UK Travel Planning

London Travel Guide [Part 2]: Must-Do Experiences, Secret Spots, and Foodie Favourites

• Tracy Collins • Episode 167

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In this episode, guest host Karen interviews Tracy about her favourite London experiences, from afternoon teas and hidden gems to festive traditions and foodie highlights.

Highlights include:
 • The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, a historic after-hours ritual
 • Afternoon teas with a twist such as Peter Pan at The Shard or the classic Ritz indulgence
 • Greenwich’s Painted Hall and the National Portrait Gallery’s world-class art
 • Foodie experiences including Devour’s pub tour and the “sushi-bar for cheese” in Seven Dials
 • Family favourites like Hamleys and the Natural History Museum
 • Seasonal sparkle with Christmas lights, festive markets and decorated shopfronts
 • Easy day trips from London, such as Portsmouth’s Mary Rose and historic dockyard

✨ Insider tip: Popular experiences book up quickly. Reserve ahead, especially for afternoon teas and special tours.

📝 Show Notes - Episode 167

🎧 Listen to next

  • Episode #161 – Top 12 Mistakes First-Time Visitors Make in London and How to Avoid Them
  • Episode #138 – Exploring London’s Iconic Sights with Discover Real London’s Black Cab Tours
  • Episode #105 – Top 10 London Experiences

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Speaker 1:

London isn't just about places, it's about experiences. So in this episode I'm sharing my absolute favourites afternoon tea with a twist, magical festive traditions, food tours, cosy pubs and those unforgettable London moments that keep me coming back for more.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. Each week, tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to this week's edition of the UK Travel Planner podcast, and this is a follow-up to my episode two weeks ago where I talked about my favourite places in London, and this time I'm talking about my favourite experiences. So I hope you enjoyed that episode and we're going to try not to repeat too many in this one for my experiences and once again we have Karen here, so thanks, Karen, for joining us to ask me all the questions about London.

Speaker 2:

Hi Tracey, it's always good fun to be back on here again and I'm going to be picking your brains all about your favourite London experiences now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and thanks to, in the different, the two Facebook groups, because we've got the UK one and the London one for um posing some of these questions. When I put it in there said what do you want to know about? And they're like, well, tell us, you know what? What do you love doing when you go? Not seeing so much, but what also do you like doing? Um, because again, there's lots to do in London, um, so we're going to talk about experiences, move away from places and talk about the actual things to do, eat and enjoy that make London so special.

Speaker 2:

Which are all the best things to do in London.

Speaker 1:

Afternoon teas and things like that.

Speaker 2:

So we're going to start off by talking about cultural tours and unique tours that you might enjoy doing. What is your favourite art gallery in London?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we've added this in because you were going to ask me about the museum, but I did talk about that last time, so we're going to avoid talking about the.

Speaker 2:

V&A again. We've heard that lots of times. We want somewhere different. We're going to talk about National Portrait Gallery.

Speaker 1:

So um the National Portrait Gallery was reopened um I think it was last year, so June last year, and I was there the day after it reopened. I think it was last year, so June last year, and I was there the day after it reopened. I think it was last year, the year before, I can't remember. It all melts into one, the time I spent.

Speaker 2:

I know, I know and it was somewhere.

Speaker 1:

June and I went and had a look around and I was just blown away. It's just so amazing, the Port Rico it just is. It's fabulous. It it's just somewhere to go and wander around. The architecture is lovely itself. I particularly like the photos. There's lots of um, there's a selection of photos of famous people and just just amazing photos taken, uh, which is in one section and that's a bit. I kind of stick some of mine because I really enjoyed it, um, but it's just a really lovely museum to wander around. It's actually actually round the corner from the National Gallery itself, which is also worth going to see. But for me, the National Portrait Gallery is just amazing. It's my favourite and also actually just a little shout out here for the Queen's House in Greenwich, because they also have a selection of interesting paintings to see as well, particularly of Henry VIII, what I remember. So go and check those out if you're going down to Greenwich. But yeah, big shout-out National Portrait Gallery, that's definitely somewhere that I enjoy going to On your list.

Speaker 2:

Okay, what's your favourite sort of extra tour, like your special?

Speaker 1:

Oh, again, everybody's going to know what I'm going to say for this one, but I love the Ceremony of the Keys. I've been very lucky to have been invited a few times now by walks to go and enjoy the VIP Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London. It's just the most unique atmosphere. You go there after it's closed, so there's just you and your small group there With the Yirman Water. You get to have a look around the Tower of London. You don't actually go in around the tower and you don't actually go in.

Speaker 1:

I've been on one of the tours where we actually went into the chapel, which was fabulous because it was like 14 of us, I think, in the chapel and he was answering loads of questions and telling us loads of stuff that I did not know. So, yeah, absolutely, ceremony of the Keys is amazing. If you can swing it to do the VIP one with walks, I would highly recommend it. If, if not, we have got information about how you can get tickets on the website. I've got a whole article about the ceremony of the keys. I'm a bit obsessed with it because it's so historic and it's something I didn't even wasn't even aware of. Your name, though, gets written in a book because you'd be there, and this has been going on for every night for hundreds of years, the same ceremony. You're not allowed to take photos of it, you're not allowed to take video of it, um, so you have to go and see it.

Speaker 1:

It's the only way that you're going to actually take part in this that sounds good.

Speaker 2:

Now what's your favorite hidden gem in london?

Speaker 1:

okay, now I don't know, I don't know if I want to call it a hidden gem, but it's definitely a gem. And again, I guess it's in greenwich, so not everybody heads over to greenwich, even though you, you absolutely should. And that's the Painted Ceiling and the Naval Hall. And again, this is somewhere that I go back to again and again, and again, because it is just stunning. It is so beautiful. Have you been? No, no all right.

