The following prove particularly successful for private groups and can be morning or afternoon, and can include lunch, which I will arrange and book for you if required. However you can select from any of the ‘90+ Walks I Do’ .

Half days £20 per head, min. charge £220. Full days £25 per head, min.charge £300.
Special group rates for CAF registered charities.

BEDFORD PARK  (CHISWICK) – LONDON’S ARTISTIC SUBURB
The opening of the tube westwards to Chiswick in the mid 19C prompted the development of a purpose-built suburb of grand houses set in leafy streets, many designed by Norman Shaw, complete with a church, schools, shops, pub and social club.  Inspired by the social ideals of Ruskin and William Morris it became the haunt of artists, poets and eccentrics.

BETHNAL GREEN – Heart of the East End
This is the area most associated with the term ‘East End’, typified in the now legendary plucky resistance to the horrors of the Blitz.  To the surprise of many there is still a ‘green’ and many elegant 18c houses and grand Victorian ‘villas’.  A favourite haunt of Pepys, it soon declined from rural retreat to notorious Victorian slum, which gave rise to the founding of Victoria Park which the walk briefly visits. It is difficult to believe one is only 3 miles from the City  (+ 45 min. optional extension exploring evolution of social housing).

BERMONDSEY AND ROTHERHITHE (+ lunch in  riverside pub)
Bermondsey until recently an ‘outcast’ area because of its tanning and wool trade is now re-emerging from its Victorian dockland and industrial past into one of London’s most ‘trend-setting’ areas.  Rotherhithe once a maritime settlement is now also developing into a ‘property hotspot’, but still retains its village feel clustered round the 18c. church and riverside ‘Mayflower Inn’- www.themayflowerrotherhithe.com where we will have lunch. Opportunity to visit the Brunel Museum www.brunel-museum.org.uk.

BLOOMSBURY – ‘LIFE IN SQUARES
Georgian squares, and home of the British Museum – where walk ends. Stories of the Bloomsbury Group, Dickens, TS Eliot, George Orwell and life of bohemian London of late 19c. and early 20c.

BORN-AGAIN BRIXTON – A thriving market and a story of revival and regeneration
A walk that explores the centre of Brixton, including its colourful market, but also visits an award-winning redevelopment of a once notorious ‘sink’ housing estate, and Zaha Hadid’s Sterling Prize winning Academy (2 ½ hrs). (Lunch in Brixton covered market at award-winning Casa Sibilla – Wed-Fri. only).

THE BLITZ AND ITS EFFECT ON THE 21ST C. CITY
A walk concentrating on the events, characters, and human stories of the terrifying months of the winter of 1940/41. These events will also be put contemporary context by showing how the effect of the Blitz is still influencing London today.  Walk ends on a new viewing gallery with a spectacular view over St Pauls and the City. (Meze lunch in a Lebanese restaurant).

NEW BUILDINGS OF THE CITY – The Post-Brexit Effect
TIn its 2000yr. history the City has faced many cataclysmic events, the Great Fire and Blitz, end of Empire and ‘Big Bang’, and each time it has risen metaphorically and literally ‘from the ashes’.  Now comes the challenge of Brexit.   In response the City has developed a new strategy which is reflected (yes double meaning intended!) in its new buildings.  Get a real flavour of the City rising to the challenge of the next phase in its history (2 ½ hrs +). (Lunch in Leadenhall Mkt).

CHELSEA VILLAGE
A walk exploring what the locals would call ‘Chelsea Village’. Starting mid-way down the Kings Road, it is a walk of 2 halves, the first concentrating on the Kings Road of the swinging 60s and the narrow streets either side of it, the second walking throught the artists’ quarter to reach the original riverside Tudor village, site of  Henry VIII’s manor house and home to Thomas More. Tthe walk continues along Cheyney Row, past the Physic Garden and back to the Kings Road (2 ½ hrs).  (Can end with lunch at a gastro pub near the river).

