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• Tickets Alert: Visit the Cosmic House in Holland Park

  10-05-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A slightly unassuming house in Holland Park conceals a remarkable interior — a house packed full of early Post-Modernist designs — and is now occasionally open to the public.Externally it looks like a normal sort of house for the area, but the architect Charles Jencks and family gutted most of the interior and built something that is really quite stunning. Not necessarily nice, as that’s down to individual tastes, but it is most certainly stunning.
  You’ll feel stunned whe
  
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• The transition from the Queen’s to King’s Gallery

  06-06-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A few weeks ago, the King’s Gallery next to Buckingham Palace reopened with a new exhibition, but also with a new name.Since opening in 1962 and up to just a few weeks ago, it has been The Queen’s Gallery. Although it was initially indicated that the name wouldn’t change with the changing of the monarch, late last year, they announced the name would change after all.
  It remained the Queen’s Gallery for a while longer, until the end of their last exhibition.While the galle
  
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• Merton Priory’s Chapter House ruins open to the public

  06-06-2024 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The remains of an important monastery broken up by King Henry VIII and almost lost to history can be found underneath a busy road in south London. It’s also open to the public, having recently added a new visitor centre and mini-museum.The significance of Merton Priory and the Chapter House is evident in the ecclesiastical, royal, and government activity that was conducted at the priory and in the meetings held in the Chapter House itself. King Henry III called a council meeting in January
  
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• Free cycle rides in London: TfL offering unlimited 30-minute rides every Sunday in June

  06-06-2024 07:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Throughout June, TfL’s cycle hire scheme will be free on Sundays, offering unlimited 30-minute cycle rides for free.The TfL Cycle Sundays offer can be claimed by downloading the Santander Cycles app or heading to a docking station terminal, choosing a Day Pass, and using the code CYCLESUNDAYS.
  Once you have unlocked a bike, you can ride it for 30 minutes free of charge. Then, you can drop the bike into another docking station and repeat as often as you like throughout the day.
  You won&rsqu
  
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• TfL’s latest railway upgrades: New trains, signalling, and station enhancements detailed

  05-06-2024 18:45 via ianvisits.co.uk
  If you want to know what railway upgrades Transport for London (TfL) has been carrying out in recent months, a summary can be compiled from the latest Commissioners Report for the board.
  The report will be discussed at TfL’s board meeting on Wednesday 12th June, but ahead of that, here is a summary of recent railway upgrades within TfL.
  New Piccadilly line train on test tracks in Germany (c) ianVisits
  DLR
  To date, 30 new DLR trains have been built and are in various stages of testing.
  The
  
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• Mayfield lavender farm reopens on 15th June

  05-06-2024 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Row upon row of purple lavender fill the fields near Croydon, and you can walk through them from next Saturday.
  Mayfield Lavender Farm opens to the public annually to take in the remarkable sight and get all their purple-toned photos. It’s one of those places that is exceptionally photo-friendly, whether you’re taking serious photos or sharing on Instagram.
  (c) Mayfield Lavender Farm
  They’ve now confirmed that the farm will reopen to the public from Saturday 15th June through t
  
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• Decades of pollution removed from the National Gallery’s facade

  05-06-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The National Gallery’s grand stone frontage has been restored to its 1830s appearance now that decades of pollution has been cleaned off the front of the building.
  Ahead of the gallery’s 200th anniversary, the external façade overlooking Trafalgar Square underwent a major phased cleaning and refurbishment programme, made possible by support from the late Julia Rausing and her husband Hans Rausing.
  With the final scaffolding now removed, the stone looks as fresh and clean as it
  
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• How to get King Charles III banknotes from the Bank of England for a limited-time swap

  05-06-2024 12:15 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Although issued today, it’ll take ages to see a new King Charles III banknote in the shops and pubs, but if you are so minded, you can skip the wait and get some new notes in person from the Bank of England.
  The Bank of England maintains a counter service inside its grand building, which is normally open when people want to swap worn-out banknotes for fresh ones. However, for the next few days, they’re issuing King Charles III banknotes.
  It’s also a very easy process.Just get s
  
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• London’s Pocket Parks: Holly Road Garden of Rest, TW1

  05-06-2024 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This is a small pocket park in Twickenham that was once a graveyard. Today, it’s a park, but it’s also the burial site of a controversial vicar.The site opened in 1782 as the burial ground for the local parish of St Mary the Virgin in Twickenham, but by 1835, it was already nearly full, so a larger burial ground in nearby Oak Lane was opened as an overflow site.
  Holly Road officially closed as a burial site in 1868, although some family burials continued for a few decades. It remaine
  
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• Tickets Alert: A free celebration of Vivienne Westwood at Christie’s

  04-06-2024 16:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A display of Vivienne Westwood’s clothes and possessions is coming to London later this month, and there will also be a free evening at the exhibition.
  Propoganda, Dressed to Scale and Witches (c) Christie’s
  The British fashion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood is recognised globally as one of the most influential designers of modern times, having established one of the world’s leading fashion brands. Christie’s auction house will sell items chosen by Andreas K
  