Speaker 1:

No, I thought, yeah, you need to go again, I'll show you. I'm going to show Karen some photos of this afterwards because she hasn't been.

Speaker 2:

my list keeps getting longer and longer, the more that I talk to you though yeah, honestly, it is beautiful and you'll just, you can, you can actually lie back.

Speaker 1:

They've got like um seats, like flat seats, so you can kind of lie back because you need to log up to really enjoy it. So you can, you can kind of lie back and really get the full kind of just amazing beauty of it, because it is amazing, and just enjoy greenwich when you're there. So, absolutely go to greenwich, absolutely go and see the painted ceiling at the naval naval hall. Yes, don't just go, and I know, see, I can see people. I'm going to go to greenwich and I'm going to go and stand on the meridian line and I'm going to go up to the to the observatory. Yes, do that, 100, do that. But also definitely stop off and see the painted ceiling at the naval hall.

Speaker 2:

You will not regret it I need to add greenwich as a whole to my list, because I've not been there before, so it's definitely going to be somewhere that I will make the effort to go to. Now, what's your favorite day trip from london? So if you're based in london, you can easily get out and explore this one.

Speaker 1:

There's somebody asked me this and I'm like you know, actually we've done two entire episodes about this, about, uh, the best day trips from london by train, and there's just so many you can go anywhere.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can get places quite quickly because you've got direct trains, yeah well, yeah, you can go to.

Speaker 1:

You go to paris. I've done paris for the day from london. So the the amount of places you can go to is just there's. There are so many to choose from and actually trying to choose one obviously I talked about hampton court is a is very easy. I talked about that in the last episode when I was talking about places. Um and windsor is also a very, very, very easy day trip from london. In fact half day you can do um to windsor. It's not that far on the train. Again, we've got an article about that.

Speaker 1:

But I'm going to do a shout out actually for Portsmouth, going down to the naval dockyard at Portsmouth, historic naval dockyard down there, and we actually have got a podcast episode all about that, because you can go and see the Mary Rose, which was Henry VIII's flagship, which was sunk. It didn't last very long, it kind of went at harbour, sunk and so it's just, it's amazing. So they dragged it up and they have. It's the best museum I have been to in the world for showcasing anything like this. Now I have been to um Stockholm to see the, the boat there which I should know the name of, and it's gone up my head and that is also fabulous to see. But the Mary Rose, it's just so interactive. If you've got kids and have got any interest in like this, wanting to learn about history, take them, because it is brilliant Again. Portsmouth easy day trip.

Speaker 2:

I was going to say easy to get there from the train as well, because my husband's from the. Portsmouth easy day trip. I was gonna say easy to get there from the train as well, because my um, my husband's from the Portsmouth kind of area, so I know that quite well. Um, and also you can get the Spinnaker Tower while you're there.

Speaker 1:

You can you can yeah, so yes, and get a great view, so I would yeah. So there's so many, and obviously you know Bath, oxford, cambridge, canterbury, brighton, um, you know, the list goes on and on and on. Did I mention bath?

Speaker 2:

already. I mean you like, and it depends on what you want from winchester yes, winchester, oh yeah there's just so many places.

Speaker 1:

so actually listen to our podcast episodes about the two different places, and we are going to be again adding to our youtube with different videos about how to get to these different places from london by train. Uh, soon as well. So you can kind of. So it's not hard and if you want to, you can always do it on tour. A lot of these places you can access on tour as well. But, yeah, I mean yes, lots of places to choose from Depends on your interests. If you're not sure, get in touch, leave us on in the Facebook group, let us know these are my interests. What do you recommend as a day trip? Because we can help you with that.

Speaker 2:

We can give you advice and Tracy would have done all of them, yes, multiple times. Yes. So what's your favorite food tour? This is an important one. I know food tours are important to you.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I love food tours and you know again, this is one I've talked about and I don't want to go on and on and on on the podcast about the same stuff. I go on and on and on on the podcast about the same stuff, but I guess if I really enjoy it it's going to come up and that's the Taste Tales and Traditional Ales Devour Food Tour, which takes you around some of the old, historic pubs in the city of London and, amazing, you learn so much. Not only do you get to try the food and drink, which is fantastic, but you learn about the history of these pubs as well. You can see where Charles Dickens sat and had a drink.

Speaker 2:

What kind of foods do you have on this tour? I'm really intrigued. Is it sort of slightly strange quirky foods, or is it?

Speaker 1:

No, it's kind of traditional, I guess, the sort of things you like sausage, roll, scotch egg, that sort of thing. So yeah, I'm trying to think of some of the other foods we have, but that sort all kind of traditional kind of british snacky kind of foods, um, that you have. So, yeah, really good pork pies. Another one we had, um. So I think the food and the drink is all kind of all part of learning as well about history of the those pubs and who drank there and who met there and yeah, very I would highly recommend it.

Speaker 1:

It's a tour that I I've done a couple of times and the first time I did that to I talked to my friend Terry and she's still talking about it. She tells all her friends about this tour because she loved it and she's from London. She's from London and didn't know about all of these pubs and the history of all these pubs. So you know, this is even people from London who learn about this stuff. So I'd highly recommend that one. And obviously they've got a. They've got the ultimate food tour, which is borough market, which I also enjoy, and it goes to leaden hall market as well, now included in that tour. So if you want to try food tours. Um, I have actually a whole article on the london travel planner website with a list of different food tours, depending on what you're interested in, like if you're into cheese or if you're into gin, or if you know. There's lots of different food tours as well that can focus on that. Um, so yeah, so take a, take a look at that. I'm always happy to do a food tour.