ROYAL AND BOHEMIAN CHELSEA
A walk from Sloane Square – Sloane Rangers and the Kings Road, past Wren’s masterpiece – the Royal Hospital – home of the Chelsea pensioners, to weave through the elegant roads and squares with stories of artists and writers who made it infamous as the 19th century bohemian haunt of London. (Lunch in a gastro pub near the river).

CHISWICK – GEORGIAN RIVERSIDE AND THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
Walk starts with a brief exploration of Bedford Park, (see above for walk of Bedford Park in detail) designed by Norman Shaw, as the first experiment in garden suburbs. then go under A4, to the 15c Chiswick riverside village and continues along Chiswick Mall finishing by William Morris’ Kelmscott House and the 17c Dove Pub (approx 3 miles – 3hrs).

CITY – CHURCHES (Interiors weekdays only)
The glory of the City of London – over 38 churches in a stone’s throw of each other, the many designed by Christopher Wren, some by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a few surviving the Great Fire of London.  Walk eminently flexible it can either concentrate on interiors visiting up to 4 churches, concentrate on just Wren churches, or can pass more churches by seeing exterior only (latter can be done at weekends). (Half or full day options available with lunch in City pub).

THE GENIUS OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
Wren ‘built for eternity’, but was by profession an astronomer and experimental scientist. A walk that explores his life and genius through his buildings. (Walk can be extended to full day with lunch in City Pub).

CHARLES DICKENS’ LONDON
A walk about Dickens life and times, conjuring up the London he knew and depicted, passing places featured in his novels.  For those who want to make a day of it, pub lunch then visit Dickens House and Museum in the afternoon (entry charge). 

FIRE AND PLAGUE THROUGH THE EYES OF SAMUEL PEPYS
Tracing Pepys’ colourful life and his observations on high and low life in London during the Plague, Great Fire and the regeneration of the city. It weaves through the narrow alley-ways of the City along routes that Pepys would have known.

FITZROVIA  – The Famous and Infamous
The area around Charlotte St., named Fitzrovia after one of the pubs frequented by the literary, artistic, eccentric, and frankly raffish, became the bohemian centre of late 19c. and 20c. London. An area full of atmosphere, and full of good stories.

GANSTERS OF THE EAST-END – IN THE STEPS OF THE KRAY TWINS
Reggie and Ronnie Kray are now part of the folklore of the East End. These notorious and violent gangsters dominated and terrorised post-war London. The walk weaves round the backstreets of Bethnal Green and Whitechapel, tracing their life and crimes, ending at the infamous Blind Beggar Pub.

EXPLORING HACKNEY
A series of walks exploring Hackney, one of London’s most historic and fast-changing boroughs

  • DALSTON,  KINGSLAND  AND THE DE BEAUVOIR ESTATE – Considered by some to be one of the ‘coolest’ areas in London, Dalston and Kingsland now boasts vegan restaurants and cutting edge art centres. Once brick fields, some of the land was developed by the de Beauvoir and Rhodes families into elegant estates of Georgian and Victorian villas sited on wide tree-lined avenues. A varied walk from the buzzing centre of Dalston, with its hidden garden in an old railway siding and edgy eateries, to the quiet residential streets of the Rhodes and de Beauvoir estates.
  • HAGGERSTON…Where? – Sandwiched between the City and the Regents Canal Haggerston is the latest area attracting a property boom.  Victorian terraces, massive neo-gothic public buildings and erstwhile furniture warehouses are now being colonised by the new tech workforce.  But still hints of its previous past remain from Geffrye Museum housed in 1715 alms-houses, to 60’s council estates and canal-side living. (Ends by Geffrye Museum + some of London’s best Vietnamese restaurants).
  • THE ORIGINAL HACKNEY VILLAGE – Concentrated on Hackney village itself the walk features a medieval church tower, a Tudor manor house (Nat. Trust – Sutton House) Georgian terraces housing fetching £ms., elegant leafy Victorian estates and proud municipal buildings including the Hackney Empire, Hackney Town Hall. The area is now popular with the new generation of young urbanites, but it still retains its slightly edgy feel.

