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Rambling London, Kosti (2025)

18/05/2025

Had a great time on my tour in April with Ted and Chris! We had a Westminster extravaganza, seeing the famous sights like Buckingham Palace and finishing in Westminster Abbey! It was a slightly chaotic morning because it was the day after the London Marathon so the Guard Change in particular was a bit up in the air, but we took up our position near the palace nice and early and, lo and behold, the Guard appeared! Not just the Foot Guard, but the Horse Guard as well! Double whammy.
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We finished at Westminster Abbey, our Coronation Church with over 1,000 years of history. Ted and Chris also went upstairs to the Diamond Jubilee Galleries (well worth a visit!). One of my highlights up there is a wooden model of the Abbey from 1714-16 with an additional spire, proposed by Christopher Wren (see photo 3, credit: Westminster Abbey). It was never built (structural and funding issues) but the model itself took 3 people about half a year to make! I love it though because of the head carpenter who oversaw its construction: Elizabeth Gregory. A woman who had achieved the title of head carpenter in the 18th century. She’d taken over the position after the death of her husband. She wasn’t trained as a carpenter, but was personally appointed by Wren, suggesting that she knew what she was doing! Elizabeth was in charge of hundreds of freelance carpenters for the next 15 years. Sadly we don’t know much more about her than that, except that she was honoured wiAmber | Rambling Londonloisters of Westminster Abbey, somewhere near Philip Clarke, the head plumber that same century.
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02/05/2025

Seeing as the weather’s so beautiful, let’s do something in a park!! Do you know where you can find this statue? 🔍
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It’s the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens! One of my favourites (and possibly one of the most popular in London). It was unveiled in 1912 and commissioned by the author himself: J.M. Barrie, so even its location was carefully considered. It is placed in the exact spot where Peter Pan is said to have landed after he flew through the open window of his nursery in Barrie’s 1902 book ‘The Little White Bird’. The first ever appearance of little Peter. A quick side note, the necessity of fairy dust to fly was only later added by Barrie at the behest of many parents because they were terrified that their children would follow Peter’s lead and try flying from their own windows!
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It’s so much fun to spot all of the little creatures around the base, as adults and children alike have been doing for over 100 years. Already, within the first 20 years of the statue’s life, the rabbit was being described as the “most-loved animal in London” as children would come up and give it a hug before exploring the rest 🐰 Barrie even had it installed secretly so that it would seem like it had magically appeared overnight. He published a notice in The Times on 1st May: “There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning.” It was Peter.
Long may he continue to remind us of the benefits of “faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust”! 🧚
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07/04/2025

In 1966, 26 Powis Terrace in Notting Hill became home to the London Free School.
Founded by journalist and photographer John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins and local Rhaune Laslett, it was a community-driven organisation which focused on adult education and was almost meant to be like a Citizens’ Advice Bureau, providing information and support for housing, race relations and mental health.
In a flyer advertising the first public meeting of the school on 8th March 1966 (Photo 2), it was described as “not political, not racial, not intellectual, not religion, not a club, it is open to all.” The meeting in question was attended by over 50 people from the local community.
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The idea originated from Hoppy’s trip to New York in July 1965 where he saw the American free universities in action. He teamed up with local community activist, Rhaune Laslett to establish something similar in London. She also became the School’s president and established Children’s Play Group for the school at the nearby 34 Tavistock Crescent. That same play group was visited by none other than boxer Muhammad Ali in May 1966 (Photo 3)!
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The school also had a newsletter, The Grove, in which Laslett wrote, “We felt that although West Indians, Africans, Irish and many other nationalities all live in a very congested area, there is very little communication between us. If we can infect them with a desire to participate, then this can only have good results”.
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Sadly, the London Free School wasn’t particularly successful and struggled financially, but, importantly, it brought like-minded radical thinkers together, provided a community space and essentially gave birth to the first Notting Hill Carnival. It was from the school that the first Carnival as we know it today emerged in September 1966, so a very important legacy. Randomly, it also provided the opportunity for some of Pink Floyd’s first live performances!
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22/03/2025

Okay, so not that new, but it’s just taken me an age to post it 😅
This was genuinely one of my favourite tours of 2024 and thank you so much to Sara and Dave for their wonderful review! It was a tour about a year in the making and we spent 5 days together, exploring areas from Spitalfields and Greenwich to Stonehenge! (Although we may have talked so much about fire that I caused a nightmare or two 😅😅 We’ve had quite a bit of trouble with stuff burning down in London over the years!)
This photo was taken from Greenwich, next to the Royal Observatory, the site of an observatory since 1675. It was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in Britain! It’s also where Greenwich Mean Time originated, established as a worldwide standard in 1884.
One of my favourite things about Greenwich though is the big red ball! 🔴 It drops every day at 1pm and has done so since 1833. It was meant to tell the boats down on the Thames what the time was once a day so they could set their clocks (if you don’t believe me, have a look at the last photo)!
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If you want to learn a bit more about Greenwich (or anywhere else in London for that matter!), get in touch! To stay up to date with me, my tours and general London content, follow me 👉 ! I’m a professional Blue Badge tour guide and I run bespoke private tours for Londoners and visitors alike 🔍
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20/02/2025