Speaker 2:

To be honest, it doesn't matter where I am. It doesn't take any persuading does it so okay. So now we're going to talk about different seasons, so what's your favorite time of the year to visit London?

Speaker 1:

Christmas. Everybody knows I'm going to say Christmas, yeah, except it's also crazy Freezing cold, I'm busy, oh, I'm cold, but it's so busy, so busy. Yeah, I was there last Christmas. That's the only downside. Okay, it's because, like, everybody wants to go and experience the Christmas lights and you know, british people go, people who live outside of London go into London to see the Christmas lights because they are spectacular, they're lovely, the shops are so beautifully decorated. It's got a wonderful atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

Covent Garden at Christmas is so lovely and I'm talking about not Christmas Day and Boxing Day, because it's a whole different thing. Things are quite quiet. So I think people think they're going to go to London on Christmas Day and everything's going to be open. It isn't so. I'm just going to say that now. But that kind of build up to christmas season is just fantastic. It is a lovely, lovely time of year to visit. Wrap up, warmly, put in a scarf, your gloved hat and just go and have some mulled wine and you'll see people selling chestnuts and yeah, it's, it is. It's a fabulous time of year to visit and also pantomimes as well.

Speaker 1:

Go and see a pantomime in the theater.

Speaker 2:

You know I was trying to explain to my kids who've grown up in Australia what a pantomime was all about, because they had no idea what it was all about.

Speaker 1:

How do I describe it? I don't know how to. It's like well, it's fun.

Speaker 2:

That's the best way to describe it.

Speaker 1:

It's a huge tradition in the UK and when my daughter was small, every Boxing Day we'd go to pantomime. And he goes oh no, you didn't. Oh, yes, we did. If you're going to see a pantomime, I know, you'll know exactly what I mean when I say that. But yeah, I think December is such a lovely time to be in London. Yeah, it really is. I'd love to snow. It didn't snow last year and I know I think it was the year before, was it? When I wasn't there and I don't mean my friend from sailing scale in the studio. She sent me all these beautiful. It was beginning of December and they had loads of snow. I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 2:

I was like, oh, you're lucky, because it just looks even more beautiful under the snow yeah, and I think to us both of us living in Australia now, having come from the UK it's. It feels Christmassy when it's cold and yes, whereas here. I mean I I love christmas here. I do love the sunshine and the heat, but it is it's definitely got a different experience to it when you go back for a nice cold, cozy kind of christmas with your log fires and the pubs and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, absolutely you're right, because, um, because I kind of grew up in between the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, so so I had a mixture of both. I would have either Christmases in the heat, in the beach, and then Christmases where it was cold, around the log fire and the you know frosty or snow, and I prefer the cold. I do prefer, I do. Yeah, if I could choose, every year, I'd spend that 10 days somewhere. It doesn't have to be in the UK. Actually, it could be in Switzerland. I've spent Christmas in Switzerland, in a lovely chalet in the Swiss Alps, so I don't mind really as long as it's cold and cute and cozy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, switzerland's on my son's list. Actually, we were driving to school this morning and we were talking about our upcoming UK trip, because we're going back in September for a few weeks, and he was saying can we go to Switzerland while we're there?

Speaker 1:

all right, he's obviously just seen it on the internet and started doing some research about places to go, so I'm going to tell you, actually I went from London actually from north of London from when we were living to my mum's house in Switzerland in a day by train.

Speaker 2:

Wow yeah, so that is doable too absolutely so.

Speaker 1:

Um, maybe you should tell him he can do it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and we'll come back and talk about it on your global travel planning podcast as well, absolutely cool. So what's your favorite shop at christmas? Obviously we talked a bit about how busy london is and obviously christmas shopping in london would be pretty, pretty chaotic. What's your favorite shop for?

Speaker 1:

christmas. Yeah, favorite shop at christmas is gotta it's gotta be Fortnum and Mason. Um, even though it does get crazy, crazy, crazy busy and I'm gonna because it it does and you can't get moved. In fact, I think last year, the the last time I went to visit Fortnum and Mason, I just I didn't stay in there very long because it was so it was a bit too crowded for me.

Speaker 1:

Um, even on the kind of walking up the stairs going up to, like, the second floor, there's a lot of christmas decorations and stuff, because I love the christmas shops, so a lot of the shops as well as being decorated. But they'll start like having a christmas section where you can go and buy christmas decorations and things like that. So in fortnum mason last year well, last year, and it goes on to january as well you can go and buy all the christmas decorations and it was just it was, it was lovely and also you can stand um, and they have like a central bit in fortnum and mason and they have a different every year. They have something different. Um, come on up and down with some music so you can you can enjoy that as well take videos of that um, and obviously it's just a pretty. It's just just a lovely shop anyway, but at Christmas it does get crazy. It really is like the hampers, the decorations, it really it's like a Christmas film set. It's like something out of Hollywood.

Speaker 2:

You know when you think about these Christmas movies.

Speaker 1:

It really looks like that. Yeah, and also, apparently I have not done this, but I think it's £25. I'm going to say that to ship, it doesn't matter how much you buy from Fortnum Mason, you can ship it back to the United States, or?

Speaker 2:

anywhere, I guess.

Speaker 1:

But I know I've heard from some of our listeners that I think it's £25, maybe it's US$25, and you can ship whatever you want from, I believe from Fortnum Mason. So go and do some shopping and send your stuff back home.

Speaker 2:

Well, I was like you collect fridge magnets. I like collecting an ornament, like a Christmas ornament, from different places we go, so that sounds really good for collecting that unique bit of Christmas decorations.