    • HIDDEN GARDENS OF THE CITY  (Walk 1)
    A walk concentrating on the area in the West of the City most devastated by the Blitz.  After the war many gardens were created.  This walk concentrates on those gardens between Barbican and St. Pauls. Whilst concentrating on the gardens it is a way of tracing the varied history of the City from a different perspective…literally!  Best between March to October  (Lunch in Lebanese meze restaurant nr. St. Pauls).

    HIDDEN GARDENS OF THE CITY AND RIVERSIDE (Walk 2)
    An additional walk of the gardens of the City, concentrating on the St. Paul’s area and the riverside, ending in a ruined church in the East of the City now converted into a ‘secret’ garden. (Lunch in church precinct nr. Tower).

    HISTORY OF TEA AND COFFEE – Their role in shaping the City of London
    Coffee and tea first arrived in London in the mid 17c, and from then on have been central to the growth of London as a great financial and trading centre. This walk weaves through the City of London, crosses London Bridge and ends in Southwark tracing this history and can end with a cup of tea or coffee.

    JEWISH LONDON – PERSECUTION AND PERSEVERANCE (inc. Bevis Marks Synagogue)
    A walk tracing the history of the Jews in London, from their arrival with William the Conqueror, to the establishment of the Jewish East End. Visit the oldest synagogue still in use in England, at Bevis Marks, (entry charge + subject to opening hours).  (End with a curry in Brick Lane).

    KINGS CROSS REGENERATION – IT’S STILL ALL CHANGE
    One of Britain’s largest regeneration projects, the once seedy area of Kings Cross has been transformed into a new mixed use development, including the new home to the University of the Arts, an Agha Khan centre, flats, shops and restaurants, (plenty of options for a post walk lunch!) and imaginative redevelopment of old industrial buildings e.g a shopping precinct designed by Thomas Heatherwick.  Gardens by Dan Pearson, and other leading landscape designers.

    LEGAL LONDON – THE INNS OF COURT
    A walk through the quiet squares of the Inns of Court where the barristers reside where I will outline the history of our legal system.  The 2 hr walk includes tour of the Middle Temple Hall– a rare survival from Elizabethan London (mornings and legal term times only).  Full day walk can incorporate a tour of the Temple church (when open) and visit to the Royal Courts of Justice, to sit in on a trial,. Walk can also be combined with lunch in the Tudor splendour of Middle Temple Hall (by prior arrangement).

    LONDON’S LOST RIVERS  (Half day walks)
    See Full Day/Longer walks for full route of the Fleet, Tyburn, Westbourne, and ‘New’ Rivers

  • TYBURN RIVER – Through Marylebone and Mayfair – The Tyburn River rises in Hampstead flows (now through the sewers) under Marylebone, Mayfair, and into the Thames at Pimlico.. We will follow part of the river’s course, strictly above ground through 2 of London’s most elegant and fascinating areas.  The layout of those areas, their history and their land-ownership are directly related to the course of the river (2 ½+  hrs).
  • THE WESTBOURNE - Hampstead – Hyde Park. approx 5m. - A walk from Hampstead to Bayswater. Rising on Hampstead Heath the Westbourne flows (underground) down through West Hampstead, Kilburn, Paddington and Bayswater.  It is a truly varied walk where you will see the influence of the river on its adjacent areas. This walks ends at a gastro pub nr. Hyde Park (4hrs incl. coffee stop).
  • THE WALBROOK (3hrs) - It is the shortest but arguably the most important of London’s ‘Lost Rivers’, as it formed the heart of Roman ‘Londinium’.  A walk of great contrast between the vibrant, youthful area of Shoreditch and the serious money-making pulse of the City. It passes Shakespeare’s original playhouse, foundations of which have been recently discovered and the location of 2 major archaeological digs, Liverpool St. Crossrail and the Walbrook. These are shedding new light on London’s history.  (lunch in river-view restaurant).

