London

An afternoon of watching club cricket for free

Daytime jaunts
Cricket
With a day at a county match costing upwards of £12, there is a decent alternative for the impecunious fan: club cricket. We’re not talking about village green stuff here, but the England and Wales Cricket Board’s Premier Leagues. You’ll see players destined for the top: 20-year-old Arun Harinath helped Sutton win the Surrey Championship last year and earned himself a county contract. There are some familiar names from the county scene, too: former Derbyshire and Northamptonshire batsman Adrian Rollins played a crucial part in Hainault & Clayhall’s 2006 Essex League title. And, just occasionally, a genuine star turns out. There are Premier League matches every Saturday until September, mostly starting at 11.30am. Spectators are welcome and the bar is usually open. You can find out about clubs and fixtures from the websites of the four Premier Leagues around London.
Essex League (www.essexcricket.com). Clubs to watch: Hainault & Clayhall, Wanstead.
Kent League (www.kcl.uk.net). Clubs to watch: Bromley, Blackheath.
Middlesex League (www.middlesexccl.com). Clubs to watch: Ealing, Finchley.
Surrey Championship (www.surreychampionship.com). Clubs to watch: Sutton, Wimbledon.

Save!!! Up to £83 on a Test match ticket.
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London Open House
This event gives you the chance to view, for free, hundreds of buildings of architectural interest, many of which aren’t usually open to the public. Check the website over summer for more details.
Open House Weekend Sept 15, 16 (www.londonopenhouse.org).

Save!!! To gain access to someone’s house, you’d usually need to at least bring a decent bottle of wine (£7).

Athletics
The men’s British Athletics League and the UK Women’s League are the country’s top inter-club competitions. The next meetings in London are on June 2 (men’s Division 1 at Picketts Lock, Enfield), July 7 (men’s Division 1 and women’s Division 2 at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre, Eton) and August 4 (men’s Premiership and Division 1 combined at Barnet Copthall Stadium).
British Athletics League (www.bal.org.uk); UK Women’s League (www.ukwal.org.uk).

Save!!! Around £20 on a ticket for the Norwich Union London Grand Prix in August.

Paddington Waterside (image © Trcia De Courcy Ling)

Walks & tours
The Paddington Waterside partnership (walks@paddingtonwaterside.co.uk/ 020 7313 1011) runs free guided walks connected with the history of the area – topics range from Fleming’s discovery of penicillin to Paddington Bear, Peter Pan and the legacy of Brunel. For a DIY approach, try the downloadable tours introducing London’s smaller museums and attractions, created by the Campaign for Museums with the Mayor and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/london). You’ll hear some familiar voices (Diarmuid Gavin on historic gardens, Trevor McDonald on immigration and Iain Sinclair on literary houses). Finally, wander round the ‘Stage by Stage’ exhibition at the National Theatre (020 7452 3000/ www.nationaltheatre.org.uk). It tells the story of the building from 1848 to today (open 10am-11pm).

Save!!! Most guided walks charge around £6 a pop.

Watch a trial
You can watch the proceedings of the most famous court in the world from the public galleries from 10am, Monday to Friday (get there half an hour early).
Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, EC4 (01206 513919/www.old-bailey.com) St Paul’s tube. Open Mon-Fri 10am-1pm, 2-5pm (approx). Closed bank holiday Monday and the day after. Reduced court sitting in August.

Save!!! Well, to get a closer look at the court you’d need to get arrested and charged – then expect to pay £100 an hour for a laywer.

Hogarth’s House
This is the only remaining building actually associated with William Hogarth (1697-1764), the ‘father of British painting’ and satirical humorist. It houses an exhibition on the many aspects of his life and work. And the attractive gardens feature a rare mulberry tree.
Hogarth Lane, Great West Rd, W4 (020 8994 6757) Turnham Green tube. Open Apr-Oct Tue-Fri 1-5pm, Sat, Sun until 4pm; Nov-Mar Tue-Fri 1-4pm, Sat, Sun until 5pm. Closed Jan.

Save!!! £7 on entry to your average National Trust residence.

St Martin-in-the-Fields (image © Andrew Brackenbury)

Church recitals
London’s churches offer amazing-value concerts from musical professionals and students, especially at lunchtime. Vocal and instrumental sounds of all kinds, not necessarily church music, continue the tradition of the church providing a sociable gathering place (sandwich-munchers welcomed). St James’s Piccadilly leads with concerts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes – serious programming and performance. St Anne and St Agnes in the City provides lunchtime music on Friday plus occasional Lutheran services with Bach’s music incorporated as part of the liturgy, as originally intended. The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons to us), improbably sited opposite the Science Museum, has (non-religious) music on Thursdays. The historic St Giles-in-the-Fields, with its Milton connections (Fridays), and St Martin-in-the-Fields – its lunchtime fare not to be confused with its conveyor-belt baroque evenings – are important venues, though the latter’s current refurbishment means transferring its Monday and Wednesday lunchtimes to St Mary-le-Bow and St Mary-le-Strand. Entrance is free, though donations are welcomed. Another City church, St Lawrence Jewry, runs frequent lunchtime recitals. Throughout May, for instance, an organ series includes guests from France, Greece and Germany as well as Britain (Tuesdays at 1pm).
See Classical listings for details.

