Around Town

Skint mate from college | Grandparents | Teenage relative | Party animal | Friend with kids | Mum and dad | Long-distance lover | Seen-it-all-before cynic

Grandparents
Breakfast
Start the day at the Wolseley (160 Piccadilly, W1), though make sure you head for the café bit rather than the pricier restaurant. The big plates of cakes and sarnies at afternoon tea are a real treat, too.

Landmark
They’ll love a boat trip along the canal (020 7286 3428/www.jasons.co.uk), although you might not want to spend too long among the tatooists and piercers of Camden Market at the other end. Alternatively, there’s the ever-popular Kew Gardens (Kew Road, Richmond, TW9).

Museum
Sir John Soane’s Museum (13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2) is free to enter and open until 5pm on Saturday, and holds the architect’s fascinating collection of antiquities. To continue the theme, visit the collection of paintings by old masters at Dulwich Picture Gallery (Gallery Road, SE21) – also designed by Soane. Alternatively there’s the quaint Museum of Garden History (Lambeth Palace Road, SE1), the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (King Charles Street, SW1) or go to the Wallace Collection (Manchester Square, W1), which IS packed with treasures including ‘The Laughing Cavalier’, and has the great Café Bagatelle. Feature continues

Shop
A trip round one of the proper old department stores, surely – Fortnum & Mason (181 Piccadilly, W1) is a good bet, but Liberty (210-220 Regent Street, W1) is Topshop for old folk.

Evening
Impress them with a highbrow visit to the Royal Opera House (Bow Street, WC2). Or if they’re looking for something lighter, at the Old Vic (Waterloo Road, SE1, 0870 060 6628) or the National Theatre (Southbank, SE1) is always a safe and usually have a number of cheap day tickets available for even their big shows.

Skint mate from college | Grandparents | Teenage relative | Party animal | Friend with kids | Mum and dad | Long-distance lover | Seen-it-all-before cynic