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• London’s free cycle hire scheme for disabled riders

  04-06-2024 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A free cycle hire scheme has been launched in London, offering specially adapted bicycles for disabled people who might have difficulties using conventional cycle hire bikes.
  (c) Wheels for Wellbeing (WfW), Charlie Fernandes
  The new Wheels4MeLondon scheme, a collaboration between Sustrans, Wheels for Wellbeing, and Peddle My Wheels and funded by the Motability Foundation, will provide free cycle loans for disabled people.
  Many disabled people and those with long-term health conditions do not hav
  
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• National Archives showcases extraordinary WWII prison break stories

  04-06-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Drawing on the wartime records in its vaults, the National Archives currently has a free exhibition on how Prisoners of War tried to escape their camps and thwart their enemy’s actions.While there are examples of James Bond style escape kits and tools — much of the exhibition is made up of stories of the individuals who managed, or sometimes failed, to escape their prisoner camps and internment centres where foreign nationals were arrested for simply holding the wrong passport.
  There
  
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• Kew Gardens’s “corpse flower” is in bloom

  04-06-2024 11:20 via ianvisits.co.uk
  It’s only in bloom for a day or two, so if you can get to Kew Gardens sharpish, then one of the world’s smelliest plants is strutting its thing.
  Titan arum, also known as the corpse flower, has an incredibly foul smell of rotten flesh when in bloom, which evolved to attract pollinators that love to feed and breed on flesh. It’s also a huge plant, so if the smell isn’t enough of a lure, then the size might be.
  Cairns Botanic gardens, with the curator of the gardens, David
  
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• Elizabeth line ventilation shaft features subtle leaf-themed art installation

  04-06-2024 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Around the back of Bond Street station is a tall ventilation shaft built for the Elizabeth line, and little noticed is that it’s also a work of art.Cascading down the side of the terracotta cladding around the three shafts are a series of falling leaves — and this is Anatomy of Time by Clare Twomey. The falling leaves are inspired by the plants that would have been seen along the banks of the River Tyburn long before the river was buried under the mass of buildings that make up centr
  
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• The Necropolis Railway station is up for sale

  03-06-2024 16:45 via ianvisits.co.uk
  If you have very deep pockets and fancy living in a railway station for the dead, then the Necropolis Station in Waterloo is currently up for sale.
  (c) Dexters
  The railway station building, around the back of Waterloo station, was built to cater to that very Victorian obsession – the dead. As London’s graveyards overflowed and cemeteries were built on the outskirts of London, the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company was granted permission to build a huge cemetery in Wokin
  
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• Parliament’s dining room open to the public during the General Election

  03-06-2024 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The election gives us a rare chance to use Parliament’s private facilities and dine in the House of Lords. While Parliament has been emptied of elected politicians, the Peers also pack up their bags and go home, leaving their dining room available for the electorate to use.
  Peers Dining Room (c) Parliament
  The House of Lords says that Peers’ Dining Room will be open Monday to Friday for lunch from Monday 10th June through to Wednesay 3rd July inclusive.
  A three-course lunch menu is p
  
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• Dennis Severs’ House is already selling Christmas tickets

  03-06-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  It may seem absurdly early, but tickets to visit the Christmas makeover at Dennis Severs’ House are already on sale — because they keep selling out.Just around the corner from Spitalfields market in east London, Dennis Severs’ House is set out as a Georgian house where the family have just stepped outside for a moment. You are invited into their home to walk around while they’re out. It’s not a museum with lots of precious objects but an experience.
  You are exhorted
  
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• National Portrait Gallery is now offering early hours tours

  03-06-2024 12:20 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The National Portrait Gallery has started offering new tours of the art collection, aimed at people who want a quieter visit before the crowds arrive. The new early-access tours will focus on the Gallery’s most popular portraits in spaces that are often busy during regular gallery opening hours.The 45-minute tours start at 10 am, giving you half an hour in the empty gallery before it opens to the public at 10:30 am.
  The Before the Crowds tours will take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sund
  
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• London’s Alleys: Cecil Court, WC2

  03-06-2024 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This is one of London’s more famous passages, often nicknamed Booksellers’ Row, thanks to the large number of bookshops that line both sides of the alley.Although the alley route is old, and the buildings look old, in fact, most of what you see here is late Victorian, as the entire site was rebuilt in the 1880s. Back to the 1680s first though, and the area was lined with houses and back gardens, but the alley seems to appear later, as it’s not in a contemporary map but does app
  
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• Tickets Alert: Rare Patek Philippe watches going on display in London

  01-06-2024 20:32 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Patek Philippe, the maker of exceptionally expensive watches, will be exhibiting some of its rarer handcrafted watches in a free exhibition in central London later this month.
  (c) Patek Philippe
  They are so rarified and expensive that their famous slogan is, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.”
  Having been on display at their Swiss head office, the exhibition will be the only opportunity to see unique pieces and limited editions
  
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• Bloomsbury street becomes a pocket park with bench made from Double Yellow lines

  31-05-2024 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A double yellow line that once said no to parking is now a park bench saying yes to sitting after a road in central London was turned into a mini pocket park.The short road at the north end of Gordon Square in Bloomsbury was closed to road traffic in 2015 to be used as storage space for construction works, and now they have finished, rather than reopening the road, the council decided to turn it into a pocket park.
  They recently filled the road with planters and seating areas on one side and a n
  
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• Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! City of London’s Common Cryer reads the King’s Proclamation

  31-05-2024 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! By the King, a Proclamation!
  Earlier today, in keeping with ancient custom, a group of officials in the City of London wearing lace and tights read aloud the King’s Proclamation summoning a new Parliament.The tradition of reading out a Proclamation in public dates back to before newspapers existed. It also occurred at a time when Parliament only met when summoned by the monarch, more often than not, when they wanted to raise taxes to fight a war.
  So, for people in the Mid
  
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• London’s free exhibitions to visit in June 2024

  31-05-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Here is a selection of ten free exhibitions to visit while dodging random bursts of heavy rain in the summer months.At Home in Hackney: A community photographed 1970-today
  Hackney Museum, Hackney
  Free
  (Note closes Saturday 15th June 2024)
  From 1970s activism to the current party scene, the exhibition displays five decades of Hackney life through a camera lens.
  Details here
  Chihuly
  Chelsea Barracks
  Chelsea Barracks presents the inaugural edition of public art initiative ‘Modern Masters&rsqu
  
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• An upside down tube station illusion is coming to London

  30-05-2024 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A museum filled with optical illusions, including an upside-down tube station, will open in London soon, twisting the definition of what a museum should be as deftly as its illusions distort visitors’ perceptions.
  Opening on 17th July, Paradox Museum will have over 50 exhibits and 25 immersive rooms that will resemble an upmarket hall of mirrors from seasides and funfairs, but will instead be in the heart of Knightsbridge.
  The organisers say that an average visit will last about 90 minutes
  
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• Tate unveils 2025 exhibitions: From 1980s club icon Leigh Bowery to Turner and Constable

  30-05-2024 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  It was confirmed today that the 1980s gay clubbing icon Leigh Bowery, Nigerian Modernism, and the classic artists Constable and Turner will all be the subjects of exhibitions at London’s Tate galleries next year.
  Fergus Greer,Leigh Bowery Session I Look 2 1988 (c) Fergus Greer, Estate of Leigh BoweryLee Miller, Model with lightbulb, Vogue Studio, London, England c.1943 (c) Lee Miller Archives
  Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate, said, “These exhibitions show Tate at our most ambitious an
  
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• Free display of Chihuly’s colourful glass art at Chelsea Barracks

  30-05-2024 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The newish gardens at Chelsea Barracks are currently an outdoor art gallery, having been decorated with works by the glass artist Dale Chihuly.Looking not entirely unlike exotic plants that have all flowered at once, the cluster of glassy art does seem to fit into the garden space, both standing out as art and yet feeling entirely at home as if they’ve always been here.
  The most obvious is Electric Yellow and Deep Coral Tower, a massive column of twisting yellow and red fronds rising from
  
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• You can Bank on mobile phone coverage on the London Underground

  30-05-2024 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Bank tube station has become the latest station to join the expanding mobile phone coverage on the London Underground.Within the station, the Central line platforms, passageways, and escalators leading to and from the main ticket hall now have mobile coverage. Later this year, coverage will also be extended to the platforms of the Northern line when the City branch of the Northern line is also covered for the first time.
  Work will soon start to add mobile phone coverage to the Waterloo & Cit
  
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• Railways could carry electricity: HS1 and University of Kent investigate feasibility

  30-05-2024 09:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Railways that were once used to move coal to generate electricity could be used to carry the electricity itself –  if a study finds that high-voltage power cables can be safely run along the tracks.
  Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
  HS1, the high-speed rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel, has commissioned a study to examine the options for distributing electricity along the tracks. HS1 says this could be done using a new cable within the existing train line boundary to he
  
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• A visit to Twickenham Museum

  30-05-2024 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  On the edges of old Twickenham town centre is a small house and a small museum, and it’s, well, it’s very small indeed. It’s not that Twickenham lacks history but that the museum lacks the square footage to tell the story.
  It does have one remarkable redeeming feature, but more about that later.The museum is in an old Georgian house that was once home to a local watermen family. When its final owner, local conservation campaigner Jack Ellis, died thirty years ago, he donated th
  
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• Strawberry Hill House to be transformed by 30 floral designers for a flower festival

  29-05-2024 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  If the Chelsea Flower Show whetted your appetite for all things floral, then you’ll want to hear that a gothic house will be filled with flowers for a whole weekend later this year.
  (c) Strawberry Hill House & Garden
  For one weekend, Strawberry Hill House in southwest London will be filled with the work of 30 floral designers, who have been given the run of the building for their displays.
  Responding to the theme of “nature unbound”, sustainable practices utilising the late
  
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