    • MONEY, MONEY, MONEY – HISTORY OF  MONEY-MAKING INTHE CITY
    A walk that traces  2000 years of money making, from the Romans, through the medieval livery companies, 18c.coffee houses, the establishment of the Bank of England, and Stock Exchange to the 21c. world financial powerhouse.

    NOTTING HILL AND NOTTING DALE – An area of contrasts
    Notting Hill is a very mixed area of extreme and sudden contrasts of elegant housing, social deprivation and vibrant resettlement.  Originally an area of gravel extraction and brick making, the area was developed with grand villas in the mid 19c. but by 1950s/60s it was an area associated with racial tension and property racketeering ..remember Rachman?  But now it commands some of the highest property prices in London.

    FROM RAGSTONE TO RICHES – What’s London built of?
    A walk from Clerkenwell into the City, concentrating on the building materials of London, from the Kentish ragstone of the Roman Wall to the glistening steel and glass of 21st century London. Spot a few fossils on the way! (Lunch in Lebanese meze restaurant nr. St Paul’s).

    THE REGENTS CANAL
    1. From Paddington to Camden Lock or Islington
    2. From Camden Lock or Islington to Limehouse
    3. Full length – 11 miles, full day
    Built in 1820’s to link the Grand Union Canal to the booming docklands on the Thames, it now provides a varied canal-side walk.
    Part 1. Paddington Basin, Little Venice, elegant villas of Regents Park, Camden Lock and then on roads through to Islington. Part 2. More industrial but fast changing, past Victoria Park (East End’s Hyde Park) to Limehouse Basin Docklands.

    RIVERSIDE VISTAS – ROTHERHITHE to SOUTHWARK (more walk less talk)
    A 3+ mile walk along the Thames on the South side from the maritime village of Rotherhithe, which we will briefly explore.  The walk will then follow the river path past Jacobs island, immortalised in Oliver Twist continuing along Butlers Wharf. Crossing under Tower Bridge, it passes City Hall to end at Southwark Cathedral. (great café!)  Wide views across the river to Wapping waterfront and to the City.  This is a brisk walk with brief stops, ideal for winter or for those who want more walk and less talk or both!

    ROMAN LONDON
    A walk right across Roman London from fragments of the wall near the Tower, to the North West corner – site of the roman fort.  This walk gives an idea of the scale, layout and everyday life of the first 400 years of London, visiting the key sites such as the Governor’s Palace, the Forum, the Fort, and the remains of the city wall (2 ½ hrs).

    ROMAN MONUMENTS UNDER LONDON
    Tour of Roman Amphitheatre and recently restored Temple of Mithras
    Starts near the ruins of the Roman wall and includes a guided tour of the Roman Amphitheatre under Guild Hall Art Gallery. A short walk away is the recently restored Temple of Mithras, originally found in 1950s but now relocated by Bloombergs to its original location 7 metres below street level under their new headquarters.  It is housed in an impressive mini museum  with displays of some of the 14,000 artefacts discovered during construction.

    THE MAKING OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
    Starting in Blackfriars, site of one of Shakespeare’s theatres, the walk will cross the river to Southwark to explore the area that became associated with the great flowering of the Elizabethan theatre. The walk includes a visit to London’s oldest galleried Inn and could also include a tour of Southwark Cathedral, with its many Shakespearean connections.(entry charge). Could be combined with a theatre visit to Shakespeare’s Globe, or a tour of the Globe.

    SOHO – FROM HUNTING PINK TO RED LIGHT AREA
    Soho, with its street cafes, restaurants and its seamier side – learn the history of the area and look more closely at its elegant 17+18c. houses, and hear stories of the bohemian crowd of the 50s and 60s. (Lunch in either traditional or cutting edge Soho eatery – your choice).

