July 2026 Archives

Did you know that you can have a tour and afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace? The palace is open to visitors to explore the state rooms for some days in the summer months, and the cafe serves lunches and afternoon teas. I visited last week, at the end of July, to enjoy afternoon tea and visit the palace. Despite living in London, I have never been on a visit, so this was one to do and tick off my "London bucket list". I arrived early for my timed entry slot and went through the airport-style security and received an audio guide. I recommend the audio guide so that you can learn about the different state rooms and the paintings in the galleries (or furniture in the other rooms).

It was another hot day, and I visited the palace and had a quick look at the gardens in the front.

I bought the official souvenir guide.

The palace state rooms on display date to the early 1800s when the palace was used as a residence. I was able to see the throne room, which had the two chairs and paintings of the current monarchy - Charles and Camilla. I also saw the picture galleries, but the music room and another couple of rooms were under renovation and scaffolding. The picture galleries had also recently been renovated with the paintings rearranged.

After the tour, I went to the cafe and wanted to have the afternoon tea with sparkling wine. I also ordered a trifle. 

They did not allow me to have tea for some reason (I am not sure why as it says it is included on the menu, but they said it was not included if you have the sparkling wine option.) They did not have a vegtarian-only option, so I have the sandwiches to the table next door. There was ham and pickle, spiced chicken, smoked salmon, and egg mayonnaise. I did have the chicken and egg sandwiches. The tins of afternoon tea are pre-made.

The cakes included an apricot and almond Bakewell tart, lemon loaf, Guiness red velvet sponge with dark chocolate, and spiced carrot and wanut cake. This also included two scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

I liked the fruit trifle as well.

After the tour and afternoon tea at the cafe, I had a walk through the gardens to the exit. Th Buckingham Palace shop is at the gardens on the way to the exit.

I enjoyed the visit to Buckingham Palace to see the state rooms and have afternoon tea (minus the tea for some reason) at the cafe. 

The Pickled Frog in Salisbury is currently offering a bottomless lunch (brunch), and I took my friend there for a birthday treat. The Pickled Frog is located in a historical medieval building dating to the early 1400s on Blue Boar Row, one of the oldest streets and buildings in the city, and the building is meant to be haunted. When I visited, the restaurant had a few others enjoying lunch, so we were spared the ghost. The bottomless lunch or brunch comes with your choice of main meal and a selection of alcohol - Prosecco, spritz, or bloody mary.

Below is the building pictured on the corner of the market square on the glorious warm summer day.

I was sat upstairs.

We had the bottomless drinks, though the table service was very slow for us.

I had the chicken burger, and my friend had a beef burger. I tried the Prosecco, Aperol spritz, gin spritz, and mimosa. The food was tasty.

For dessert, I had the ice cream. The ice creams are not served in a dish. We were given a container of ice cream. 

Breamore Miz-Maze is a labyrinth maze cut into the turf (grass and soil) of the ground during the middle ages - around the 12th century. There are currently eight surviving miz-mazes in the country, and this is one of a couple in Hampshire. The miz-maze can be viewed by walking up beyond Breamore House and following a long trail through the woods (on a road) and up a hill. The walk took a little over thirty minutes to arrive at the miz-maze. It is easy to locate though not exactly sign-posted.

The miz-maze is fenced off because it is a scheduled monument and prone to damage if people walk onto it. Visitors can still enjoy it by walking around it.

Other posts that I took at Breamore of the house and museum are below:

http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/07/breamore-countryside.html

 http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/07/a-morning-at-breamore-house-ha.html

Breamore House and Museum is located in Hampshire, and I visited earlier this month. I recently posted about my tour of the house (http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/07/a-morning-at-breamore-house-ha.html), and I also wanted to show some photographs and write up about my visit to the museum. The Breamore Museum is a countryside museum that showcases agricultural and village life in the days following World War II. It has a large collection of farm machinery and tractors.

I first had a bite of breakfast at the little cafe on site.

There are a couple of different buildings here, and one focused on the farm machinery and another one with village and other trades - laundry, milk, car repair, bike repair, blacksmith, cobbler, etc.

This is an interesting museum, and it has a lot of interesting and very old tractors and steam engines. The museum is open daily (except on Mondays). 

Breamore House, located in Hampshire at the edge of the New Forest national park and just north of Fordingbridge, is an Elizabethan manor home. The owners live in the house but open it on certain days from the spring until autumn, and visitors can admire the paintings and learn about the history of the house. I visited it a week ago with a friend. The house had some sad stories to tell and did transfer ownership. It has also been used in filming.

I arrived early and before the tour. I enjoyed a slice of cake and a drink as "breakfast". The cafe does get busy, but I arrived early as the first person.

