf

Attend the Willesden Green Wassail

Begun way back in the midsts of time in 2010, the Willesden Green Wassail is part of the ancient midwinter tradition of blessing apple trees in order to ensure a good crop of cider apples later in the year.


Rather than the usual natural blessing, we are told that the Willesden Wassail focuses its attention on the food-sources of the urban landscape, giving attention to local shopkeepers including butchers, bakers, grocers and fishmongers.

 Potential participants should gather at Willesden Green Tube Station at 2.15pm, and learn a traditional Wassail chant to sing as they walk down the High Street. For more, see https://www.facebook.com/events/161518433944920/

_{^Picture © tnarik used under Creative Commons^}

See the Landscape Photographer of the Year exhibition

Now showing at the National Theatre is a collection of around a hundred of the best landscape photographs of 2011, in a competition designed to pick the best in the UK.


The exhibition began on 5th December 2011, and the winners have already been announced, but due to popular demand the exhibition has now been extended until 19th February.

For more information, see http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=67845

_{^Picture © Christine Matthews and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons license^}

Admire Dover House

Recently in the news as the offices of the Secretary of State for Scotland, a job which may or may not have a future, Dover House is the home of the Scotland Office, and whilst it is not open to the public, its impressive portico is a commanding sight on Whitehall.


Built on Crown land between 1755 and 1758, Dover House is still owned by the Crown Estate and leased to the Scotland Office. The building was previously a private residence home to a French ambassador and the poet Lord Byron. The building is entered through a Georgian rotunda, and its offices are often described as the best Ministerial offices on Whitehall.

For more, see http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/scotlandoffice/10184.html

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Browse the bookshop at Morden Hall Park

The tiny bookshop at the National Trust's Morden Hall Park in South London is a gem, with a pleasant selection of battered paperbacks and informative non-fiction books, and not a kindle in sight.


Part of the grounds of the old Hall, which make up the 125 acre park, the bookshop is open daily from 11am - 3pm at this time of year, and is found is in a historic building beside the old watermill, which was once used to grind tobacco for snuff.

For more, see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/morden-hall-park/.

Drink at the Gun, E14

Found beside the Thames on Coldharbour in Docklands, the Gun is a beautiful pub about which your author had heard a great deal. He was lucky, therefore, to have an opportunity to pop in on a beautifully sunny Saturday bike ride, and thankfully it was not a disappointment.


We are told that the current pub dates back to the early eighteenth century, and takes its name from a cannon fired to celebrate the opening of the West India Import Docks in 1802. It is a fitting name in an area which once housed iron foundries producing guns for the Royal Navy fleet. The owners also claim that Lord Nelson was a regular patron of The Gun, and would have secret meetings with Lady Emma Hamilton in the beautiful upstairs room, which is now fitted out as a function room called The River Room.

The pub had a roaring log fire on Saturday, and a welcoming terrace with blankets to keep your author warm as he sat watching the boats with a nice cup of tea, as sadly the food was a bit beyond budget. For weekday lunchtime diners, however, there is a more reasonably-priced menu, and the pub might even throw in a free return taxi from Canary Wharf if you ring them first to book.

For more information, see http://www.thegundocklands.com/

Take a walk around Three Mills Island

London's largest film and television studio is found just to the South of the Olympic workings of Stratford, based around a tidal mill on Three Mill Island, in Bromley-by-Bow, that can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book.


In the area, Riverside Green and Three Mills Green, offer two open spaces worthy of exploring, and though access has been limited at some points due to pre-Olympic works, they are still possible to wander, if a bit more difficult to access.

The stunning Grade I Listed House Mill, built by a Huguenot family in 1776, is a particular highlight, is open to the public at some times of the year, but more on that another time.

For more information, see http://www.leevalleypark.org.uk/en/content/cms/leisure/gardens_and_heritage/three_mills_island/three_mills_island.aspx, or for a great walk leaflet click here.

See the Dudgeons Wharf Memorial

A poignant memorial on the Isle of Dogs, the Dudgeons Wharf Memorial marks a spot where five men from the London Fire Brigade died in the greatest single loss of life since the Second World War.


The firemen died when oil tanks exploded as they tackled a riverside fire at Dudgeons Wharf on 17th July 1969. A plaque remembers Michael Gamble, John Appleby, Terrance Breen, Paul Carvosso and Alfred Smee, who had come to fight the blaze from various stations across the city when the tragic incident occurred.

For more information, see http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/PostWarFamousFires.asp

Consider the France Show

With an equal potentially to be great fun, or pretty awful, the France Show is taking place at Earls Court this weekend, with French food and wine, tourist information for those considering holidaying in France, and exhibits on art and culture in France.


Seemingly put on by Archant, the local newspaper publisher who also publish a magazine on life in France, the exhibition like many of its ilk is largely a money-making exercise, but for those like your author with a real interest in tourism and place, they do have a real fascination.

For more information, see http://www.thefranceshow.com/

_{^Picture © fesek used under Creative Commons^}