Speaker 1:

Can I just also give a shout out to Liberty as well, because Liberty's is amazing, and last year that was my second favorite shop to go and wander around. Liberty's is amazing anyway, because the fabric is just gorgeous so I can just walk around having a look at their. Oh just, the material is beautiful, um, but they had a fabulous christmas shop as well, and it's just. It's such a lovely historic building that is set in as well. Um, so definitely go to liberties and go and check out their christmas shop as well. It's not that far from fortnum and mason, so have, have a walk around there and, and yeah, shop to your heart's content so we talked a bit about christmas lights just there, while we're getting in the festive season.

Speaker 2:

What is your favorite way to see the christmas lights in london?

Speaker 1:

um, well, I actually kind of walk. I did it, but I did it because if you're walking around, you get to see some places that you can't get to by like bus or by car or um, you know, it's just because it is so crowded. And I've done a few of the busters, and the busters are good I'm not going to put anybody off them, they are good but they are quite slow. Um so, but you do get unique view because you're obviously higher up. So then, especially someone like oxford Street, when you come down, you get a great view of the angels. Um, but you've got to be patient because it does take quite a while and you London traffic yes, busy Christmas time, yeah, so it can take.

Speaker 1:

It can take quite a while, um, but I don't want to put you off because it's also a great way to do it.

Speaker 1:

But, honestly, getting off, just getting a bus or getting a tube and figuring out where the Christmas lights are and I have got an article on the website about where the different Christmas lights are and on our London map as well, so you can map In fact, what I might try and get on that is where the different lights are and map a route as well so that you can follow it.

Speaker 1:

If you decide to do it independently, alternatively, what you can do is, if you want to do it privately, with Discover Real London. They do have a black cab tour that you can go, and black cabs can go places that buses and normal cars can't, so they can take you to see all the best lights and, honestly, that's probably a really good way to do it as well, if you can afford it, because they'll take and you can hop out, go and admire the lights, hop back in the cab and they'll take you to the next place to look at the lights. Um, I found last year that they were quite spread out. So I spread it out over a few visits into the centre of London because I was tired, it was a lot of walking and I was like okay.

Speaker 1:

And I was taking a lot of videos and photos. I did the bus trip as well, so you've got different options, but a place like Common Garden you've got to be on foot anyway, because there's no, it's. Enjoy the christmas lights. Don't. Don't not figure out where they are. Find out where they are and plan a route and go and see them, because they are very, very special in london. They are beautiful, beautiful lights, and I mean doug and I did a whole tour, uh, quite a lot of european cities last december and I still think london had like the best decorations.

Speaker 2:

It's pretty special definitely so let's talk now about food and drink again. Um, your favorite topic. This is a topic I see coming up quite a lot in your facebook group as well about what is your, what's the best afternoon tea?

Speaker 1:

right.

Speaker 2:

So I'm gonna say I'm still testing, right we need to both go back and test all of the afternoon teas and then we can review this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so if you have an afternoon tea in london and you'd like to invite me to come and test it, please do me. Please get in touch, um, because there are a lot and I also have to be careful that I can't I can't have too many because I will put on weight, so I'll try to do a few every time I'm in London, um, but I think Doug and I still hark back to our Peter Pan afternoon tea, which we did at the shard, because it was just. I got dressed up, because I had a nice dress on, because I just had a photo shoot and we just it was lovely. It's a great view from the shard, um, and it was a, it was. It was a themed afternoon tea. So you've got a choice.

Speaker 1:

In london you can do a themed afternoon tea which like peter pan or alice in wonderland. For example, there's charlie and chocolate factory. There's lots of different themed teas and I love them as well. I think they're really cool. And there's also traditional afternoon tea. So if you can like something like Fortnum and Mason or the Ritz, they're traditional afternoon teas. So if you want that kind of traditional English afternoon tea, then choose that one. If you want a themed afternoon tea, then you have plenty of options. Um, we just enjoyed the peter pan one. It was really quirky, it was really. It was really fun. We had great views of london while we're enjoying our afternoon tea. Um, I'm always up for trying lots of different afternoon teas. There are just so many choices in london that I don't think it's possible that I could try all of them, though I would give it a really good go.

Speaker 2:

So can you tell us a little bit about what was involved in the Peter Pan afternoon tea?

Speaker 1:

Well, it's kind of the usual. You know you get your sandwiches, so you have your savoury and your sweet, and you also have a scone.

Speaker 2:

So where did the Peter Pan thing come in though?

Speaker 1:

Well, it was a boat, so it was a boat, a Peter Pan boat, and there was smoke come out of the boat and everything was like the sandwiches and the desserts had Peter Pan theme, so you had to open like a chest to get, you know, some of the sandwiches I think sandwiches I can't remember now and there was like a little tinkerbell on one of the cakes. It was just all kind of that theme and it was very theatrical, very cool, a lot, really fun. Um, tasty as well, because what you don't want to do is have an afternoon tea and the food's not very good because it's all about the food exactly exactly.

Speaker 1:

You want the theme to be good, to be themed, but you want the food to be good, so I think that was probably probably my favorite one. I did alice in wonderland, one actually, which I was invited to very kindly by one of our listeners in London last year, which was also. It was just so cool how they interpret everything. And there was one drink where you poured something else in and it changed color and yeah, yeah it was really good fun.

Speaker 1:

So, and there's lots of, there's just so many themed ones that I want to try and then the change as well, so over seasons they can change the different themes, um. So, yeah, just, we've got an article. Have a look on the article, um, at the different, you know, the different themed ones and the different traditional ones. I would just say that book ahead though, because afternoon teas do get booked up, um, because they're popular. Now, if you're British and listen to this and go and well, british people don't have afternoon teas, because I've had this somebody say to me, I'm like, yes, we do, yes, we do, we love afternoon teas.