Save!!! £12 on a ticket to Wigmore Hall.

Kenwood House (image © Jonathan Perugia)

Kenwood House
Stunning neoclassical villa on the edge of Hampstead Heath built by Robert Adam. There is a permanent exhibition of an outstanding collection of paintings including one of Rembrandt’s self-portraits, Botticelli, Vermeer and Frans Hals, plus a collection of other art objects.
Hampstead Lane, NW3 (020 8348 1286) Golders Green tube. Open Apr-Sept daily 11am-5pm; Oct-Mar daily 11am-4pm.

Save!!! A visit to Carlyle’s House in Chelsea costs £4.50.

London Silver Vaults
Tucked away in the capital’s legal district, the Vaults hold the largest collection of antique silver in the world. There are free silversmithing demonstrations and displays of silverware ranging from pre-Georgian pieces to modern designs of frames, mirrors, jewellery and cutlery.
London Silver Vaults, Chancery Lane, WC2 (www.thesilvervaults.com) Chancery Lane tube. Open Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat until 1pm.

Save!!! For other London riches, you could visit Hatton Garden. A decent diamond ring starts at £1,000.

Hunterian Museum (image © Andrew Brackenbury)

Hunterian Museum
Among the treasures on show at the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s HQ are more than 3,000 specimens of human and animal anatomy and pathology, prepared by John Hunter FRS (1728-1793). The museum also contains paintings commissioned by Hunter from George Stubbs and William Hodges, and displays on the work of Joseph Lister, pioneer of antiseptic surgery.
35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2 (020 7869 6560/www.rcseng.ac.uk) Holborn tube. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm (closed bank holidays).

Save!!! Subscribing to a BUPA scheme costs £12 a month.

Theatre at the Scoop
Ken Livingstone once described his headquarters as a ‘glass testicle’, but there are more reasons than that to go and gawp at Norman Foster’s City Hall. Not least because there will be two theatre productions this summer running at the amphitheatre just outside. Adults will be able to come and enjoy an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, while children will be treated to a new theatre version of Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book KIDS’. Be prepared to d sing ‘The Bare Necessities’ and, of course, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’.
The Scoop, More London Riverside, SE1 (www.morelondon.com/scoop.html) London Bridge tube/rail. Performances Wed-Sun, Aug 1-Sept 9.

Save!!! Top tickets at the Barbican cost £40.

Art for nothing
The Courtauld Institute of Art is one of London’s hidden gems – an intimate gallery hosting an impressive range of world-famous old master, impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. Entry is normally a fiver, but every Monday (excluding public holidays) you can get in for free between 10am and 2pm.
Somerset House, Strand, WC2 (020 7848 2526/ www.courtauld.ac.uk) Covent Garden tube.

Save!!! £7.50 on a ticket for a special exhibition at Tate Britain.

Scientific discovery
At the UCL Department of Earth Sciences Collection see a selection of rocks, minerals and fossils on display from this collection of more than 40, 000 geological specimens, painstakingly gathered over the last two centuries. One of the highlights is the Johnston-Lavis volcanological collection of minerals, rocks, photographs and gouaches, collected from about 1880-1912.
University College London, Gower St, WC1 (020 7679 7900) Euston Square tube. Open Wed lunchtimes or by appointment. Closed during exam times.

Save!!! Admission to special exhibitions at the Science Museum costs £8.

Poetry browsing
The Poetry Library is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of modern poetry and was founded by the Arts Council in 1953 in an effort to inspire and support British poetry. The modern poetry section contains all twentieth- and twenty-first-century work published in Great Britain. You can also find a great selection of works from other English-speaking countries and a considerable collection of translations. Membership is free.
Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, SE1 (020 792 0943/792 0664/www.poetrylibrary.org.uk) Waterloo tube/rail. Reopens June 2007.

Save!!! £6 on buying a book of poetry.

American sports
Top American football, ice hockey and basketball teams will all be coming over from the States to showcase their sports later this year. However, if your interest is in the US’s fourth major game, you’ll have to content yourself with watching expats and home-grown talent playing in the British Baseball Federation’s National League. The standard is high: the aim this year is for the GB team to qualify for the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships. Top clubs include Croydon Pirates, London Mets and Richmond Flames, who play every weekend.
British Baseball Federation (www.baseballsoftballuk.com).

Save!!! £65 on a ticket to the LA Kings vs Anaheim Ducks ice hockey match at the O2.

Wallace Collection
The finest collection of art ever assembled by a single family. Lady Wallace, widow of Sir Richard Wallace, bequeathed it to the nation in 1897, and it opened to the public three years later. Among its many fascinating works are the collections of French eighteenth-century paintings and a fantastically fearsome armoury. Free guided tours are usually given on each weekday at 1pm, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11.30am, and Sundays at 3pm (phone ahead to check details).
Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1 (020 7563 9500) Baker St or Bond St tube.

Save!!! £7 for a special exhibition at the British Museum.

SAVINGS SO FAR £1,385