Photography was not permitted inside the house, but I got several photographs outside and also in the gardens. 

Below are a couple of professional photographs of the interior of the house.

This is a fantastic property, and the guide for the group was knowledgeable about the history and artwork and pointed out some of the more interesting pieces. In addition to the guided house tours, visitors also can visit the museum and an ancient maze.

A one time, the City of London was a walled city with narrow streets and gatehouses. It was the influential city on the edge of the Roman Empire, and the wall around the city protected it from the hostile people outside. I've had on my London bucket list to walk the route of the old wall for awhile, and I finally got to do this on a hot May day. The Museum of London had created signs for different points along the route of the wall, but very few of these exist today.

I followed a couple of online guides for the route of the London wall.

The starting point is (of course) the Tower of London. This was the castle. Outside near Tower Hill is the Postern Gate ruins. This talks about how some parts of the wall can be seen as they were buried or incorporated into other buildings, but the majority were demolished for wider roads and infrastructure in the 17th century.

Below is the postern gate, and at the bottom of Tower Hill (where the tube station now lies) is a Roman statue. There were a lot of people on treature hunt tours looking at the statue of the Roman soldier.

 Behind the statue is a large section of wall, pictured below.

The next stop was through a hotel's grounds, and this section is now Cooper's Row. The wall is 35 feet high here, and there are windows which would have provided a look-out.

The next stop was Lime Street, which isn't really recorded in the map I used. This is a museum now because a large section of the old London wall is located under the ground and accessible through the office building here on Lime Street. 

Inside are many artefacts and information panels about life in Roman London and other periods in the city's history. Houses and shops had used the old London wall for their buildings, and some of the items discovered related to those families. This was an interesting museum and one of the best sections to visit to understand the history of the wall through the centuries. 

The Morph Roman soldier sculpture that I photographed in 2023 is now housed here.

The entrance to this little museum at Lime Street can be visited during daytime hours and contains one of the original information plaques outside.

I continued to Aldgate next. There was meant to be a visible section of wall here and was meant to be on display when they finished renovating the grounds at Aldgate, but it appears that they have hidden the wall. Only the plaque remains as well as a sign depicting what the famous large gate would have looked like here.

The large square would have been the location of this gate, which was one of the entrances into the old city. "Aldgate" means "old gate".

I continued down Houndsditch, which was where the old wall ran parallel (at Bevis Marks). The street got its name as trash and carcasses of deceased dogs were thrown over the wall into the ditch here. There was previously a section of old wall here, but it can no longer be seen since the subway was closed. It was actually once outside the old wall with Spitalfields and the Roman cemetary beyond. The dead were always buried outside city walls.

Next up is a sign near Bevis Marks Synagogue where there was a section of the wall, but the old wall doesn't exist except in footprint of the street. 

Below is another picture where the wall used to run, but it is now modern buildings.

St. Botolph Bishopsgate was a church that was built into the old wall, but the church was accessible outside the wall. The wall was used in the buildings here. Bishopsgate was the location of one of the gates outside the wall. 

Below are the grounds of St. Botolph Bishopsgate, and it would have been outside the wall.

I followed "London Wall", the street that is named for the wall but no longer exists or exists in fragments. One of the fragments is at All-Hallows-on-the-Wall church. A fragment of the wall can be seen here next to the church.

I continued to walk down this wide and busy street known as London Wall.

Another site is Moorgate, and now there's a tube station here. Moorgate was one of the other gates into the city. It was named after the marshland (moor) on the northern side of the city. The marsh was created due to the London wall blocking the Walbrook stream. The wall here was demolished in 1817.

Here is a sign for the London Wall.

Along London Wall is a car park underground, and a section of the old wall can be seen inside.

St. Alphage Gardens has a small section of wall with the archway of an old church.

There's also the lower gardens here with a section of the wall. 

There is a lot of old city wall around the Barbican area. This is because the Barbican now sits on the site of the old Roman fort, which dates to 120 AD. The lake at Barbican follows the original moat around the fort, and the tower remains also survive.

Cripplegate tower was a medieval tower in the northwest corner of the Roman fort, and the towers were lived in by hermits later.

The whole area of Barbican was the fort.

Below is St. Cripplegate church.

There is a plague next to the lake at Barbican.

The remains of towers and the wall can be seen.

The structures of the old fort and towers can be seen around the Museum of London as well. At the moment, the Museum of London is closed as it will be moved.

Acoss from the road of the museum, the wall changes direction completely and starts its path south toward the Thames. This is Noble Street, and a large section on wall exists along the street.