Speaker 2:

I'm actually having afternoon tea in lincolnshire when I go back to a nice hotel. We've got that booked and organized already. So yeah, we do.

Speaker 1:

We do afternoon teas. It's a it's a treat thing. It's something I would take, like for my mom's 80th I I took her for afternoon tea in the Cotswolds. So yes, we do love afternoon tea and it's still my dream. My mum is going to be she will hate me saying this, but she's going to be 83 coming up next year and I really would love to take her to the Ritz for afternoon tea. It's been on my kind of wish list for her for a long, long time. I have not been to the Brits for afternoon tea. It's like I guess it's the pinnacle for Brits, isn't it, of posh afternoon tea, very dressed up, very dressed up. So that's on my kind of massive wish list, but I'm happy to try any afternoon tea in London or in fact the UK, or in fact the world.

Speaker 1:

Or any food, really Just any food tour, any afternoon tea, yeah, those things. The only thing I have to say I'm not a massive scone fan. Yeah, I'm not scone. I'm from the north.

Speaker 2:

It's a scone, I'm from the north too, but a bit less north than tracy. You can tell by her accent do you say scone or scone?

Speaker 1:

I say scone I say, scone, you're a southern. I'm sorry that has officially made you a southerner? You can't, it's a scone, noone. No, no, no. Well, anyway, I'm not a massive.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to skirt that I love a good scone?

Speaker 1:

No, not a scone. I'm really not a scone fan. I love a cheese scone, though.

Speaker 2:

Oh no, no, Because you don't like cheese, don't?

Speaker 1:

put cheddar in my cheese. Yeah, so I like cheese scone, some fantastic scones and some not so fantastic scones, and I guess that's how you judge an afternoon tea.

Speaker 2:

so I'm probably not the best person, because I'm not also important to say, I think, is in england when you have a cream tea, you get really delicious clotted cream with your scone, whereas in other countries you get kind of different whipped cream and different things with your scones, but clotted cream yeah, which is banned in lots of countries.

Speaker 1:

You can't get clotted cream, and, yeah, it's banned in america, you can't get it. And there's other places that you cannot get clotted cream yeah, um, you can't, but you can't get it in other places. So I'll just say cream tea is different from an afternoon tea. So cream tea, scone, yeah, scone. Jam cream, yeah, tea, but that also can be incorporated into an afternoon.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it can be.

Speaker 1:

Yes with the cream, but yeah so. But you can go to a place, you could go to a cafe and just have a cream tea and not have the afternoon tea as in with the sandwiches and stuff, because that's a bit bit of a bigger deal because you're going to get more food. I have to say, generally I can't eat all the food on an afternoon tea, just can't um. And also I'm just gonna say as well that it's not high tea, just for the Australians out there who are listening because I get this all the time that they're going for high tea. High tea is not afternoon tea, because that's what they mean and I know in Australia they call it something. You call it high tea. High tea in the UK is something different. It's actually a meal I have not heard of it.

Speaker 2:

Did you know that? I just thought they were the same thing no, no, when you're british. And I didn't know, I just thought high tea and afternoon tea were the same thing, not the same.

Speaker 1:

No, what's high tea? High tea is basically a sit-down meal, as in a, a hot meal. Yeah, not afternoon tea, which is a cup of tea, your scone, your sandwiches in your, you know little fantasy.

Speaker 2:

Now we're going to get into a whole different language thing because, like, being from up north, you call your dinner tea up north, yeah, or supper, yeah, like when I grew up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was like there was breakfast, lunch and tea and supper. Oh okay, yeah, um, where's it?

Speaker 2:

yeah, but again, that's a whole episode that's a whole episode of language, whole episode about different things. We need to bring a southerner on as well to just kind of balance it out, because I'm kind of middle of the country.

Speaker 1:

You're north of the country and yeah, I was gonna say, let's just get this straight. I'm from the north. Well, I'm from the north too.

Speaker 2:

You're not, you're not, I am I'm from south yorkshire, from sheffield, which is north is, but not as north as tracy but she still says scones, so anyway but I say bath and and glass, right, okay, I'll let you northern pronunciations.

Speaker 1:

Right. Well, we can talk about this all day. Well, this is definitely another episode. Should we get back to food?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I told you we can talk a long time about all this stuff, right? What's your favorite cafe in London?

Speaker 1:

Oh, definitely, cafe at the Crypt, which is on Trafalgar Square. It's St Martin's-in-the-Field Church, again, I guess a bit of a hidden one, not necessarily hidden one, not necessarily people know about it, but I've been talking about it for a long time, so I guess people do now. Um, yeah, I go. So the ideal thing for me is to go to trafalgar square, go to the national portrait gallery and then pop over to cafe in the crypt, which is what it is.

Speaker 1:

it's a cafe in a crypt, so you go downstairs and yes so there's um flagstones or graves, um, which sounds a bit weird, but actually it's in the food they do really really good food and reasonable prices. Um so, if you're in that area, last year I did the one day um in london tour with walks with melissa, my friend who did. She was solo in london last year and I joined her for that um that that tour, and you have a break in the middle of the day and she didn't know about. So that's where we went for lunch and had a lovely lunch and she was like well, this is amazing. Um, so, cafe in the crypt, st martin's in the field, trafalgar square, absolutely 100, and of course, the other one other cafe is the vna. Cafe is also a must do. If you're the vna, do not miss that cafe yeah, now next one.

Speaker 2:

My husband's going to be interested in this one. What is your favorite place to get a scotch egg? And you might need to explain to people do they have scotch eggs in the US? I don't know whether they have scotch eggs. I don't think so, or is it a?