    SPITALFIELDS + WHITECHAPEL – IMMIGRANT LONDON
    Only yards from the City of London, yet atmospherically a million miles away, this area has seen waves of immigrants since 17th century. See foundations of a medieval charnel house, Huguenot weavers’ houses, traces of the Jewish East End.  Now it is home to London’s  Bangladeshi community.  The walk can end with either a curry in Brick Lane, or a 10min extension through Whitechapel takes us to a more local Bangladeshi restaurant not yet on the tourist trail. A version of this walk concentrating on Spitalfields and omitting Brick Lane could be linked to a visit to the Denis Severs House in the afternoon. (Client to arrange independently).

    SYLVIA PANKHURST AND THE EAST END SUFFRAGETTES
    A walk round Bow, a less frequented area of the East End, but one associated with the East London Federation of Suffragettes, led by Sylvia Pankhurst.  This walk traces the life and work of Sylvia and the ELFS, particularly their initiatives to ameliorate the lives of factory girls. (We pass the Bryant and May Match factory).  Still an area of deprivation, but fast changing as a result of the ‘Olympic Effect’.

    STRATFORD + THE QUEEN ELIZABETH  OLYMPIC PARK
    The Olympic Park has now been transformed into a public park, and the areas surrounding it are being redeveloped progressively. I can offer a variety of walks in and around the park concentrating on different themes from landscape design to regeneration. (See 21st Century London for details).

    SKYSCRAPERS  OF THE CITY – FROM THE ‘CHEESE-GRATER’ TO THE SHARD
    A walk concentrating on the new skyscrapers changing the skyline of the City.  Starting at what the planners call the ‘Eastern Cluster’ around Bishopsgate, the walk explores the modern architecture of the Eastern area of the City, crossing Tower Bridge to end under the Shard.   (Meze lunch in Borough High St. or do your own thing in Borough Market).

    SOUTHWARK’S HINTERLAND – Bankside, Borough and beyond
    Second only to the City in age the Borough, now part of Southwark, is another fast changing area, but one full of history from Roman times onward. A couple of blocks in from busy Bankside it is a fast changing area. There are associations with Chaucer, Shakespeare, Harvard and many Dickens connections, including traces of the prison where his father was incarcerated for debt. Now the narrow atmospheric streets are being revitalised with many warehouse conversions.

    SOUTHWARK AND BANKSIDE – A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
    The red-light district of Elizabethan London – with theatres, taverns, cock-fighting, bull and bear-baiting, a notorious prison, and the ‘oldest profession’ plying their trade…it’s an area rich with stories. Afterwards shop/eat in Borough market (Thurs-Sat).

    SOUTHWARK + BANKSIDE – THE EVOLUTION OF ELIZABETHAN THEATRE
    From Gladiators to the Globe
    A walk weaving through narrow streets tracing the history and evolution of the theatre from Roman times to the great flowering of Elizabethan theatre in the playhouses of  Bankside. This was also the red light district of Tudor London, so the walk is not as erudite as it may sound!  (Particularly successful when done as a precursor to a performance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre).

    SOUTHWARK + ROTHERHITHE – SEEDS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
    (Pilgrims and Puritans)
    A walk originally developed for the Daughters of the American Revolution, which traces the origins and motivations of some of the first settlers to cross the Atlantic. (Lunch in the Mayflower Inn, Rotherhithe).

    VICTORIAN ARTISTS OF KENSINGTON AND THEIR HOUSES
    (Tour of Leighton House preceded by a walk through Holland Park)
    Walk through Holland Park to Melbury Road, in the late 19c.the residence of a group of ‘society’ artists including GF Watts and Luke Fildes. See their grand houses by architects such as Norman Shaw, Burges and Philip Webb.  The walk is followed by a tour of  Leighton House, the home and studio of Lord Leighton. Famous for its Arab Hall with its priceless collection of over 1,000 Islamic tiles. (Lunch in Iranian Restaurant).

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