Aldersgate was one of the other gates into the old city. It is located near the entrance to Postman's Park.

Below is where the gate would have stood.

The wall continued through what is now Postman's Park.

I walked by Christchurch Grayfriar's, which was along the original wall path.

This led me to Old Bailey and Newgate Street. This was one of the locations of the gates into the city.

I followed this south toward the river and the original path of the old wall. This is near to Ludgate, which was one of the old gates and maybe known as "back gate" or "Fleet Gate" due to the river that used to run along. 

The last stop was along the river where there was a Blackfriars priory and monastary. The tube stop and pub pay a tribute to this old monastary. 

I recommend the London wall self-guided walk if you are looking to explore and gather some facts and history about London.

I have fond memories of playing "Sonic the Hedgehog" games with my brothers - collecting the chaos emeralds and finding hidden areas and quirks in the game. I cannot believe that the game is 35 years old now, and that makes me feel old. This summer, street artists have teamed up with SEGA to paint a few murals of "Sonic the Hedgehog" around east London. The game and character is still popular today with a movie franchise and games.

Ebor Street is home to a couple of the super-fast Sonic murals, including the one above painted with Sonic and friends (and enemies) along the wooden hoarding. 

Great Eastern Street had the murals dedicated to the famous blue hedgehog.

A bigger mural on Ebor Street shows Sonic out-running a giant whale.

The Village Underground wall shows Sonic with the gold rings.

The two medieval rooms (Pyx Chamber and Chapter House) in Westminster Abbey are open for free to members of English Heritage. Both of these rooms are located off the cloisters on the ast side of the church and form part of the medieval construction whre the monks lived. I visited the rooms last month.

The Chapter House was built by Henry III in the 13th century, and the room is an octagonal shape. These rooms were built for the monks to have their daily meetings. The room is noted for the wall paintings and stained glass windows.

I had a walk around the cloisters of Westminster Abbey where many tourists in late June were visiting. 

Next up was the Pyx Chamber. This dates to the 7th century and to St. Peter. In the early 1000s, the church was rebuilt for William I. This area was a sacristy where items were stored for ceremonies.

The entrance to the sites were in the courtyard behind the abbey.

Below is Westminster Abbey from the back.

And Big Ben, the clock tower formerly named St. Stephen's Tower but renamed after Queen Elizabeth II.

There is so much history here, and I recommend a visit. I visited Westminster Abbey many years ago. 

Another day, another brunch! We had previously booked The Little Violet Door for an early birthday gift, but they had to cancel on us due to an electrical issue. We decided to visit the venue to have the actual brunch. We did not do the bottomless this time, which enabled us to try out some of the different cocktails. I loved the one served in the disco ball, which was easy to drink.

The Little Violet Door is located off Carnaby Street in Kingly Court. It is decorated like a flat where friends could come to hang out.

The bathroom was a karaoke room, and we loaded some nice tunes to sing to. We were very merry after having the disco ball drink. This was literally in the bathroom with the bath tub.

We received a free cocktail.

There were other rooms with games, such as Mario Kart, and we also could dress up in one of the many costumes provided. I dressed up like a bottle of tequila. My friend was a chili at one point and a banana at another point. It was such a laugh.

There was also a kitchen and laundry room, and visitors could hang out here too.

Th disco drink was so good.

I had the pancakes with maple syrup.

My friend had a burger.

We tried a variety of different cocktails.

We shared the brownie.

More cocktails...

This was such good fun! I would definitley go back.

Sunday was the final of BST Hyde Park this year, and I had tickets to see Lewis Capaldi on the final day of the event. It was a scorching weekend with the hot weather and dead grass making a lot of dust across the park. The weather was lovely and hot, and this is perfect for the festival atmosphere at BST Hyde Park. The concerts were a sell-out event, and Lewis Capaldi was the headline act. The artist is known for bringing people together and has a string of hits and awards to his name. 

I wanted to get there early to take advantage of the day and to see the other acts. My friend from Bournemouth was coming up for the day, but I got there early to enjoy it and get a feel of the layout. Due to the hot weather in the mid-30s, I dressed in light clothes.

I first went to wander the different brand stalls - American Express, spirits, British Airways, make-up brands, supermarkets, and more were available to browse to try my luck to win a prize. I also bought a spicy margartia. 

There were rides as well.

I actually won some free items in the form of Lewis Capaldi merchandise and money to spend on some food at BST Hyde Park. There were so many different types of food available, and I selected the ice cream with a brownie.

There were two stages. The rainbow stage had some of the smaller acts throughout the day, but I did not watch anything on this stage.