This is the east window of St. Dunstan & All Saints Church in Stepney.
You know the song, ‘Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St. Clement’s’? And a bit further along: ‘“When will that be?” Say the bells of Stepney’. Yep. It’s believed to be *that* church 😮
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But I wanted to talk about the glass! Wow. It blew me away. I have to say, this particular Jesus isn’t quite to my taste 😂, but I am obsessed with the scene underneath him. This was a window designed by Hugh Easton in 1949. It is a post-Blitz view of the local area after the Second World War. You can see his signature in the bottom right corner of the window (picture 4), which is a white weathervane that says Easton.
He has done very well to capture some of the destruction of the war. I think the neutral colours that he’s chosen give the feel of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. There is not a figure to be seen. The only representations of people are the gravestones. Although, saying that, the lush green light shining down on St. Dunstan’s does give you a feeling of hope amidst the desolation. To place you in the right location and period, Easton has also included the gas holders in the top left corner. These belonged to the Commercial Gas Company who’d set up their main gasworks in Stepney in the late 1830s and last used in 1990. From what I was able to find out, the last gas holder was dismantled in around 1999. These structures survived the Blitz because wardens would keep a nightly watch and throw incendiary devices off the tank roofs. Fair enough, you don’t really want fire near gas!
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There is so much more you could say about the church as well! With a history dating back to at least the 10th century, this is the 3rd church on the site and is mostly 15th century. I might have to do a whole blog post on it at some point!
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10/01/2025

I had the most fantastic tour to kick off 2025!
We played games, sang songs from , and looked for funny carvings in Westminster Abbey. Did you know, the official name of Westminster Abbey is the ‘Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster’? You didn’t? Don’t worry, very few do! 😅 But I’ll tell you who does know - Laila. She made it her personal mission to memorise that name and I was so proud when she recited it back to me, perfectly, over an hour later 🥹
They also had the best reactions: I’ve never heard anyone so excited to see Stephen Hawking and Charles Darwin - the squeals of delight were epic (which was also hilarious because we were squashed behind a Christmas tree and I think we made a few people jump! 😂)
Despite terrible weather keeping us from Buckingham Palace and drenching us to the bone, they stayed positive throughout. What a way to spend New Year’s Day!!
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09/01/2025

✅ Visit Mars - already ticked off the 2025 bucket list!
And guess what?? Luckily, it will only cost you a tube fare and entry to the Painted Hall to do the same!

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Luke Jerram has added another temporary art installation to the awe-inspiring surroundings of the Painted Hall in Greenwich. This time it’s a slowly spinning replica of Mars, produced using detailed images from NASA. It’s 7m in diameter and already makes you feel tiny - even more so when I read that this model is about one million times smaller than the planet itself and each centimetre on the replica represents 10km of the surface of Mars?!
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If you look at the second picture, I especially enjoyed photographing the planet under the gaze of its namesake: the Roman god Mars in his gleaming armour! ⚔️ He has his hand on a ram because he is also the guardian of agriculture, representing spring. He didn’t just name a planet, he also gave us the month of March!
And swipe to the third image, you’ll see a man with a telescope: Galileo! I pictured him peering at Mars because it was Galileo who made the first telescopic observation of the planet in 1610! 🔭
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07/11/2024

Have you ever noticed the buildings of Queen Elizabeth College just opposite Greenwich station? They caught my eye a little while back and I was curious!
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It’s not actually a college at all. It’s more like an almshouse or retirement home. It was founded all the way back in 1576 (so named after the first Queen Elizabeth rather than the second!) for the poor and elderly people of Greenwich. That’s still its primary role and the housing is reserved for those who really need it.
The current buildings date back to 1818 and they consist of 40 self-contained one-bedroom cottages. There was also an extension in 1967 which added another 28 flats. As well as that, residents have access to a hall, a chapel (which you can see on the far side of the garden, where the clock is) and a laundry. What a lovely little community!
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The College was founded by William Lambarde, a writer and politician, who also served three times as Master of the Drapers’ Company in the 16th century. In the third image, you can see his coat of arms in the roundel on the brick wall. He entrusted the almshouses to the Worshipful Company of Drapers on his death which is why they still look after the site to this day. On the opposite side of the garden and in the final photo is a plaque commemorating the rebuilding of the houses. The roundel above it shows the coats of arms of Thomas Plumer on the left (although I’m not sure what his role was in the reconstruction, beyond being the President of Something…) and the Drapers’ Company on the right.
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05/11/2024

