Head to Regent’s Park for the London Zoo and Aquarium or get your fix of dinosaurs, human evolution and space at the Natural History Museum. Go creativity crazy at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s leading museum of art and design, with 2.3 million objects spanning over 5,000 years of human creativity. Learn a little more about the world in general at the British Museum. Or see medieval features meet art deco at crazy Eltham Palace.
Ride the coasters at Thorpe Park or enjoy over 40 rides plus a zoo and Sea Life Centre at Chessington World of Adventures. Go west for The Legoland Windsor Resort, home to over 50 interactive rides, shows and attractions designed for kids from two to 12. Or go underground at Chislehurst Caves, with 22 miles of man-made tunnels and caverns.
Enjoy all the latest 2D and 3D releases at Eltham Cinema, swim at Eltham Leisure Centre or Go Ape in Battersea Park, complete with 50-metre zip wire. Have a wild day out at Port Lympne Reserve, home of tigers, gorillas, elephants, monkeys, giraffes and the red panda. Or try a day out with a difference at Diggerland. If you want to escape the hustle and bustle, buckle your seat belts and get down to some lovely beaches within 45 minutes or so – Brighton, Camber Sands, Whitstable and Canterbury are ever popular.
Golf abounds at 400-year-old Royal Blackheath, at Chislehurst, with its clubhouse once owned by Napoleon III, and at pretty Sidcup. Hack across open fields and woodland with Mottingham Farm Riding Centre. Or stick to two legs and take the Green Chain Walk from the River Thames to Nunhead Cemetery across fields, parks and woodlands.
Enjoy VIP treatment as you enjoy a luxurious massage, new nails or a reviving facial at the Royal Parade Beauty Spa, try rock-climbing at Sutcliffe Park, or head to the O2 for boxing, gigs or the end-of-year ATP tennis finals. Or try something new at London’s best indoor-archery centre, Archery Fit.
Lap up a little history at Leeds Castle, just 900 years old and as lovely as ever, or double-moated Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Or check out 11 acres of stunningly sculpted grounds at Penshurst Place, a 14th-century manor house once home to King Henry VIII.
Enjoy 400-year-old art and tapestries at Knole. Take a trip to Canterbury Cathedral, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Book a tasting session or tour of Greenwich’s Meantime brewery. Stay in Greenwich to climb aboard the famous Cutty Sark or stare at the skies at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