I heard the other acts from the main stage as I was walking around, and I did really want to watch them as well, but there was so much to do. The first act that I wached was Alessi Rose, a singer-songwriter from the UK. Her pop-rock songs were really good. 

Next was Conan Gray, who is an American singer-songwriter who had a popular following at BST Hyde Park for his pop songs. I also really liked his music.

Lewis Capaldi was the headline act, and the crowds were deafening. I was lucky to get a space at the front of the stage to watch the performance, and the crowds were impressive. So many people were emotional at watching him perform, and it was a great concert with Capaldi speaking to the audience on subjects that mean a lot to him between his songs. He also interacted with the audience.

The special guest that Capaldi invited on stage for the evening was The Kooks' Luke Pritchard. I am a big fan of The Kooks (along with similar music back around 2008-2011 as a period of time that produced some great music), and they sang together on the stage.

One of the last songs was played with falling water onto the stage.

The concert finale was fireworks across the London Hyde Park sky. These launched above the stage. 

This was such a great night and made me remember previous years of enjoying events in London and that festival atmosphere that makes the city so great.

This post covers some of the photographs and a variety of things that I never got around to posting over the spring. The spring started out gloomy and wet, but we have had some nice weather now with plenty of sun and warmth. I am looking forward to more days in the garden. 

I enjoyed outdoor dining in the warm weather, and a Greek salad (feta cheese, watermelon, cucumber, and wholegrain crackers) hit the spot washed down with a glass of Prosecco.

The cats became more lethargic in the warm weather. They like to sleep all day anyway, but they have been getting more sleep recently.

I love seeing the beautiful daffodils. These were at Ruislip at the Manor Farm. There are a few that come up in this place all year around.

Covent Garden changes its blooms, and I captured a few of the spring displays.

I've gone to the theatre a couple of times this spring, and I visited Hungama Indian Street Food restaurant near Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square. I was a bit hungry before the theatre and did not get any lunch, so this was lunch and dinner. I had a paneer curry and rice. It was alright.

The market and local Gail's bakery sells sourdough. I had a dinner party and brought this one home. 

Eastcote House Gardens is always nice to visit, and I love to visit in the spring.

Late April brought the bluebells out to Ruislip woods.

Of course, there is always time for cocktails with friends or while waiting on a theatre show to begin.

Hedonism Wines decorates their shop off Berkeley Square for the seasons. Below was their Easter and spring display this year.

I love spring in London and try to make time for the little things.

"High Society" is a musical comedy from the mid-1950s with music by Cole Porter, and the performance is currently on tour in the country. There are a lot of good and well-known songs in the musical. I went to see the play on one of its last dates at Barbican Centre a couple of days ago.

I had not been to the Barbican theatre before.

I got to the theatre early and had a couple of spicy margaritas at the upstairs bar at the Barbican while I waited. 

We have been having a lot of scorching hot days, and this day was one of those. Luckily, it was nice and cool at the Barbican. I loved that they had the fountains running. I wanted to see the conservatory, but it was closed by the time I finished the cocktails.

It was a full house (or nearly full), and I had one of the unusual seats to the side overhanging the stage where there were a couple of single seats on their own.

The musical numbers were good, and this is a good comedy. It will be touring other cities after it finishes at Barbican.

After-lunch drinks took me and my friends to Mr. Fogg's Residence in Mayfair where we indulged in a Victorian-themed room that was designed to be the fictional Mr. Fogg's home. I've been wanting to visit this venue for close to twenty years now and finally got to visit. Earlier this summer, I visited the "Mr. Fogg's World of Exploration" venue near the Strand. Each venue has its own cocktail list with special cocktails.

The bar is located down a side street in Mayfair near to Berkeley Square.

Because my friend and I both have birthdays in June, we received a shot served in a crystal glass and a telegram from Mr. Fogg.

The Smoked Stallion was one of the drinks that I had, and it was mezcal with watermelon, prickly pear, and bergamont liqueur. It was served in a rocking horse.

I also had the cocktail served in a hot air balloon, which was known as Mr. Fogg's Ascent. It was whiskey, cherry wine, Lillet, and pineapple. 

My friends went for some of the other cocktails and mocktails.

A take on the spicy margarita.

Behind Closed Doors.

Lather and Lay Back. This one was served in a miniature bathtub glass with "bubble" foam. It was gin, vermouth, liqueur, and soothing chamomile with other flavours (honey, ginger, lime).

Overall, the place is good fun with different themed cocktails. They also serve food, but we had just eaten, and this was a cocktails visit only.

Belgian chocolate shop Neuhaus is currently selling chocolate mousse at a couple of its stores, and one of the stores is Covent Garden. There is a choice between dark and milk chocolate and toppings - dried raspberries, caramel, or caramelised almond. It comes served with an edible spoon. 