Speaker 1:

very British thing. I think one is very British In fact. Well, it was actually invented at the place I'm going to talk about. So a scotch egg basically is an egg, cooked egg, encased in sausage meat which is then dipped in breadcrumbs and then it's fried and it's absolutely delicious. I'm pulling a face here. I love Scotch eggs and the place to have a Scotch egg 100% is at Fortnum Mason.

Speaker 1:

Now, fortnum Mason invented the Scotch egg, and they were invented, I guess, at that time, because people and I wish I could remember all the details if you go and have a scotch egg, um, and it's the the like a screamy parlor place on the first floor at Fortnum and Mason, that's where you get your scotch egg and it comes with the best pickle lily in the world you and your pickles.

Speaker 1:

But it is, it's amazing, and so the guy was telling me last year that it was invented it at ford number mason. And I guess because, um, at that point people would bring in the coaches into london and had the you know, horse-drawn coaches and they would pull up and they needed something that they could eat, as they were kind of, I guess, taking the carriage along and so they would have a snack and they invented this because they're in breadcrumbs, so they can be eaten, not messy, and you've got the sausage meat and then you've got the egg in the center. So either have it with piccadilly or have it with brown hp sauce here I'm northern brown sauce do you work?

Speaker 2:

would you have a brown sauce? I don't eat scotch eggs or brown sauce, so maybe, maybe I'm not really northern after. No, I don't.

Speaker 1:

I don't think you are I don't think you are, so if you're listening to this and you're confused about this discussion, it's because there's a the whole north south divide in the uk is a big thing. I'm from the north, so hence my accent. I'm not posh. I don't say things like bath or scone. I say bath, scone, that sort of word. So it's a different way that we talk. But anyway, so, yes, so I would highly recommend. I know your husband likes scotch eggs so next time heotch eggs.

Speaker 2:

He likes Cornish pasties as well. I'm sure we'll add that to another list in the future. For your best place to get a Cornish pasty it's obviously got to be Cornwall, but is there anywhere in London to get a Cornish pasty?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's a good question actually I don't know If you know where to get a good.

Speaker 2:

Cornish pasty market on one of the tours. Actually that was really good, um, but yeah, let me know, let me know. I want to know right now sunday roast is classic, classic thing to go and get in a pub in london. Have you got a favorite spot to go and get one?

Speaker 1:

you know this is a. This comes up all the time in the facebook group and I have to say I have tried some that have been more disappointing than good, and I think we have very high standards about what we expect from a Sunday roast and I think a lot of them can become touristy.

Speaker 2:

I was just going to say, and also we grew up with family roasts, which makes it very hard for, I think, for a pub to compare with, like your mum's Sunday roast dinner.

Speaker 1:

Or my grandmother's Yorkshire puddings were the best in the world and so, yes, absolutely so. I think this is something again that I need to do more research on. I know we've had quite a few people who've recommended pubs that they've had a good Sunday roast in, and I've added them to the London map and I do keep track of that sort of thing because obviously, much as I'd like to, I can't try all the food in London. Um, but I will try and make more of an effort next time in London to make sure that I have a sundae roast. I have done it in the past, but I'm not going to give a shout out to where I had sundae roast because we're disappointed, um, in some of the pubs.

Speaker 1:

But, yeah, I've heard some good things about some of the chains, particularly Black Clock that comes up all the time saying that it's very, very good. They have a good roast there, so very generous portions from what he has. So, yes, so that's one that I will try when I get back, and there's quite a few different Blacklock Sunday roast venues throughout London so you can try those. So hands up on that one. It is a very difficult one, it's very subjective and I know it's a bit like fish and chips which I'm not going to get into in this episode because I know I'm going to be asked about fish and chips, and I don't.

Speaker 2:

But fish and chips are better from the north, they are better from the north and I actually don't particularly like fish.

Speaker 1:

So that is also controversial, so I'm not keen. So maybe I could talk about the best chips but not the best fish and chips, um, but yeah, so that. So that one, I think um, again, just have a look at the map and again in the facebook group ask that, because again standards change, chefs change, so things that might be good this minute aren't so good, you know, in six months time.

Speaker 2:

So so I'd check on that one yeah, and if you've got a favorite pub, even if it's not for Sunday roast, for just going for a drink or meal.

Speaker 1:

Oh, to be honest, I guess, again the pubs there's so many, there's so many to choose from, and again a lot of them kind of I've been to and then tried a different one and tried a different one, tried a different one. I don't have a local in London soon, so I guess that a lot of people who live in london are going to have their local that they're going to you, say in different places all the time.

Speaker 2:

So you you will have different locals depending on where you're staying yeah, exactly so try different ones.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, if you want to try pubs, do that. Do that. Taste tales and traditional ales, food and pubter with with devour, because that way you'll get to see even some of the pubs that I didn't know about, terry didn't know about that are so historic, um, that you will learn about the history of them as well. So you're not just having a pint or, you know, having a drink there, you actually learn about the history of the pub because there's just there's so many amazing pubs to to go and have a drink at and just learn the history of it and figure out you know who actually drank there in the past is always there. That's my game up like yeah right.

Speaker 2:

So what is your favorite food overall in london? Your overall food experience?

Speaker 1:

well, I know I was talking about the raclette at cabercase and borough market, but I'm also going to talk about one that we always mention when we do um consults about london, because we do do itinerary consults, and one that I always recommend is the cheese bar at the Seven Dials near Covent Garden. Honestly, that is. We go every single time. I've taken all my friends there and it's basically like a sushi bar for cheese.

