Originally the London residence of the first Duke of Wellington, Apsley House was designed and built by Robert Adam between 1771 and 1778 and retains some of the finest Regency interiors around.

The house formed the elegant backdrop to a host of glittering banquets which mirrored the rise in status of the Duke. Held in the opulent Waterloo Gallery, the feasts were a decadent and raucous annual celebration of the Duke's landmark victory at Waterloo.

The Wellington family still reside in the property to this day making Apsley House the only property managed by English Heritage in which the original owners' family still live.

Benjamin Franklin House, the world's only remaining Franklin home and listed Georgian building, is just steps from Charing Cross.

The Historical Experience presents the excitement of Franklin's London years through live audio-visual performance.

School visitors explore the Student Science Centre featuring hands-on experimentation with Franklin's London scientific discoveries, juxtaposing past and present knowledge.
The top floor Robert H. Smith Scholarship Centre is a focal point in Europe for Franklin and Franklin-related study, featuring a full set of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, as catalogued by Yale University, and an active symposia programme.

The name Big Ben is often used to describe the tower, the clock and the bell but the name was first given to the Great Bell.

The Elizabeth Tower was completed in 1859 and the Great Clock started on 31 May, with the Great Bell's strikes heard for the first time on 11 July and the quarter bells first chimed on 7 September.

The clock inside the tower was the world's largest when it was installed in the middle of the 19th century. The name Big Ben actually refers to the clock's hour bell, the largest of the clock's five bells. The other four are used as quarter bells.

The clock is known for its reliability, it has rarely failed during its long life span. Even after the nearby House of Commons was destroyed by bombing during World War II, the clock kept on chiming. The clock's mechanism, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, has a remarkable accuracy. The clock's rate is adjusted by simply adding small pennies on the shoulder of the pendulum.

The clock tower is not publicly accessible, but if you're looking for views over London the London Eye and the Shard are currently the best options.

Facts:
Dimensions: over 96 metres and 12 metres square
Steps to belfry: 334
Steps to lantern (the Ayrton Light): 393

Amount of stone used: 850 cubic metres
Amount of bricks used: 2600 cubic metres

Number of floors: 11

Buckingham Palace serves as both the office and London residence of Her Majesty The Queen.

It is one of the few working royal palaces remaining in the world today.

Originally known as Buckingham House, the building which forms the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site which had been in private ownership for at least 150 years.

During the summer, visitors can tour the nineteen State Rooms, which form the heart of the Palace.

These magnificent rooms are decorated with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens and Canaletto and sculpture by Canova.

A Royal Day Out ticket gives admission to The State Rooms, The Royal Mews and The Queen Room.
Today the State Rooms are used extensively by The Queen and Members of the Royal Family to receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions. During August and September when The Queen makes her annual visit to Scotland, the Palace's nineteen state rooms are open to visitors.

City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly.

It is located in Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It was designed by Norman Foster and opened in July 2002, two years after the Greater London Authority was created.
City Hall is home to the Mayor of London, the London Assembly and the 600 or so permanent staff who work for the GLA.

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane.

This area is one of the most popular among tourists and is mainly associated with the former fruit and vegetable market located in the central square which is now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden".

Covent Garden contains the city's liveliest group of restaurants, pubs, and cafes outside Soho, as well as some of the city's hippest shops.

The restored marketplace here, with its glass and iron roofs, has been called a magnificent example of urban recycling.

Step back in time and shock your senses at number 18 Folgate Street in London's Spitalfields. The house's creator was artist Dennis Severs who lived in the house as its inhabitants would have done in the 18th century. He created the fictional Jervis family whose things, including half-eaten meals, chamber pots and discarded clothes fill the house. The tour, conducted in silence, takes visitors back to the period 1724 to 1914 and bombards their senses with the sights, sounds and scents of the era. Tours are only available a few days a month.




Dennis Severs' House is not a museum but a private home that opens to the public as a time capsule to London's past.
American Dennis Severs (1948-99) bought this run-down, unmodernized 18th century house in 1979 and decided not to restore it but to "bring it to life". Spitalfields was quite bohemian at the time with other artists moving in too. Severs lived here, without electricity and other home comforts, while also creating a Huguenot silk weaver's home for Mr Isaac Jervis, his family, and their descendants.

From March 2010, Kensington Palace will become the Enchanted Palace in a unique multisensory experience combining fashion, performance, and dazzling spectacle to reveal Kensington magnificent State Apartments in a magical new light.

The SEA LIFE London Aquarium is home to one of Europe's largest collections of global marine life and the jewel in the crown of the 28 SEA LIFE attractions in the UK and Europe.

Situated in the heart of London, the experience takes visitors on an immersive and interactive journey along the Great Oceanic Conveyor.

London Eye, a giant observation wheel located in the Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank. The 135 meter (443ft) tall structure was built as part of London's millennium celebrations.

The observation wheel turns slow enough for people to embark while it is moving. A complete turn takes about 30 minutes. Thanks to the construction of the glass capsules on the outer side of the rim, the passengers have a great 360° view over London. Many famous landmarks are clearly visible, including Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament. On a clear day you can see as far as 40 km (25 miles).

The total weight of the wheel and capsules is 2,100 tonnes - or as much as 1,272 London black cabs!

Close to Covent Garden, London, and yet hidden away, Neal’s Yard is one of those places that if you didn’t know it was there, you might well pass by it loads of times and simply never come across it.

There are only two alleyways leading into the Yard, both of which are fairly unassuming, and give little hint of what lies beyond. Neal’s Yard is almost like a secret garden in the center of London, well off the main drag, and visited only by those who know exactly where they are going.

It was in 1976 that Michael Saunders moved into an old warehouse in Neal’s Yard, which at the time really was just a scruffy backyard behind warehouses and other buildings. With his emphasis upon alternative and healthy living, Saunders set about opening up a wholefood shop, and the enterprise proceeded to be a huge success. Going from strength to strength Saunders then set up a dairy, a cafe, and an apothecary specializing in alternative remedies and healing.

Piccadilly Circus is a busy plaza in the heart of London at the junction of five major streets: Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly and Covent Street.

Piccadilly Circus is a famous road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.

This Neo-Gothic drawbridge is one of London’s best known symbols. It crosses the Thames river and can open to let ships through in just 3 minutes. Furthermore, it’s close to the Tower of London, the monument that gives it its name.