I had the dark chocolate with raspberry.

The chocolate mousse is delicious.

In April when I went onto the Bluebell Railway, I first stopped off at Bluebell Winery in the afternoon. The winery is located in East and West Sussex and named after the bluebell woods located around the area. I had a tasting of three different wines - a red, a rose, and a white. The afternoon sun was really warm and one of the first really nice days of the year after a long and dreary winter.

The winery does have tours and official tastings with food, but I just had a small tasting flight. 

I enjoyed these outside with the views of a pond and over the vineyard.

After the wine tasting, I had a quick walk down to the vines and then through to the wooded area at the back. I was hoping to see some bluebells, but there weren't any here. I did see some wild flowers in the woods.

Some of the vines that were on the higher part of the ground were coming out in bud.

This is a nice little winery, and they have the wines for sale in the shop. The vineyard can also be seen from the railroad track for the steam trains at Bluebell Railway.

I have been to Nymans a few times, but this was my first visit in the spring. I visited in late April on one of the first warm days of the year, and I enjoyed seeing the tulips and wisteria in bloom. The gardens at Nymans are very pretty, and I like to visit National Trust properties in the different seasons. Below are some of my photographs from that warm day in late April.

After wandering around the gardens, I visited the house. 

There was a special exhibit on in the house for 100 years of "Winnie the Pooh". This special exhibition was free to visit until the end of June. There were some of the original books and illustrations as well as information about the characters and author. Nymans is located not far from where the books were written. 

My previous posts on Nymans can be seen by looking at the below links:

http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2023/12/nutcracker-christmas-at-nymans.html

<p><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2023/10/nymans-summer-nationaltrust.html">Nymans Summer Gardens and House</a> <br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2021/01/nymans-gardens-in-autumn.html">Nyman's Gardens in Autumn</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2020/07/nymans-national-trust.html" rel="bookmark"><br />A Visit to Nymans (National Trust, West Sussex): Lockdown Edition</a></p>

I recently saw the play "Sinatra The Musical" in London, and I enjoyed it. This play is based on the life and career of Frank Sinatra from the early 1940s until his later years. The play opened in London's Aldwych Theatre earlier in June. I do enjoy Frank Sinatra's music, and I thought that this was a very good musical production. 

This play is currently beong performed at Aldwych Theatre until April next year.

Craft Gin Club, which I have been a member of for a few years now, has rebranded to "The Curious Drinker". I ordered their newest gin box under the new brand, which is June 2026. Each box contains a full-sized bottle of gin, mixers, snacks, and a magazine with information about the products. This month's full bottle of gin is Apenra Gin, which is a gin from Sicily. Keep reading to see what I received in the box.

• Gran Luchito tortilla chips
• Krambals Garden Grill Bruschetta
• Orange ganish for the gin and tonic
• Pink grapefruit and orange cocktail syrup for the gin cocktail
• London Essence Riviera tonic to pair with Apenera gin
• Shandy shack raspberry lager
• Coco Cubes chocolate
• Lemonaid + Orange
• Primadeli Rosemary Bites

A group of friends and I celebrated my and another friend's birthday this year with dinner at Quaglino's. This restaurant in the central of London has been in operation since 1929 and is one of the luxury dining experiences where people can dine on delicious food and drink to live music. I wanted to try their bottomless brunch, but my friends were not keen on drinking, so we settled for the standard menu.

The decor was very interesting; it was light outside, but it reminded us of a cruise ship. 

We shared bread to start, and it was delicious.

I had th truffle pasta, which was also delicious. 

I also had the chocolate mousse for dessert.

My friend and I received a birthday treat.

Before we arrived at the venue, we went to Frevd's cocktail bar and had a couple of drinks. 

The food was delicious, and I really want to do the bottomless brunch here.

At the end of June, I visited a hidden garden in the middle of one of the busiest developed areas of London: Westminster. Suzette has a small set up here a couple of blocks from one of the busiest stations, Victoria. It used to be known as Onion Garden, and it was a community project to bring events and nature to people. The venue serves hot and cold drinks (alcohol) and pastries at the little building, and visitors can take their food into the garden to enjoy. There are a lot of little hidden tables and areas to enjoy with nature and birds.

Orders can be placed in the building.

I ordered a gin and tonic and a cookie.

I went to a secluded part of the garden to enjoy it. This was away from other people and a nice touch being in the garden with the beautiful plants and birds. I did not feel that I was in the middle of one of the busiest areas of London.

This really is a lovely place to sit and enjoy some quiet away from the noisy and busy streets outside.