Museums & Attractions

31. Guards Museum
The Guards Museum tells the story of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards – the five regiments that, together with the Household Cavalry, the Life Guards, and the Blues and Royals, make up the Household Division of the Army. The museum is mostly given over to displays of uniforms, pictures and regimental silver but if you’ve always wondered just how uncomfortable those bearskin hats are, ask staff if you can try on the one they keep for the purpose.
Best exhibit The potty from a doll’s house with which Florence Nightingale used to administer liquor to the men she realised weren’t going to make it through the night.
Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, SW1 (020 7414 3271/www.theguardsmuseum.com) St James’s Park tube. Adm £3, students £2, under-16s free.

The Museum of Immigration and Diversity

32. Museum of Immigration and Diversity
Just one building between Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market tells much of the story of immigration into London’s East End. This museum has been the home of a Huguenot master silk weaver fleeing persecution from Louis IV’s France, a nineteenth-century synagogue, a community centre where anti-fascist marches were planned and now it’s at the heart of the Bengali community. It houses a small exhibition exploring immigrants’ stories. The museum only holds occasional openings as it needs money for repairs.
Best exhibit The synagogue built in the garden.
Museum of Immigration and Diversity, 19 Princelet St, E1 (020 7247 5352/ www.19princeletstreet.org.uk) Liverpool St tube/rail. Occasional openings – see website. Adm free.

33. Petrie Museum
BRITISH MUSEUM WITHOUT THE CROWDS
There’s a scholarly air here, but don’t let that put you off. With its 80,000 exhibits, the Petrie (pronounced pee-tree) is bursting at its seams with items from the Nile valley dating back 5,000 years. Unlike Howard Carter, who excavated Tutankhamun’s tomb and was taught by Petrie, Petrie was more interested in everyday Egyptian objects and there are pots, bowls, jewellery, combs, tiles and so on on display.
Best exhibits Mummified head, with hair.
University College London, Malet Place, WC1 (020 7679 2884/ www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk) Goodge St tube. Adm free.
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34. The Fan Museum
The world’s only museum dedicated to fans. It’s a tiny space consisting of two rooms with an overall collection of 3,500 antique fans, some of which date as far back as the eleventh century.
Best exhibit If you’re not a fan fan, head for the Orangery where teas are served at 3pm on Tuesdays and Sundays.
12 Crooms Hill, SE10 (020 8305 1441/ www.fan-museum.org) Greenwich rail or Cutty Sark DLR. Adm £3.50.

Contemporary and classic design at the Design Museum

35. Design Museum
Opened in 1989, this riverside museum by Tower Bridge encompasses modern and contemporary industrial and fashion design, graphics, architecture and multimedia.
28 Shad Thames, London SE1 (0870 909 9009/ www.designmuseum.org). London Bridge/Tower Gateway tube/rail. Daily 10am-5.45pm (last admission 5.15pm). Adm £7, £4 concessions, free for under-12s.


36. Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
This recently revamped and enjoyably interactive museum surveys tennis throughout the world from its medieval beginnings. Highlights include a 3-D ‘ghost’ of John McEnroe and an insight into the science of the game that uses the same camera techniques as ‘The Matrix’. The tour takes in No 1 Court, the press room and, when building work allows, Centre Court.
Best exhibits Kit from the 1880s onwards, and the Wimbledon trophies.
Church Rd, SW19 (020 8946 6131/ www.wimbledon.org/museum) Southfields tube then 493 bus. Adm tour and museum £14.50, concs £13, museum only £7.50, concs £6.25.

37. Spencer House
SPECTACULAR SECRET GARDEN
Built 1756-66 for the first Earl Spencer (one of Diana’s ancestors), Spencer House is London’s finest surviving eighteenth-century private palace. Eight meticulously restored state rooms are open to the public on Sundays only. Tours of the house, which take in paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds begin every 15 minutes.
Best exhibit The spectacular garden, designed by Henry Holland, covers almost half an acre and backs on to Green Park (next opening June 25).
27 St James’s Place, SW1 (020 7499 8620/ www.spencerhouse.co.uk) Green Park tube. Adm £9, concs & under-16s £7. No children under ten or unaccompanied by an adult admitted.

38. Cartoon Museum
Chortle your way round this amusing new museum, which displays British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animations. On the ground floor, snigger at time-honoured works by Hogarth and Gillray, WWII cartoons depicting Churchill and more recent subjects of satire: Bush and Blair. There’s an excellent selection of amusing books and cards in the shop, an extensive library and a regular cartooning workshops.
Best exhibits Relive your youth on the upper gallery, where the comic strips on display include the Beano, 2000AD and Rupert.
35 Little Russell St, WC1 (020 7580 8155/ www.cartooncentre.com) Russell Square tube. Adm £3, concs £2, students & under-18s free.

39. Brunel Engine House
Within the elegant confines of this red brick engine house is the tale of the design and construction of the Thames Tunnel, the oldest tunnel in London. Visitors are able to learn of the struggles of fires and floods experienced during its construction, as well as visit the tunnel itself, which runs directly beneath the engine house. This was the first tunnel to be dug under a river through soft earth, and is still in use today, as part of the London underground network. The museum is currently celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of young Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who helped design the tunnel with his father, Marc Brunel.
Best exhibits There are display boards detailing the historical significance of the engine house, but to get the most out of it take one of the guided tours.
Railway Avenue, SE16 (020 7231 3840/ www.brunelenginehouse.org.uk). Rotherhithe tube. Adm free.

40. Royal Air Force Museum
FLY A PLANE
Fancy a career as a pilot? In the interactive Aeronauts Gallery you can take a pilot aptitude test to discover whether you are, or not, the ‘right stuff’, plus there’s a simulator (extra charge) to help you identify if you’d be able to keep your lunch down. Other attractions include 80 aircraft and a multimedia account of the Battle of Britain.
Best exhibit ‘Milestones of Flight’: some of the most important RAF aircraft along with classics from the US, Germany, Japan and France.
Grahame Park Way, NW9 (020 8205 2266/www.rafmuseum.org.uk) Colindale or Broadway rail. Adm free.