Bars & Pubs

Winter walks & tours
Festive Late Nights at Kew
View the gardens at their festive best for free with church choirs singing carols in front of the Orangery (6.30pm-7.30pm). There’ll be roast chestnuts and gingerbread men to nibble on, plus mulled wine.
Diary date Dec 15 & 16, 4pm-9pm, free.
Festive Late Nights, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey (020 8332 5022/www.rbgkew.org.uk) Kew Gardens tube/rail or Kew Bridge rail.

Tower of London twilight tours
Not only do you get to walk around the Tower once everyone else has been kicked out for the day, but you also get to finish your tour with a drink in the Yeoman Warder’s pub, usually closed to non-residents. And yes, it does serve Beefeater gin.
Diary date Every Tue until Dec 12, 7-9pm, £20 per person (not suitable for under-14s).
Twilight Tours, Tower of London, Tower Hill, EC3 (0870 7588080) Tower Hill tube. Feature continues

Ghost tours and carolling at Hampton Court Palace
Balmy summer evenings are all very well for getting lost in the maze, but to catch a glimpse of ghostly residents it really needs to be middle-of-winter dark. Rumour has it that Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, and his only son, Prince Edward, can be seen wandering in the Clock Court. But if the thought of braving the Haunted Gallery is too much, there’s Christmas carol-singing with a full brass band in the courtyard and gardens too.
Diary date Ghost tours : until Mar 6, Mon andd Fri 8pm, Sun 6pm, £25; carolling: Dec 19-22 6pm, £6, children £3.50.
Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey (0870 758 8080/www.historicroyalpalaces.org) Hampton Court rail.