Speaker 1:

Now, you don't like cheese so this isn't an ideal place for you, karen, but not only that. They pair the cheeses with the most amazing different choices of um, whether it might be sometimes, sometimes they're sweet, sometimes they're savory, um accompaniments, and I always order a glass of port and it comes with pickles, you know, comes with pickles, um, and you, basically you just choose the different prices depending on the color of the bowl that it's in. You just they'll give you um crackers for free, um, and you just take off, there's a, give you a sheet with different, the different cheeses, the different prices. A bit of history about cheese, but a history of, like, what were different, what they're actually paired with um, and you know, I, I sit in my glass of port and just just eat my body weight and cheese it sounds like my husband's ideal trip actually, yeah, so go to the cheese bar the seven dials if you like cheese seriously, you need to add this into your itinerary okay, let's go back around to talk about shopping experiences now.

Speaker 2:

What's your favorite?

Speaker 1:

gift shop right. Any of the museum gift shops absolutely yeah, absolutely head to the museum gift shops. The vna one is fantastic, the british museum one is fantastic. To be honest, all of them are really good all of the museums to take back as well the perfect, perfect, perfect place to go and buy your presents for people and souvenirs for yourself.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, I always spend, I like, enjoy the museums, but I also love the time in the gift shop as well and you can get some fantastic things. I guess probably the one. I would say that well, all of them are really good, but the V&A also has got a fantastic gift shop, but any of them. Honestly, you can get some fantastic, brilliant presents there and brilliant things for yourself. So, yeah, museum gift shops 100%. Wherever you are, whether in London or not, actually the gift shops are always fantastic.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no for sure. And where's your favourite bookshop? Do you have one of those in London?

Speaker 1:

Oh, you know, I used to work just off Oxford Street and I used to spend a lot of time wandering around the bookstores on Charncross Road. But actually I'm going to mention a cute one that everybody wants to go to and that is the travel bookshop in Notting Hill.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it's there.

Speaker 1:

It's actually an actual bookshop. Yeah, you can go in the bookshop. So you know if you're doing the Notting Hill itinerary, you're walking around, you know we share that on the map and you can just take your photos. You can go to the Blue Door and you can go into the bookshop and have a look at.

Speaker 2:

You know the travel books and yeah, hope that you're going to meet Hugh Grant. That's fun and yeah, hope that you're going to meet Hugh Grant. That's when I watched it, actually on the plane. Last time I went back to the UK because I hadn't seen it for many, many years, so I watched it again that's a lovely movie. I do love it. It's great, um so, in terms of places to stay in London, you stay all over the place. Do you have a favorite hotel?

Speaker 1:

you know what actually I thought about this one actually and I don't, because we get asked this again a lot and, to be honest, we've stayed. We try to stay in a different location every time we come back to London and we also try different variations on cost. So we try to do more budget to the expensive, so obviously the expensive one. We can't do as many nights as I'd love to, or you know any of those five-star hotels. Again, if you want to invite Doug and I to stay, please feel free, um, cause we'd love to share your hotel with our audience. But equally, um, I've stayed in some of like. I stayed in Holborn at the Zed hotel when I was there on my own cause that's more budget friendly and that was fine. Um, it was a nice hotel.

Speaker 1:

I've I've stayed in lots of different hotels in London, um, because we want to try the areas out, because we recommend to people. So we kind of need to go and check out and try it out and, you know, decide whether, yeah, this is somewhere that we happen to recommend this area because. And so I think the next area that I want to stay in because I haven't is around Paddington, because I keep hearing about that area around Paddington. I actually haven't stayed in that area, but no favorite hotel. I don't have a favorite hotel yet, but happy to you know, try some out so I can give some recommendations.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, we do have a guide to where to stay in London which talks about all the different areas and who to suit, and also they've got different. You know costings of different hotels. London is not cheap to stay in, I'm not going to lie. It's inexpensive. You need to kind of budget for the accommodation in London. But we do have in there, you know, anything from five-star down to your more budget-friendly hotels in there. I also have a list for kind of best mid-range hotels, best hotels for families, best hotels for for large groups. So those are all on the uk and london travel planning websites. So do check those out. But I think start with our guide to the different areas and who's in suit and then start looking at the hotel after that.

Speaker 2:

I think that that's a good way to do it yeah, there's a lot to navigate when it comes to planning a london trip, because there's so many different places. It's such a big area and, yeah, trying to narrow down where to stay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the one that we. The one thing we say and I again, I guess people can argue with me on this one but is we say stay in the centre of London. Just, I don't, you know, unless you want to be traveling backwards and forwards on public transport all the time, then stay fairly close to that zone one, or in zone one, and a lot of it's more for the end of the day, to be honest, because at the end of the day you're tired. You've walked a lot and for me, um, I'm nearly 60 I don't want to be spending um half an hour 40 minutes getting back to my accommodation and then having a walk. That's me.

Speaker 1:

So that's how I think about it. So you know, I'd prefer to stay somewhere a bit more central. Might be a little bit more expensive, but I kind of balance it with, you know, my enjoyment factor. I'm on holiday, I want to enjoy it. I don't want to be spending my whole time on the tube or a bus getting backwards and forwards. So that's the way I look at it yeah, no good way to look at it.

Speaker 2:

Have you got any favorite sort of childhood spots or spots that are great for families who are travelling with kids?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, the first time I went to London, I think, was about 1975. And I was chatting to Carol, actually, who sent me an email, who'd recently been to London. She was actually studying in London at that time, anyway, so shout out to Carol, but I was talking about it and actually I was about eight at the time. I'm giving away my age here, aren't I? Anyway, I was about eight at the time and, um, I went down with my dad and I can remember that time because at that point, the BT Tower, which it was the tallest building in London, which is ridiculous because it's so tiny now when you look at the, you won't even see the BT Tower, if I'm talking about you, probably um, because it's just been dwarfed by everything else, and so that was a magical trip.