Have you ever visited All Hallows By The Tower and noticed this guy? This is Chippie 🐶 and he was the beloved Cairn Terrier owned by Vicar Philip Bayard Clayton (1885-1972), known affectionately by everyone as “Tubby” (the man not the dog).
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Clayton was Vicar at All Hallows for 40 years from 1922 and everywhere Clayton went, Chippie went too. In the third photo, you can even see them out on parade together just outside All Hallows! What gets slightly confusing though is that from about 1949 until his death, Clayton had 4 Cairn Terriers and they were all called Chippie… His first Chippie was actually gifted to him by Queen Mary (wife of George V) and one (or maybe all of them) had a special pass to go for walks in the Tower of London moat! What a good boy 🥰
The terrier of focus today, however, is Chippie Mark IV (the final Chippie), so I’ve tried to choose photos which I’m pretty sure are him! He was born in 1968 and Clayton acquired him soon after from a breeder in Aberdeenshire. Chippie outlived Clayton and was taken in by a Mrs P.R. Moore who looked after him until he died in late 1980 aged a dignified 12 and a half!
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Clayton is also famous as one of the founders of Toc H, originally called Talbot House, which was a soldiers’ recreation centre and retreat in Poperinge (or “Pops” as the soldiers called it) in Belgium during the First World War. It later expanded into an international movement, serving communities across the world. They still exist today, but in smaller numbers and based only in the UK, supporting communities, providing local services like craft sessions and kids clubs, and promoting mental and physical wellbeing. All Hallows is still the Guild Church of Toc H.
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(Chippie Photos: Toch H Centenery)

29/10/2024

It’s slightly worrying how obsessed I am with these ravens…
💙 Here we have Jubilee, who gave me a loud squawk when I went to say hi the other day. You’ll often find him up near the Martin Tower. Clearly, he has quite expensive taste because he’s made the area near the Jewel House his territory!! He moved into the Tower in 2012 and is named after the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.
💛 We also have Edgar, named after poet Edgar Allan Poe, most famous for his poem ‘The Raven’ published in 1845. He joined the family a few years ago with his sister, Branwen.
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The ravens are exceptionally well looked after by a dedicated team at the Tower of London, led by Ravenmaster Barney. They are fed a diet of raw meat, the occasional egg, and biscuits soaked in blood (ew…). So they have a lovely home, full bellies, and an adoring public - as a result, they’ve decided to stick around. Something that we’re very grateful for, because the legend is, should the ravens ever leave the Tower, the city will crumble and London will fall!! Not ideal…! (Thankfully we’re all right for now!)
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23/10/2024

🎉 New ! Memoirs of a Londoner: John Bobey
ramblinglondontours.com/2024/10/23/memoirs-of-a-londoner-john-bobey/
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John Bobey was born in the 1770s. He was a Black man put on display in London for the entertainment of white audiences in the late 18th century. The photo here is one of the sites where he was exhibited. It was called the Exeter Change on Strand. The building no longer exists, but in the second picture you can see what it looked like in the 1820s. Bobey had a condition which caused the patchy pigmentation of his skin, he was considered a “curiosity”, stripped of his humanity and put on display alongside animals.
Sadly, there’s so much of his story that we don’t know, but it is possible to put some of the pieces together and see what he achieved, despite everything and against the odds. Read more about his life in my blog post.
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To stay up to date with me, my tours and general London content, follow me 👉 ! I’m a professional Blue Badge tour guide and I run bespoke private tours for Londoners and visitors alike 🔍
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(Photos: HathiTrust and Wiki Commons)

15/10/2024

If you’ve been on one of my tours, then I’ve probably introduced you to Millie. I often couldn’t do my tours without her 💙
Basically, it’s a really terrible joke. I have a qualification called the Blue Badge, so, by extension, I am also a Blue Badger… (insert groan here) 😂
During the pandemic, I drew my Millie comic strips and she took us around London while we were all stuck at home (and I’ve attached some of my favourites - you can find the rest on my website). Nowadays, she helps me get around London and gives my groups something to follow! This version of Millie was crocheted by the incredibly talented .
I use her for my scavenger hunts and children’s activities. She’s become as much a part of as I am! If you see us around London, feel free to say hi. Millie loves the attention! 😋
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To stay up to date with me, my tours and general London content, follow me 👉 ! I’m a professional Blue Badge tour guide and I run bespoke private tours for Londoners and visitors alike 🔍
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Rambling London

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