Speaker 1:

So I have some things associated with that trip, and one is a trip to Hamleys. So my dad took myself and my brother to Hamleys, which is the big toy store on Regent Street, and we were allowed to buy one thing and I loved it, and I still go back to Hamleys and love Hamleys. Yeah, that was so cool. So go to Hamleys and love Hamleys. Um, yeah, that was so cool. So go to Hamleys, take your kids to Hamleys. It's very, very cool there, um, and at Christmas, it's just, it's really special at Christmas as well um, and the other place, our favorite childhood spot, and again somewhere. I took my daughter over and over again and every British child has been to is the Natural History Museum.

Speaker 1:

It's amazing, yeah, it is fantastic. Uh, now it's free. And also, I will say, because I do get sometimes people say, well, you know, the museums in the states are very good music. Yes, I'm sure that. But yeah, they're free. In london they're free, um, and the natural history museum is fabulous. It's just somewhere that, honestly, every british person, if you ask where did they go, which museum did they go to as a child, they will have gone to the natural history museum it's fantastic and it's so huge you can spend easily spend a full day there, or even go back two days in a row and still be looking around it well, my aim last trip was last year.

Speaker 1:

I was, I went to the vna, of course, and then I went to the science museum and my aim was to then fit the natural history museum in that day. Not a chance, I just couldn't, and really you have to give yourself a whole day. I will also say um, doug and, and I wanted to go to the Natural History Museum a couple of years ago when we were there at Christmas so it was probably December 22nd, something like that it was a rainy day in London, everybody was off. We didn't book a slot, so it's not on the hand for me for not doing that and we got there and the queues were huge.

Speaker 2:

So it is free, but you do still need to go online and book your ticket, don't you?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, if you're going on a busy time like that. If you're going and it's not school holidays or weekend or you know raining, you'll be fine, but we went earlier. On the end it was not a problem. But at that particular time, a few days before Christmas, because everybody's off in London as well going to take the kids to the Natural History Museum, oh, I remember wandering around there once and seeing Alan Davis, the comedian, yeah, who I really like.

Speaker 2:

Yes, actually you do randomly see sort of famous people and it's quite exciting when you're walking around, yeah, and it was great.

Speaker 1:

I was like, wow, my goodness, like yeah, I was a bit starstruck because I really like Alan Davis. So yeah, that was really cool to visit. So do include the museums. And one last thing I also remember I'm going to say this as well is that my dad took us to a place to eat off piccadilly circus and I remember seeing the billboards and I've not seen anything like that the billboards at piccadilly circus. It was night time, it was dark, and we took us to this um place for um dinner. We went down some steps and we had dinner. I can't remember what the main course was, but I'll never forget it was the first time that I had Black Forest Ghetto 1970s Came on a trolley. So yeah, that was it.

Speaker 2:

It's those iconic memories. Isn't it, though, that you have from trips like that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So if you're taking your kids to London, those are the things they're going to remember, honestly. So, yeah, it was a lovely trip and I lost my dad when I was in my 20s, unfortunately, so it's lovely to think back on that. But, yeah, take your kids to the Natural History Museum, take them to Hamleys. Yeah, take them to Common Garden and you know, lots of the parks are great to run around.

Speaker 2:

Have you got somewhere in London you'd love to take your kids? Oh, I don't. We did kind of a boat trip and we did all the sites and all the main tours and just outside of London, obviously going to Harry Potter studios, which is not kind of the iconic architecture and other things, but that was an amazing day, oh it's a great many things to do and but, yeah, our favorite, I think, was the Natural History Museum.

Speaker 2:

It was just a standout place to go. We loved it. Okay, so, tracy, what's your favourite way to get around London?

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm glad you asked that, karen, because it's absolutely by boat, because you get such a different view of London. It's just, you know, you do. You're on the river, you see underneath the bridges, you see, you know all the sights from the river itself and go all the way down to Greenwich. Shout out to Greenwich again. Great trip, absolutely great.

Speaker 2:

I know you did that last time with the kids yeah, we had such a good time and you get such a great view from the water of all the iconic places, so it's amazing, perfect well that kind of.

Speaker 1:

That wraps up my London favorites. Yeah, I know I can't believe this is my third episode, can?

Speaker 2:

we just end with one last thing. What would be your tip if you had to recommend one experience in London for people to do? What would be the one that you would choose?

Speaker 1:

You know it's going to be the VIP tour of the Ceremony of the Keys. Yeah, if you can swing that, I would do that one if that's on. So, yeah, so, anyway, I think that wraps up this episode. Wow, I can't believe that's two episodes's. Uh, two episodes talking about London. I can talk about London.

Speaker 1:

We could carry on and on and on, I think. So, favorite places, favorite experiences Um, let me know if I've missed out something that you really like, and I'm sure I have, because, again, these are these are just personal to me. Um, leave us a message on Speakpipe, let us, let us know. I'm going to be sharing these in the Facebook group as well and on Instagram, because I'm interested to know exactly what your favorites are. Or, if you're heading to London, what are the things that have made it onto your itinerary. Which reminds me, if you need any help with your itinerary planning, doug and I do itinerary consults so you can have a one-on-one consult with us and we'll help you plan. Or you can do an itinerary review, where we do by video, and you can send us your itinerary and we'll kind of critique it and answer any questions. So those are both available on the website. You can book those.

Speaker 1:

You can get links to all the different places I talked about and experiences that I talked about in the show notes, as always at uktravelplanningcom, forward slash, episode 167. But that leaves me to say thank you, karen, so much for joining us and let's leave it as we always do until next week happy uk travel planning. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the uk travel planning podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning.